Present Day
The mirror did not lie, but it certainly knew how to hide the truth.
I stared at my reflection, smoothing the silk of the emerald gown that cost more than most families in the pack earned in a year. My hair, dark like my father's, fell in perfect waves down my back. My skin was flawless, scrubbed and scented with lavender oil.
I looked like a princess. I looked like the perfect Alpha's daughter.
I felt like a fraud.
"Stop staring at yourself, Celeste. It won't change what you are."
I didn't need to turn around to know that Beth was standing in the doorway. My half-sister had a way of sucking the warmth out of a room just by entering it. At twenty-five, she was beautiful in a sharp, predatory way, with the blonde hair of her mother, Angel, the woman my father had exiled thirteen years ago.
Beth hated me for that. She blamed me for every letter her mother sent from the rogue lands, begging to come home.
I turned slowly, keeping my face impassive. "Hello, Beth. Did you come to wish me a happy birthday?"
Beth laughed, a harsh, barking sound. She leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms. "Happy Birthday? Is that what we're calling it? I call it the deadline. You're eighteen today, Celeste. And still... nothing."
She sniffed the air theatrically, wrinkling her nose. "You still smell like a human. Weak. Useless."
My hands curled into fists at my sides, hidden by the folds of my dress. It was the one insult I couldn't defend myself against. In a world where shifting was as natural as breathing, I was an anomaly. A mistake. My wolf was dormant, silent deep within my soul.
"Magnus doesn't seem to mind," I said, my voice steady despite the flutter of anxiety in my chest. "He arrives within the hour."
Beth's eyes narrowed. The mention of Magnus always struck a nerve. He was the heir to the Bloodmoon Pack, powerful, wealthy, and undeniably handsome. And he had chosen me. Not Beth, the pure-blood shifter. Me, the half-breed mistake.
"Magnus is a politician," Beth spat, stepping into the room. She picked up the small velvet box sitting on my vanity, my father's gift. She flipped it open, revealing the intricate silver hair comb inside. "He wants a connection to Dad's alliance. Don't think for a second he actually loves you. Once he realizes you're barren of a wolf, he'll toss you aside like the trash you are."
"Put that down," I said sharply.
"Or what?" Beth sneered, dangling the comb by its teeth. "You'll bite me? Oh, wait. You can't."
"Beth!"
The boom of my father's voice made us both jump. Alpha Loine stood in the hallway, his graying hair disheveled, his aura radiating exhaustion. Even after all these years, the grief of losing my mother still clung to him like a shadow.
Beth dropped the comb onto the vanity with a clatter. Her expression shifted instantly from malice to feigned innocence. "I was just helping her get ready, Daddy. She's so nervous about the engagement announcement."
My father didn't buy it. He stared at Beth until she looked away, cowed by his Alpha command. "Go downstairs, Beth. Help your brother greeting the guests."
Beth cast one last venomous glare at me before sweeping out of the room, her heels clicking loudly on the hardwood.
The silence she left behind was heavy. My father walked into the room, picking up the silver comb. His thumb traced the delicate patterns, wolves dancing under a moon.
"This belonged to her," he said softly. He didn't need to say her name. "She wore it the night we met."
He stepped behind me, tucking the comb into my dark hair. In the mirror, our eyes met. He looked proud, but there was fear there, too. He knew how precarious my position was. An Alpha's daughter who couldn't shift was a liability.
"You look beautiful, Celeste," he murmured. "Magnus... he treats you well?"
"He's perfect, Dad," I lied.
I had to believe it. Magnus was my lifeline. He was the only one outside of this house who didn't look at me with pity or disgust. He had told me, time and time again, that my wolf would come when she was ready. He was patient. He was kind.
"He's my mate," I added, clutching the hope like a shield. "He told me he felt the bond."
My father nodded, though his brow remained furrowed. "Good. Because once you leave for his pack tomorrow... I can't protect you anymore. The Bloodmoon lands are different. Dangerous."
"I'll be fine," I promised, turning to hug him. I buried my face in his chest, smelling the familiar scent of pine and rain. "I just need to get through tonight."
I didn't know how true those words were.
Outside the window, a storm was brewing. Dark clouds gathered over the treeline of the neutral territory, the place where the laws of the packs ended and the chaos of the wild began.
I looked at the storm and felt a shiver run down my spine, not of cold, but of warning.
Somewhere out there, beyond the safety of the pack borders, something was waiting for me. And it wasn't a wedding.