Layla's POV
“Tell me, you lowly omega! Where is my necklace?!”
My stepsister Rebecca slapped me hard across the face. I was tied to a wooden post beside the pack’s stables, the rough ropes cutting into my wrists. My cheek burned, already swollen and throbbing.
Fighting through the pain, I swallowed and answered, “I didn’t take it.”
I refused to scream. Begging would only give her more satisfaction.
“Bitch!” Rebecca drove the sharp heel of her shoe into my ribs. A muffled groan escaped me. “No one but you would do something like this. You’re jealous that I’m going to mate with the alpha heir of the Shadow Wolf Pack. You want to ruin everything!” she roared.
I wanted to argue, but the pain made my vision blur and my teeth chatter.
“Please, Rebecca… I have no reason to do this,” I said, trembling.
“You do, because you’re ugly and pathetic. Your face looks like it’s been run over by a truck. You’re doomed to never find a mate as powerful as Alpha Adrian!” Rebecca shouted.
That wasn’t true. I was powerful. I was beautiful. But fifteen years ago, my mother — my father’s former Luna — gave me an amulet. She told me that white wolves could only shift after the age of twenty. Until then, I had to hide both my beauty and my wolf.
So I obeyed. Even though my life felt worse than death, the only reason I kept going was my mother. I had once overheard my stepmother and father talking. They believed my mother might still be alive.
I had to find her.
My silence only fueled Rebecca’s rage.
“Fine. Then I’ll make you talk another way.” Rebecca glanced at her lackeys and smiled coldly. “Strip her. Then pour the pepper water over her.”
My eyes widened in terror. I couldn’t shift until midnight. This kind of pain could actually kill me. “No! Please, Rebecca!”
Two maids approached with buckets of pepper water when an omega suddenly ran toward us, breathless.
“Miss Rebecca!” Rebecca’s personal maid called out. “Wait! We found it! The necklace has been found!”
She held up the pearl necklace, dangling it from her fingers. “It was… caught in the lining of the coat you took off last night!”
I let out a shaky breath of relief. At least I would live.
Rebecca shot her maid a vicious glare, then walked over to me. “Lucky you.” She leaned in close. “Clean yourself up. My marking ceremony with Alpha Adrian starts in an hour. If you dare miss it, I wouldn’t mind finding two stallions to have another chat with you.”
Rebecca turned and left without a word of apology. I knew she only wanted me there so she could humiliate me in front of everyone.
They untied me. I forced myself up from the filthy ground, ignoring the searing pain. I washed the horse dung and straw off my body, changed into the ugly gray maid’s robe my stepmother Vera had chosen for me, and headed to the banquet hall.
The main hall was crowded with high-ranking wolves.
For some reason, Mia grew excited the moment we entered. She had always been quiet before.
Focus. Don’t mess this up, or my escape plan will be ruined.
I tried to keep my attention on the drinks balanced on my tray and serve the guests properly, but someone suddenly slammed into me. The tray tilted dangerously as my stepmother’s angry voice rang out.
“Lyla!”
Vera theatrically covered her nose with one hand. “My God! What is that smell? Didn’t I tell you to scrub yourself clean? Did you come here reeking like a chicken coop on purpose to ruin tonight’s banquet?”
I lowered my head. I didn’t want any more trouble today. “I’ll leave the banquet hall.”
“No.” She stepped forward, her cold fingers clamping around my wrist. “You will stand in the corner. I brought you here today so you could watch with your own eyes as Rebecca gets everything you will never have — the strongest alpha, the grandest engagement banquet, everyone’s admiration and envy. This is your fate, you bastard.”
She said the same things Rebecca always did. I should have been angry, but strangely, all I felt was icy calm. Only a few more hours.
As long as I made it to midnight, I could leave this place and find my mother. I would finally ask her why we had to hide who we truly were.
Vera finally released me and carefully wiped her fingers with a silk handkerchief. When she turned around again, a perfect social smile had replaced the disgust on her face.
Beautiful music filled the hall, and every wolf’s attention turned to the raised platform where the two stars of the evening stood.
Rebecca and Alpha Adrian Scott of the Shadow Wolf Pack.
The first thing I noticed was Adrian. He was devastatingly handsome and overwhelmingly powerful. Tall and broad-shouldered, his black suit emphasized his powerful frame. His dark hair and sharply defined jaw made him look as though he had been carved from stone. He didn’t speak, yet his mere presence commanded the entire room.
I quickly lowered my gaze before he could notice me staring.
I knew Adrian had agreed to this alliance because my mother had once saved him. But no one had ever specified that it had to be my mother’s biological daughter who married him. That was why Rebecca stood beside him now.
I didn’t want to become anyone’s mate anyway. I had endured all of this for one reason only — tonight.
The pack elder’s voice rang out.
“Alpha Adrian, you may now mark your Luna.”
Rebecca bared her neck. Adrian lowered his head, his lips approaching her skin.
Everyone held their breath. I saw my father and stepmother Vera clutching each other’s arms in excitement, as if the moment Adrian’s fangs pierced Rebecca’s neck, gold and glory would rain down on our pack.
None of that mattered to me anymore. This was the perfect moment to slip away.
But then, Alpha Adrian suddenly stopped. He lifted his head, and his sharp gaze shot straight toward me.
I hadn’t even taken a step before I froze.
A powerful jolt of electricity shot up my spine. My entire body shuddered uncontrollably.
Mia roared with excitement inside me. “Mate!”
And then everyone heard me say it too.
