Three years ago, I was poisoned with feral wolf venom. I went from being the prodigy of the werewolf world to a useless, wolf-less weakling. Six months ago, my fiancé, Damian Frostmane, sent a messenger to deliver a formal betrothal rejection letter. Before I could even process it, the news of our broken engagement spread like wildfire across the entire Northern Pack Coalition’s Snapchat groups. The rejection letter contained only four words: [Unfit to Pair.] Immediately after, a photo of me bloated from the venom was leaked online. In the picture, I was wearing a loose, oversized hospital gown. I looked so swollen that my original features were completely unrecognizable. The entire Northern Coalition was in an uproar. “This is the heir of the prestigious Blackwood Pack?” “She’s hideously fat. It’s obvious her inner wolf is dead. Damian was right to dump her.” Soon, someone set up a betting pool in the preparation chat for this year’s Lunar Gala. They were wagering on whether I would dare to show my face at the event. Damian personally bet fifty thousand dollars that I wouldn’t show up. Looking at the flood of mocking messages, I smiled. No one knew that my inner wolf had finally woken up. I quietly placed a hundred-thousand-dollar bet on myself, wagering that I would arrive at the Lunar Gala ballroom right on time. Then, ignoring the endless mockery online, I sent a simple text to my dad. “I’m coming home.”
I stared at the betrothal rejection letter for ten agonizing seconds. [Unfit to Pair.] The screenshot was being forwarded everywhere in the Northern Coalition’s chat groups. “Damian made the right call by dumping her.” “Seriously. Shaking off a broken Alpha heir is a total win.” “I heard Kira is so fat now she can’t even shift. Her power level is literally zero.” Right after that, a photo was leaked. It was taken six months after I was poisoned. Back then, I weighed 180 pounds. My hospital gown was stretched to its limits as I sat on the clinic bed, staring blankly down at a half-eaten sandwich. The person who leaked the photo was Jax, Damian’s personal guard. Three years ago, that same guard had stood respectfully in my family’s living room when Damian came to propose. “Kira, as soon as you come of age, we will officially merge our packs,” Damian had said back then. “An alliance between the Frostmane Pack and the Blackwood Pack will secure the entire North.” I hadn’t replied at the time. But now, the gossip in the Blackwood Pack was vicious. “Oh my god, look at her. She’ll never shift again with that body.” “An Alpha heir? She’s weaker than an omega right now.” “We should strip the Blackwood Pack of their invitation. She’s going to embarrass the entire North.” Damian even released a public statement on his Instagram story, sighing. “I was put in a very difficult position. But everyone can see the current state of the Blackwood Pack.” It sounded like a helpless sigh, but it was a calculated move to stamp my dignity into the dirt. My fingers turned ice-cold. We had been engaged for two years. When he was injured during training, I climbed dangerous, snow-covered peaks overnight to harvest medicinal herbs for him. When his pack faced an internal rebellion, I begged my dad to use the Blackwood Pack’s influence to stabilize his position. When his father was on his deathbed, I stayed by the old Alpha’s side, nursing him for an entire week. Even when my wolf fell into a deep coma, I didn’t resent him. Because he had held my hand and promised: “Kira, no matter what happens, I will always stand by you.” “When the Lunar Gala comes, we will announce our wedding date to the world.” Yet, before the Lunar Gala even began, he delivered a rejection letter. A betting pool quickly went live in the Coalition’s Snapchat group. [Will Kira Blackwood attend this year’s Lunar Gala?] The odds against me kept climbing. The amount of money betting on me cowardly staying home exceeded one hundred thousand dollars. Damian directly placed a fifty-thousand-dollar bet on “No.” “There’s no way she’ll show up,” he commented. “In her current state, coming would only mean public humiliation.” I finally let out a cold laugh. So, he knew I would be humiliated. Yet, he was still eager to watch me suffer in front of the entire werewolf high society. Just then, Serena Winslow chimed in on the group chat. “Guys, please don’t talk about Kira like that. It’s not her fault her body changed.” She was the daughter of the Alpha of the Winslow Pack, the second-largest pack in the North. Just two days ago, she had posted photos of herself horseback riding on Instagram—blonde hair, a flowing red dress, with a comment section full of worshipers calling her the “Goddess of the North.” She publicly tagged my dad in the group chat. “Will Kira be attending this year? I’m just asking because I care.” It looked like genuine concern. But she immediately followed it up with another message. “Actually, maybe it’s better if she stays home. It would save everyone from a very awkward situation.” The group chat flooded with praise. “Serena is always so thoughtful and sweet.” I didn’t bother replying. Instead, I opened my laptop and booked a flight. Seattle to Anchorage. I was going to be there. On time. When the news reached the Blackwood Pack, everyone was stunned. Damian sent a furious message to my dad. “Is she insane?” “The people at the Lunar Gala won’t show her any mercy.” I stood up and looked at myself in the full-length mirror. My long dark hair fell over my shoulders, and my waist was now so small that a man could easily wrap his hands around it. The facial features that had been bloated by the venom had fully sharpened as the poison left my system. My face was now strikingly gorgeous, almost dangerously beautiful. More importantly, my inner wolf had awakened, and my power had restored to its peak Alpha level. Over the past two months, as the last traces of the venom cleared, I had been stopped on the streets of Seattle by random guys trying to get my Snapchat more times than I could count. Someone had even taken a candid photo of me in a coffee shop and posted it on TikTok with the caption: “Who is this literal goddess?” Damian knew none of this. Because I had wanted to save the surprise of my recovery for the night of the Lunar Gala. But now? He didn’t deserve that surprise. I wiped away the single stray tear from the corner of my eye and texted my dad. “I’m coming home.”
A second later, Damian’s name flashed on my screen. He was calling. I ignored it. He called three times in a row before finally sending a barrage of voice notes on Snapchat. “Kira, can you stop throwing a tantrum?” “Things are already bad enough. Your current physical state is not fit for the Lunar Gala.” “We are both noble packs. Don’t make things difficult for the Blackwood Pack.” I was so angry I laughed out loud. He threw me away like garbage, and now he was blaming me for ruining his reputation. I opened the digital brochure for the Lunar Gala schedule. The public ceremony consisted of three parts. First, the heirs would toast the Ancestral Flame. Second, the heirs of each pack would walk arm-in-arm down the grand ballroom. Third, the heirs would together light the Sacred Beacon. In the group chat, pack members were already mockingly praying for Ellis Crow. “Who designed the third part? Kira is lighting the beacon?” “She can’t even shift. How is she going to summon her wolf flame to light it?” “It’s fine. It’s just another chance for the Blackwoods to make fools of themselves.” The man they were talking about, Ellis Crow, hadn’t said a single word in the chat. His background was a complete mystery; no one could track his whereabouts. Yet, the entire Northern Coalition seemed terrified of him. They were vicious when mocking me, but whenever Ellis’s name was brought up, they only dared to whisper in private. No one dared to challenge him to his face. Just as I was about to close my laptop, my best friend Maggie FaceTimed me. The second the call connected, she screamed. “Kira! Has that asshole Damian lost his mind?!” “He breaks the engagement and then drags you through the mud? What a manipulative piece of trash!” I blinked, startled. “How do you know already?” “It’s literally all over the pack Snapchat groups!” Maggie paced back and forth in front of her camera, fuming. “I’ve already memorized the name of the guard who leaked that photo. When we get to the Lunar Gala, I’ll throw a sack over his head, and you can keep watch while I beat him up.” I couldn’t help but chuckle. Seeing that I could still smile made her even more protective. “What’s the plan? Are you going to post a current selfie and slap them all in the face?” “No.” “Why not?” I opened my closet and let my eyes slide over the gowns hanging inside. “A photo is too easy to dismiss.” Photoshop, filters, old pictures—if they didn’t want to believe it, they would find a hundred excuses. I wanted them to see me in person. I wanted them to regret it in real-time. Maggie’s eyes lit up as she realized what I meant. “You’re actually going?” “Of course. My flight is booked.” “Hell yes!” She slammed her hand on her desk. “Not only are you going, but you are going to look so drop-dead gorgeous that they’ll collectively choke on their own spit.” “Damian bet fifty thousand that you wouldn’t show? Let’s take his money and ruin his pride.” Just as she said that, a knock sounded on my door. My mom, the Luna of the Blackwood Pack, walked in carrying a plate of sliced fruit. She froze when she saw the gown laid out on my bed. “The Lunar Gala is tomorrow?” “Yeah.” She hesitated for a few seconds before asking softly, “Are you… going to see Damian?” I went quiet. To heal and reclaim my place in the Blackwood Pack, I had endured two years of grueling, agonizing treatment. Especially during the last three months of intense detox, the venom would claw through my veins, leaving me curled up in bed, shaking and biting on a towel to keep from screaming in pain. From 180 pounds. To 150 pounds. To 120 pounds. And finally, to a lean, toned 110 pounds. My mom had helped me adjust my dress sizes seven times. She had watched me stand on the scale countless times, my eyes red but refusing to cry. She knew how much I had looked forward to this night. But she didn’t know that my hope had already rotted away. My mom set the fruit plate down. Before leaving, she gently stroked my hair. “Kira, no matter what anyone else says, whether you can shift or not, you are my daughter, and I love you.” The moment the door closed, a wave of emotion hit me, making my nose sting. Just then, my phone buzzed. In the encrypted Snapchat group, Ellis Crow had finally posted a message. He didn’t address any of the gossip. He only sent one short sentence: “She is not a reject.” The group chat instantly went dead silent. A few seconds later, a private notification popped up. It was a DM from Ellis. “If you don’t want to go tomorrow, you don’t have to.” Damian immediately jumped into the main chat. “Ellis, this is private business between the Frostmane and Blackwood packs. Stay out of it.” Ellis didn’t reply to him. I stared at the words *“She is not a reject”* and, for the first time, looked up his profile. The new Alpha of the Shadowcrest Pack. For some reason… This man felt strangely familiar.
I had met Damian at a Northern Coalition summit. I was sixteen then, a year into being poisoned, weighing 180 pounds, and my dormant wolf was nowhere to be found. The teenagers in the Blackwood Pack called me “the broken wolf.” They whispered that my early shifting at age fourteen was just a fluke. The elders didn’t say it to my face, but they would lower their voices and sigh whenever I walked past at family gatherings. Once, during a pack trial run, I finished dead last, panting so hard I almost fainted. The boy I had a crush on back then, Tyler, stood at the finish line and stepped back in disgust. “Don’t lean on me,” he sneered. “You can’t even shift. Who’s going to catch you if you fall?” Everyone laughed. That night, I locked myself in my room, refusing to speak to anyone. Damian was the one who added me on Snapchat that night. Having heard about my situation, he sent me several encouraging messages. “Your voice is so beautiful. You don’t sound like someone who’s sick at all.” After that, we stayed in touch. Whenever other wolves mocked me, he would publicly defend me. “Being poisoned isn’t her fault. Why are you guys taking your anger out on a girl?” He was always there to comfort me when I was down. “Who says you have to shift to be amazing? I think you’re adorable just the way you are.” “Kira, no matter what you look like, I will always be on your side.” I believed him. Because of his words, I felt, for the first time, that I was worthy of being loved. Until eight months ago, when my healer informed him that my wolf might never wake up. After that day, he became noticeably cold. Our daily conversations dwindled to polite, distant greetings. When I asked him what was wrong, he claimed he was under intense pressure from the Frostmane elders. Now I realized it was all a lie. He had simply confirmed that I was a lost cause. But he didn’t break off the engagement right away. Because the Blackwood Pack still held immense power in the North, and my dad was still helping him secure his position. He couldn’t bear to lose a useful pawn. So, he waited until the eve of the Lunar Gala, using a cold rejection letter to cast me aside once he no longer needed us. My phone rang again. This time, I picked up. Damian’s voice was filled with impatience. “What are you doing, playing damsel in distress with Ellis in the group chat?” “He simply said a word of truth. How is that playing damsel?” “Why would a guy like Ellis defend a broken Alpha heir for no reason?” Damian sneered. “Don’t think your pretty voice will make him act like a hero. Ellis doesn’t even care about his own pack’s affairs. You’re just making a fool of yourself.” I remained quiet for two seconds. “So, you think I’m not good enough for you?” “That’s not what I said.” “Then why did you bet fifty thousand dollars that I wouldn’t dare to show up?” He choked on his words. After a long pause, he sighed in irritation. “Fine. You want the truth? I know your actual condition, Kira.” “Engagement is one thing, but reality is another.” “Don’t blame me. What Alpha would marry a mate who can’t even shift?” “I didn’t make the official reason public. I was trying to save you some dignity.” I gripped my phone, the remaining warmth in my heart finally turning to ice. “Then thank you so much for being such a gentleman.” Damian didn’t catch my sarcasm and softened his tone. “Don’t come tomorrow. I’ll refund your plane ticket.” “Serena will be there. Standing next to her will only make you look worse.” I asked slowly, “Are you and Serena close?” There was a sudden silence on the other end. “Don’t overthink it. There’s nothing between us.” I smiled. It looked like tomorrow’s Lunar Gala was going to be much more entertaining than I thought.
On the day of the Lunar Gala, I slept until noon. My phone was flooded with over ninety-nine unread notifications. The Northern Coalition chat was busy discussing the seating arrangements for tonight. Someone had maliciously posted a photo of an extra-wide armchair. “We should save this seat for Kira. A normal chair might not hold her.” “So thoughtful! You deserve an award for pack hospitality.” Damian was also active in the chat. “She’s not coming. Stop wasting your time.” Serena chimed in, “Guys, what if Kira actually shows up? Promise me you won’t laugh at her.” But the more she “defended” me, the louder the mockery became. I ignored it all, got out of bed, and got ready. Maggie burst through my front door at two in the afternoon, lugging two massive makeup cases. “Today, I am going to give you a look that will literally end lives!” After curling my hair into soft waves, she pulled a stunning black silk gown from my closet. The dress was minimalist, hugging my waist perfectly and showing off my delicate collarbones and shoulders. When I stepped out of the bathroom, Maggie froze for a full thirty seconds. Then, she clutched her chest. “Oh my god.” “What?” “If I were an Alpha, I would literally start a pack war to claim you tonight.” I laughed at her drama. She spun me around, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Serena is the classic girl-next-door type. She looks cute on her own.” “But standing next to you? She’s going to look like a cheap bridesmaid handing out party favors.” “Be nice, Maggie.” “I’m just stating facts.” At five in the evening, someone posted a live video clip of the Gala venue. In the center of the ballroom stood a massive ice sculpture. Carved into it were the words: [Welcome the Blackwood Heir.] The sound of mocking laughter echoed in the background of the video. A young Alpha shouted at the camera, “Kira! If you don’t show up soon, we’ll have to do your ceremony for you!” Damian was sitting at the VIP table. He glanced at the camera and smirked. “I told you, she’s a coward.” “She wouldn’t even turn on her camera for FaceTime. Did you really think she’d show up in person?” Serena nudged his shoulder playfully. “Don’t be mean, Damian.” I swiped the video closed. Maggie snatched her car keys, her face flushed with anger. “Let’s go. If I don’t slap the smugness off their faces tonight, my name isn’t Maggie.” As we walked out the door, my phone buzzed with an encrypted message. The sender was just two letters: *E.C.* Ellis Crow. The moment I accepted his contact request, he messaged me. “I’m sorry. This mess started because of my past mission. I will handle it.” “Do you need me to pick you up from the airport?” Reading his apology, I felt a sudden warmth toward him. “No need, I’m already on my way.” “And about the ceremony tonight—I will cooperate.” The status indicator showed he was typing for a long time. But in the end, he only sent: “Don’t force yourself.” Half an hour later, our car pulled up in front of the luxury hotel in Anchorage hosting the Lunar Gala. Maggie was about to walk in with me when her phone rang with an urgent call from her pack elders. Before leaving, she gripped my hand tightly. “Call me the second you need anything. If anyone dares to disrespect you, I will personally drag them onto the Coalition’s Wall of Shame.” I nodded and stepped out of the car. As I walked through the hotel lobby, the receptionist stared at me, completely starstruck. Even as the elevator doors closed, his eyes were still glued to me. The grand ballroom was at the very end of the third floor. Walking down the hallway in my heels, I could hear the loud chatter and laughter echoing through the heavy wooden doors. “It’s six o’clock. She’s definitely a no-show.” “Damian’s fifty grand is locked in.” “I told you, with her physical state, she’d need an oxygen tank just to survive the flight to Anchorage.” “Ellis isn’t here either. Did he run away too?” Then came Damian’s arrogant voice. “I warned her not to come.” “Living under her family’s protection is one thing, but coming here? She’d only make a fool of herself.” Serena giggled. “Kira probably didn’t mean to stay away. She probably just wanted to prove herself.” Another round of roaring laughter erupted. I stood outside the door and slowly raised my hand. Just then, a deep, resonant voice sounded from behind me. “Kira Blackwood?” I turned around. Under the soft hallway lights stood a tall, broad-shouldered man in a flawless black suit. His features were sharp and strikingly handsome. When his eyes landed on me, a look of pure shock crossed his face. “Are you…” I offered him a soft smile. “Ellis Crow?” Inside the ballroom, the crowd had begun a dramatic countdown. “Last ten seconds! If she’s not here, the bet is closed!” “Ten!” “Nine!” “Eight!” Ellis was still staring at me, spellbound. I turned back to the heavy doors and gripped the handle. Right before the countdown hit zero, I pushed the doors open.
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