Chapter 1

191words2026-01-19 07:08

The truth is, when I first learned this, I even felt a sense of relief, like a stone weighing on my heart had finally fallen away.

I knew it.

How could the Alpha heir of London's most prestigious Thornfield Pack suddenly stoop to show mercy to a trampled wildflower like me?

Years ago, I asked Alaric why he liked me.

Back then we were still in Brighton. He'd just come home with day-old bread. I took the bag and looked up at him.

He was shrugging off his coat when my question made him freeze. Then he walked over and playfully pinched my cheek.

"Well, our Aria is absolutely wonderful—who in their right mind wouldn't adore you?"

But I know myself too well.

The more Alaric doted on me over the years, the more whispers spread through werewolf circles about me—the human Cinderella—the more my anxiety gnawed at me.

Now, as the sword of Damocles finally falls, I'm strangely calm—like a raging river suddenly frozen into a still, glassy surface.

I've been sitting alone by this window for hours.

From three hours ago when Alaric left to see Vivienne until now.