Chapter1
At nine years old, I secretly tapped into my mother’s pack mind-link and rescued her from a living hell.
At dawn, the pack warriors shattered her cage. Finding her bound in heavy chains and covered in brutal scars, they beat my biological father within an inch of his life.
The moment she regained her freedom, she reached out to me. "Aria, baby, come with me."
I stared at her hand, recalling my past life. In that timeline, she had brought me—a child born wolfless—back to her pack. For my sake, she suffered endless disgust and mockery from her people, eventually dying of a severe illness. Taking me with her meant shackling her to a lifetime of disgrace.
I viciously slapped her hand away and screamed, "Stay away from me! You are nothing but a breeding tool he bought. I want to stay with my father. I don't want you at all!"
The car door slammed shut. Pure instinct drove me forward for three steps before I violently forced myself to stop. Only when the taillights faded completely into the darkness did I finally dare to cry.
I never dared to call out for my mother. If I made even a single sound, she would turn back, and everything I had just gambled would be entirely wasted.
After that, I remained in Marcus's territory, gnawing on wild berries, begging for scraps, and simply surviving in the mud and misery. A year later, I risked everything to escape that purgatory.
Fifteen years later……
I stood in the pristine corridor of the city's most exclusive private hospital, utterly unprepared for the collision with my past. I ran straight into my mother.
Gripping the frayed edges of my washed-out, threadbare jacket, I buried my head, praying I wouldn't be recognized. But the Moon Goddess never granted me such luck.
"Aria?"
My body turned to stone instantly.
At the far end of the hall stood a woman in an impeccably tailored suit, not a single hair out of place. It was Selene, my mother.
The second our eyes met, instinct drove me to bolt. But she closed the distance swiftly, blocking my path and snatching my wrist in a vice grip.
"What, you don't even have the courage to look me in the eye?" Selene's tone was ice-cold.
Yet the warmth radiating from her palm was agonizingly familiar. Fifteen years had passed since I last felt that exact heat. Swallowing down the desperate, childlike urge to lean into her touch, I yanked my arm free.
"You have the wrong person," I muttered low.
Selene let out a sharp, cold sneer. "I would never mistake you, Aria. You are the spitting image of Marcus." Narrowing her eyes slightly, she raked her gaze over my ragged clothes. A flicker of something complex crossed her features. "All these years, Marcus has been broadcasting to the world that you lived like a pampered little princess in his castle for fifteen years. Yet here you are, dressed in rags, showing up out of nowhere and pretending this is some coincidence? Let me guess—you tracked my movements to play the victim and beg for a handout?"
My hands shuddered uncontrollably. A thick, metallic taste of blood surged in my throat, and I forced myself to swallow it down with deep difficulty. "I am just here for a medical appointment. I had no idea you were here."
"An appointment?" Selene scoffed. "The medical bills here are astronomical. For a packless rogue like you, I find it very hard to believe you could afford anything in this building."
She scrutinized me with towering superiority. A silent sigh echoed in my chest. I had only come here to participate in a clinical trial for an experimental drug.
Just then, an assistant holding a tablet hurried over. "Respected Luna Selene, please forgive the interruption. The committee needs your approval on the ceremony details for your daughter Chloe's mating union with Alpha Kael."
Selene frowned, glaring at the assistant. "Can they not finalize a simple arrangement without me?" The assistant bowed his head in a panicked apology.
She turned back to me, issuing an authoritative command. "Stay right here. Do not leave."
I retreated into the shadows of the corridor. She looked so powerful, radiant, and unstoppable. A bitter smile tugged at the corners of my cracked lips.
My choice back then hadn't been wrong. Without a wolfless burden like me weighing her down, she had escaped the mud of her past, gaining status, a pack, and a brand-new family.
Taking advantage of her being distracted by pack matters, I quietly slipped away, dragging my exhausted body toward Clinic Room 3 at the far end of the hall.
My trembling hand knocked softly on the door twice.
The door was yanked open abruptly. The sterile smell of antiseptic was instantly devoured by a rich, crisp scent—frosted cedar mixed with wild mint.
I sucked in a sharp breath, every muscle in my body locking up.
The man standing in the doorway wore a pristine white doctor's coat, his eyes dark and brooding.
It was Kael, an apex Alpha physician. What was he doing here? A year ago, I had vanished abruptly, severing all scent links without leaving a single word of explanation. I had imagined countless scenarios of our reunion, but I never expected to see my fated mate again in a place like this.
