Chapter 1

Because my father claimed that marrying a werewolf outcast would ruin his political career, my mother lived as his secret lover for seventeen years.

But the moment he finally won the seat in the Senate, he walked in holding the hand of a beautiful socialite who was already pregnant.

The crowd sneered at us with sharp, cruel words.

"How can a savage girl from the Silver Wilderness, who plays with those creepy blood-parasites, compare to a refined lady like Clarissa Vanderbilt?"

"Did she really think a Senator would actually marry her?"

I tried to defend my mother, but my fiancé shoved me to the ground with a look of pure disgust.

"If your mother hadn't hexed me with those wolf-spirits, I, a Duke of the Royal Pack, would never have looked at a girl like you."

But the Duke had been dying of a silver-frost curse, and I had placed a spirit-shard in his body only to save his life.

My heart turned to ash, and I looked at my mother.

"Mom, this city is rotten. Let's go back to the Silver Wilderness."

Later, on the day of the grand high-society wedding.

Someone screamed in a panic.

"Something happened! Sasha and her daughter were caught in a flash flood while leaving the city, and their bodies were never found!"

1

When I returned home, the house was deathly silent.

I rushed into the bedroom and found my mother lying on the cold floor, blood staining the corners of her mouth.

"Mom!" I cried out, falling to her side, my voice trembling.

"What's wrong? Is the blood-magic backfiring? I'll take you to the Pack Elder right now."

My mother's breath was shallow, and she gripped my hand with a look of utter despair.

"Your father promised me that once he made it big, he would give us a real home. But now he's a Senator, and he's marrying someone else."

"My heart... it hurts so much..."

Tears blurred my vision as I held her tightly.

Years ago, my father was just a starving, broke student on the streets.

That day, my mother went to a bakery to buy me a cinnamon roll and saw him being beaten by thugs.

She couldn't stand the injustice and used her wolf-spirits to drive the bullies away.

Seeing him unconscious and broken, she took him home out of pity.

As the days passed, they fell in love.

My mother was once a High Priestess of the Silver Wilderness, second only to the Matriarch. To stay with my father, she knelt before the Elders for three days and nights, sacrificing her three most precious spirit-wolves.

In our culture, those spirits are a werewolf's pride and power. Without them, she went from a respected leader to a laughingstock.

Her family disowned her for choosing a human, and we were kicked out of the pack.

Since then, she worked day and night to pay for my father's education, exhausting her body by crafting illegal wolf-remedies for sale.

My father used to hold her hand and promise that once he was successful, he would make her the most envied lady in the city.

I helped her up, choking back sobs. "Does Dad have a reason? How can he throw away seventeen years like this?"

My mother closed her eyes with a bitter smile. "He says a Senator can't have a savage werewolf wife. He says the other politicians would mock him."

I stared at her, my heart burning with rage.

If she hadn't worked herself to the bone for him, he would be nothing but a corpse in a gutter.

I took a deep breath. "Mom, let's leave this place. Let's go home."

A few months ago, I had received an invitation to the Great Wolf-Spirit Trials in the Silver Wilderness.

I hadn't planned on going because of my father and my fiancé.

But now, there was nothing left for me in this city.

My mother hesitated. "But what about Prince Alaric?"

The mention of his name felt like a knife. "He's breaking our engagement to marry the Governor's daughter, Lydia Beaumont."

My mother's lips trembled, and she sighed, blaming herself for my misery.

After a long talk, she finally agreed to go back.

As she slept, I walked to the door and found Alaric standing there with his new fiancé, Lydia.

Alaric sneered at me. "I've been waiting. Take that parasite out of my body right now. Stop trying to control me with your sick magic."

I looked at him coldly. "Are you sure, Alaric? If I take the spirit-shard out, your silver-frost curse will return, and you will die."