Chapter 1
My father and brother had always favored my half-sister, Maren. Sometimes, I felt they hated me simply for being born.
At a Moon Festival, Maren and her friends shoved me into a freezing ceremonial pool and held me underwater.
I would have drowned if Viktor, Alpha of the RedEmber Pack, hadn't rescued me.
He wrapped me in his cloak and declared that I was under his protection.
He built me a castle, filled its gardens with my favorite flowers, and gave me a grand wedding.
For a while, I was the she-wolf everyone envied.
But at seven months pregnant, I was trapped in a fire during my father's birthday gathering.
My father and brother rushed to save Maren. Only Viktor came back for me.
When I woke in the healing chamber, I overheard him speaking to my family.
"Maren has Moon-Eclipse Wasting. The healers say she needs a bloodline treatment. Lyra's pup may be our only chance."
"I care about Maren's life more than anyone," Viktor said coldly. "That's why I married Lyra. But no one will hurt my wife or our pup. I have my own plan."
Then I understood. He hadn't married me for love. He married me for the child I could give Maren.
Everything had been a lie. Just like my father and brother, the man I loved had chosen her.
If no one could ever love me, perhaps it was better if I disappeared.
Tears blurred my vision as I walked down the healing hall.
Memories flooded back, one after another.
My mother had died from the backlash of a moon-curse after giving birth to me.
After that, my father and brother, Kael, never looked at me the same way.
They doted on Maren, my half-sister, who was three years older.
For her sixteenth Moon Festival, the entire Lunthorn Pack held a grand celebration.
Everyone her age was invited, and the kitchen prepared a ten-layer cake.
When Maren fell ill, Father and Kael took turns watching over her.
But when I was struck by a lung fever and confined to the healers' den, neither bothered to visit.
I once believed that a girl blamed for her mother's death simply didn't deserve love.
Then, at Maren's birthday celebration, she shoved me into the pack's ceremonial ice pool, laughing as she called me the cursed pup who had killed our mother.
I struggled toward the stone edge, but her friends kept forcing me underwater.
The freezing water burned my lungs. I couldn't breathe.
Just as my strength gave out, Viktor, Alpha of the RedEmber Pack, plunged into the pool and pulled me out.
He wrapped me in his warm cloak, then turned his icy gaze on the watching wolves.
"Lyra is under my protection. Anyone who touches her again will answer to me."
To me, Viktor was a savior who had appeared out of nowhere.
I fell for him that very moment.
It felt like a dream. How could an Alpha as powerful as Viktor care about a girl her own pack blamed for her mother's death?
Even after we married, I sometimes couldn't believe it was real.
I had thought he loved me. Now I knew he'd married me for Maren.
Three years ago, Maren claimed she had Moon-Eclipse Wasting, a rare bloodline disease that slowly destroyed a wolf's inner strength.
The healers said there was no known cure.
But an old pack record mentioned that a pup carrying the rare Moon-glow bloodline might trigger a blood resonance powerful enough to heal her.
I was the only wolf in our family with that bloodline.
So that was why Viktor had married me.
His tenderness, his gifts, every little thing he'd done for me... It had all been for Maren.
My chest tightened until every breath hurt.
As I approached the healing chamber, I heard voices inside.
"I'm not sick. I made the whole thing up," Maren said smugly.
"I just wanted Lyra to lose every last bit of hope. I wanted her to know Father and Kael have always loved me more."
She let out a soft laugh.
"And Viktor? When he was a boy, an enemy pack kidnapped him. I let him believe I was the one who rescued him."
"That night, he heard a girl playing an old Moonharp melody and fell for the girl he thought was playing it."
"He believed it was me."
Maren laughed again.
"But both the wolf who saved him and the girl who played that melody were Lyra. He's loved her all along. Too bad he'll never know."
I froze outside the door.
So Viktor had mistaken me for Maren from the very beginning.
He had hurt me for her sake, never knowing I was the girl he'd been searching for all these years.
My hands trembled. Only then did I notice the memory crystal in my palm glowing.
Somehow, it had recorded every word.
I took a slow breath, slipped the crystal into my pocket, and went to find the healer.
"I want to end the pregnancy."
The healer stared at me in shock.
He knew how hard I'd fought to carry this pup, taking countless blood-strengthening tonics and spending months on bed rest.
He tried to dissuade me, but eventually gave in.
"The ritual cannot proceed without the Alpha's mark of consent. Your mate must authorize it."
I took the consent scroll and left the healer's room.
Outside, I ran straight into Viktor.
"There you are. I've been looking everywhere. I was afraid something had happened to you."
He gently took my hand, his voice full of concern.
Once, his touch alone had made me feel safe. Now it only made my heart ache.
"Were you worried about me?" I asked, my eyes filling with tears.
"You're my wife. Of course I'm worried. Who else would I worry about?" His voice softened. "Everyone knows you're my whole world. And you're carrying our pup."
My throat tightened.
Was he worried about me, or the pup he needed for Maren's treatment?
I handed him the scroll.
"The healer needs your mark for a test."
"What kind of test—"
He started unrolling it, but his phone rang.
"Viktor, come quickly. Maren isn't feeling well," Kael said.
His expression changed instantly.
Without reading the scroll, Viktor pressed his Alpha mark onto it.
"Something's come up. I'll be back soon. I'll go with you to the healer later."
I unrolled the scroll. Through my tears, the words came into focus:
[CONSENT FOR TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY.]
I turned toward the healer's room, but just before I reached the door, the pup inside me kicked.
That tiny movement stopped me cold.
It was as if my baby could feel my fear and was begging me not to give up.
I stood there, unable to move. Then, at last, I turned away.
I couldn't do it. I wanted to keep my pup.
I would take this child far away from all these lies. Away from the Lunthorn Pack. Away from Viktor.
From now on, it would be just my pup and me.
