Chapter 1

Nora was going to kill me. The moment my mom, Patricia stepped forward and pinned me down, I stopped struggling.

She used a face-shifting spell to become me, sitting in the master bedroom of Black Moon manor, waiting for my mate Liam to return.

My parents, Stanley and Patricia, were counting on her to lock in a stable Pack bond with Liam, so Ember Hide Pack could fully attach itself to Black Moon Pack and enjoy protection and luxury for the rest of their lives.

I could only laugh at how stupid they were. They didn’t understand how terrifying the man in front of them really was. He’s the strongest Alpha in Black Pine Valley.

Today was the day Liam returned from his territory inspection.

He’d been gone from Black Pine Valley for more than two months.

And I had been dead for a full week.

The moment Nora saw Liam push open the doors of Black Moon manor, she jumped to her feet, nervousness written all over her face as she deliberately copied the way I used to stand.

“Liam, have you eaten yet? I had the servants make the wild-berry oatmeal you like.”

It was almost funny.

This was the first time they had ever truly met.

And yet Liam didn’t suspect a thing and didn’t realize his mate had already been swapped out.

Nora really was something. To replace me, she’d reconstructed herself from head to toe. Even the unique faint territorial scent of a she-wolf, she’d replicated it with potions from a shadow wizard, so convincing that I almost couldn’t tell the difference.

Liam handed his travel bag to a servant, lifted a hand to rub his temple, and said with a trace of fatigue, “Heat me a bowl.”

Nora pressed her lips into a smile. She copied my expressions and mannerisms she’d recorded in the image stone so perfectly. She followed him into the dining room and ordered, “Mary, serve the Alpha a bowl of oatmeal.”

Liam paused and glanced at her.

There were plenty of servants in the manor, but by Black Moon Pack rules, the Alpha’s mate was supposed to take part in the basic work of the territory. And I always did. I had nothing to do at the manor anyway, so I helped with patrolling the nearby woods, hanging herbs to dry and I did these things well.

Even after nearly two years in Black Pine Valley, I’d never lost the habits I’d picked up on the edge of Mist Wood Forest. I didn’t like ordering people around.

Before I married Liam, I lived in Greystone Town.

My parents had abandoned me there and left me to be raised by an old reclusive werewolf elder named Mable, blind, stubborn, and far kinder than they ever were.

And the one who was supposed to marry Liam was Nora.

Black Moon Pack and Ember Hide Pack had once been bonded as allied Packs for generations. Black Moon Pack’s influence in Black Pine Valley had been unmatched, the core Pack, the one everyone revolved around.

Both Packs’ elders happened to have a grandchild in the same generation, so they arranged a Pack marriage to strengthen the bond.

Twenty years ago, after both elders passed away, Black Moon Pack was ambushed during a conflict with a human hunter organization. Their territory was eaten away, resources drained until the Pack nearly bled out.

Liam’s father brought up the marriage alliance again, hoping Ember Hide Pack would help and share hunting grounds and herbal resources, keep Black Moon standing.

But at the time, my father Stanley had already been courted by other Packs. He wanted to seize what was left of Black Moon’s weakened power, to carve up the leftovers. Old loyalty meant nothing to him.

Black Moon Pack suffered a devastating blow. Liam's father passed away in depression. His mother fled with Liam and the butler Edward, disappearing into hiding to recover.

Two years ago, Liam returned with a rebuilt Black Moon Pack. He reclaimed territory with thunderous force. The Packs that had betrayed Black Moon paid for it. Some were stripped of hunting rights and starved into decline; others had their conspiracy exposed and were driven out of the valley entirely. Their endings were miserable.

In the business world, “partnerships” were just a polite cover for Pack interests. Everyone was grateful all of this happened under human rules. Because if it had been pure Pack law, Liam’s ruthlessness in Pack warfare would’ve left the traitors as nothing but bones.

Ember Hide Pack, once a subordinate pack, was crushed until it was on the verge of falling apart. Only then did Stanley remember the old marriage agreement.

Nora panicked, afraid Liam would take revenge on her. She cried and screamed until she forced me to come back from Greystone Town and marry in her place.

Werewolf Packs have their superstitions about bloodlines and luck. And my father Stanley was obsessed with it.

The day Nora was born, Ember Hide Pack happened to win a major herbal trade deal with Black Moon Pack. The Pack’s status rose.

While the day I was born, Ember Hide’s hunting team was ambushed by hunters and suffered massive losses. Half the Pack’s assets vanished overnight.

Stanley became convinced Nora was the Pack’s lucky star and I was the curse that would drag Ember Hide into ruin.

If the Pack’s most prestigious elder hadn’t fought with his last breath to keep me alive, I probably would’ve been thrown into Mist Wood Forest, left to become beasts’ food.

So Stanley told outsiders I was frail and had to be sent away to a hidden Pack for recovery.

The truth was uglier: I was dumped in Greystone Town and left to a blind old werewolf elder.

Nora’s name meant peace and love. My parents hoped she would bless the Pack with safety and health.

My original name was Ethel, premature death. My father wanted me gone as soon as possible, before I could “taint” Ember Hide’s luck.

Mable took pity on me. When it came time to register my name, she secretly changed my name to Aurora, hoping good luck favored me.

But even with a new name, I still couldn’t outrun an early death.

In the end, I died in the hands of my own family.