Chapter 1

The moment I walked into the bridal suite, I saw my fiancé pinning my stepsister against the wall, his hand inside her wedding dress — a dress identical to mine.

"Liam, what are you doing?" My bouquet hit the floor.

Liam didn't even flinch. He turned slowly, lipstick smeared across his jaw, and looked at me like I was a stranger who'd wandered into the wrong room.

"Margot, we need to talk."

Those five words — spoken by the man I'd loved for six years, on the day he was supposed to marry me — made my blood run cold.

My stepsister, Vivienne, adjusted her dress with zero shame. She placed one hand on her belly and smiled softly. "Margot, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out this way."

"Find out what?" My voice cracked.

Liam straightened his tie. "Vivienne is pregnant. With my child."

The floor tilted beneath me. I grabbed the doorframe to keep from collapsing.

"That's impossible. You told me you never touched her. You swore on your wolf—"

"Things changed." He cut me off, his voice flat. "The pack needs an heir. Vivienne can give me one. You…" He paused, eyes dropping to my abdomen. "The doctors said your chances are almost zero."

I stared at him. The infertility diagnosis had come three months ago. I'd told only him — in tears, in the dark, curled against his chest while he stroked my hair and whispered, It doesn't matter. I love you, not your womb.

He'd used my most vulnerable secret as a reason to replace me.

"The ceremony starts in one hour," Liam said, checking his watch. "I've already spoken with Alpha Redmond and the elders. Vivienne will take your place at the altar."

"You can't do this." I stepped forward. "The invitation has MY name. The pack announced ME as your Luna—"

"And now they'll announce Vivienne." My stepmother, Colette, appeared behind me in the doorway, her smile dripping with triumph. "Margot, darling, don't make a scene. The guests are already seated."

She'd been in on it. Of course she had.

Colette placed a hand on my shoulder, her nails digging in through the lace. "You should be happy for your sister. She's giving the pack what you never could."

"I raised funds for this pack. I trained warriors. I nearly died defending the eastern border—"

"And yet," Colette interrupted coolly, "you can't do the one thing a Luna must."

Vivienne walked past me, bumping my shoulder, and whispered so only I could hear: "I've been sleeping with him since your diagnosis. Every night you thought he was at council meetings? He was in my bed."

She smiled. "You should thank me, really. I kept him satisfied when you couldn't."

I couldn't breathe.

Liam took Vivienne's arm without looking back at me. "Margot, there's a seat reserved for you in the back row. Try to be graceful about this."

They left together, the door clicking shut behind them.

I stood alone in the bridal suite, wearing a wedding dress meant for a ceremony that was no longer mine — and heard the first notes of the wedding march begin to play.

That was when I looked down and saw the rejection contract on the vanity table.

Liam had already signed it.

The line for my signature was highlighted in yellow, with a sticky note in Colette's handwriting:

"Sign it and leave quietly. You'll get nothing."