Chapter 3

Marwen's POV

Six months later, the Silvyr pack hosted the Winter Solstice gala. Top Alphas from across the continent gathered.

"Torin," Alaric, the Alpha of the Silvyr pack, raised his glass, his gaze piercing. "Marwen has come of age. It is time to honor our pact. She will marry my eldest son, Rhydian."

The hall went dead quiet.

I gripped my dress, my heart hammering against my ribs. In my past life, it was at this exact banquet that I begged to break the engagement, ending up married off to a Beta named Kael.

"To be hosted by Alaric is an absolute honor." Torin's eyes lit up with greed—this alliance would bring Calenor immense power.

"Marwen has lost her wolf.... " Bryn whispered, gripping her husband’s arm. "Let Valora take her place."

A black raven—my pet, Nyx—swooped down onto my chair. His sharp beak leaned close to my ear, whispering a warning only I could hear:

"Reject him! Rhydian is a disfigured monster, a bloodthirsty lunatic! If you marry him, he will torture you to death! Choose the Beta. Only Kael is your fated mate!"

My blood turned to ice.

In my past life, Nyx said the exact same thing. I believed him. I tore up the engagement in front of everyone and begged to marry Kael. But Kael turned out to be a faithless coward who eventually worked with his mistress to skin me alive. Meanwhile, Valora, who took my place and married Rhydian, got a handsome, gentle, highly-coveted Alpha husband.

"I will marry Rhydian," I said, standing up sharply, cutting off my parents' hushed argument.

Torin burst into a hearty laugh and raised his glass to Alaric.

"Since Marwen has made her choice," Bryn sighed, stroking Valora’s hair sympathetically, "then we shall arrange your betrothal to Beta Kael of the Morwulf pack."

I expected Valora to throw a fit or accuse me of stealing her prize.

She didn't. She simply nodded obediently, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

Her bizarre compliance made the dread in my stomach grow like weeds.

On my wedding day, dressed in elaborate silk, I walked down the aisle of the Silvyr pack. In the crowd, I caught Valora's eye. Dressed as a bridesmaid, she was staring at me. The purple light in her eyes writhed like mating snakes, and she wore a deeply twisted, mocking smile.

That night, the bedroom door was kicked open. A towering man strode in, reeking of blood and gore. The candlelight flickered over his face—it was covered in hideous, jagged scars, like a demon straight out of hell.

"No..." I scrambled backward, but he lunged, wrapping a massive hand around my throat and pinning me to the mattress.

"What's wrong? Does the precious daughter of Calenor find me unworthy?" His icy blue eyes were pure rage as his rough hands viciously tore my wedding dress to shreds.

There was no tenderness that night. Only endless humiliation and violence. Afterward, he kicked me aside like a piece of trash and stormed out.

I curled up on the torn, freezing sheets, covered in bruises. The sheer absurdity of it all threatened to snap my sanity.

When Valora married him in our past life, where was the charming, elegant Rhydian? Why, when I married him, was he a disfigured beast?

Even worse—Nyx's warning had been entirely true. He said Rhydian was a monster, and he was.

If Nyx hadn't lied to me... then who the hell was the 'perfect Rhydian' from my past life?

I walked through the Silvyr pack like a ghost trapped in a fog for a month, enduring a living hell.

Until the joint-pack Full Moon Banquet.

I dragged my exhausted body into the hall. The moment I looked up, it felt like I had been struck by lightning.

Sitting on the highest throne—in the seat meant for an Alpha—was Kael, the man who had ordered my death in my past life. And he was radiating the pure, stifling aura of a true Alpha, wearing the bone-fang necklace of the Morwulf pack leader.

Beside him, practically glowing as the revered, adored Luna, was my dear sister, Valora.

Kael was an Alpha.

"Caisy," I grabbed the arm of my loyal maid, dropping my voice to a harsh whisper. "Find out what happened. Now."