Most people who didn't know me envied me. They wished to be me... the daughter of the powerful Blackwood Alpha, the girl who grew up in a mansion where money was never a problem and luxury was an everyday thing. To the outside world, we were the perfect family — polished, wealthy, and untouchable.
But I knew better. Behind all that wealth and beauty, my life was anything but perfect.
For almost twenty-three years, I lived inside the walls of Blackwood Mansion ..- and in every single day of my existence, my step mom has never failed to remind me of whom I am_ a mistake. A disgrace. The fruit of my father's infidelity.
My stepmother, Luna Clarissa Blackwood, never let me forget that I wasn't her daughter. She made sure I earned every breath I took under that roof. And even growing up, I had to endure her insults and physical abuse which only reduced when i rurned eighteen, but the emotional wounds have never healed.
You'd think that was the end of my misery. But the universe wasn't done with me yet.
When I turned twenty-two, my half-sister Angela received a marriage proposal from the Stormbane family... one of the oldest, richest, and most feared families in the werewolf world. The Alpha himself was looking for a wife. Rumor had it he was cold, ruthless, and heartless — a man twice Angela's age with a reputation that made wolves shudder.
My stepmother wouldn't let her precious daughter marry someone like that. So she did what she always did best. She offered me instead.
A pawn. A sacrifice. A daughter she never loved, given away to pay for her ambition.
The wedding came faster than I could comprehend. I remember standing at the altar, thinking I was marrying a monster. But when I finally looked up, I froze.
Lycian Stormbane wasn't old. He wasn't anything like the man I'd imagined. He was the most devastatingly handsome man I had ever seen — tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in black. His aura screamed danger and dominance.
There were no photos of him online, no public records, nothing. It was as if he lived above this world.
Even though my family was wealthy, we were nothing compared to the Stormbanes. My father could never refuse them. No one could.
So I became his. The unwanted bride of a man I didn't know.
But I refused to be his prisoner. That very same night, before the moon could witness the start of our bond, I ran. I didn't stop running until the Blackwood territory was nothing but a distant nightmare.
-
Now, nearly a year later, my life in the south feels like freedom.
Humans have no idea that werewolves exist, and that ignorance has been my greatest blessing. Here, I'm not "the Alpha's worthless daughter" or "the wolfless girl." Here, I'm just Aria, a simple woman working at a nursing home, earning my living, blending into a world where no one asks questions.
For the first time in my life, I can breathe without fear. For the first time, I'm not defined by my curse.