The one who dared to lay a hand on me was Josue Williams.

The pack members didn’t dare say it outright, but in the entire pack, only Josue had the audacity to defy me.

He didn’t have the courage to face me himself. Instead, he sent his Beta to deliver a decree, posthumously honoring Aylani Jackson with the title of "Great Luna Princess."

I tore the decree to shreds using the golden necklace Josue had once gifted me.

The hall fell silent, the pack members kneeling in terror, their heads bowed. The tension was thick until Josue finally arrived.

“Miranda,” he began, his voice measured but tinged with impatience, “Aylani is gone. If this isn’t enough, I can grant her an even more prestigious title.”

“What if I kill Lilah Pierce and then grant her the title of Luna? How would that sit with you?”

Josue fell silent.

“I want them to pay with their lives.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Fine.”

My reply came too quickly, and Josue was caught off guard, his head snapping up to meet my gaze.

“What did you say?”

“I said, ‘Fine.’”

I would do this my own way.

I forbade anyone from holding a memorial for Aylani. They had no right to mourn her. Then I sent my warriors to reclaim everything that had ever belonged to her.

Ali Lee stood in their way, his claws extended, his eyes blazing with defiance.

Lilah knelt nearby, her teeth biting into her lower lip, silent and trembling.

With a mere wave of my hand, my warriors flooded the room, forcing Ali to his knees, the impact of his bones against the marble floor echoing through the hall.

Years ago, he had knelt before me just like this, begging for my blessing to mate with Aylani.

When I discovered their secret bond, I had forbidden them from seeing each other, fearing for Aylani’s reputation. Ali had knelt in front of the entire pack, pleading with me to allow their union.

Without my approval, even his close ties to Josue couldn’t secure him a mating decree.

Back then, I had asked Aylani,

“If you mate with him, you can never go back.”

Her cheeks had flushed.

“Miranda,” she had said, her voice steady, “he promised me he would never take another mate. I want to believe him.”

“And if he’s wrong?”

“Then I’ll live with the consequences.”

Aylani had always appeared delicate, but beneath that soft exterior was a mind as sharp as claws and a will as unyielding as steel. I had learned that firsthand.

Her determination to choose Ali had been as fierce as her resolve to leave him when the time came.

When we were younger, she had always taught me, “The best victory is one won without bloodshed.”

I was only eight years old when my half-sister snatched away the heirloom my mother had left me.

A ceremonial robe, crafted with intricate details and adorned with precious stones.

I went to my father, the Alpha, to complain. He brushed it off, saying,

“That robe was ruined by a stray cat. I’ll get you a new one.”

Later, as I passed by my half-sister’s quarters, I saw her flaunting the robe to her friends, boasting about its beauty, its craftsmanship, and the precious gems that adorned it.

Amid their gasps of admiration, I shifted my claws and, with cold precision, shredded the robe into tatters while she still wore it.

When my father arrived, my half-sister was pinned beneath me, too stunned to cry until she saw him. Then she screamed for help.

I stood there, my claws still extended, my gaze steady as I met my father’s eyes.

“The stray cat ruined my robe, Father. Don’t forget to buy me a new one.”

Perhaps it was the calmness in my eyes that silenced him. He didn’t scold me as I walked away, the crowd parting like water before me.

The next day, an identical robe was delivered to my room.

I heard my half-sister’s mother had to empty her savings to treat her daughter’s wounds.

After that, she never dared to come near my quarters again.

Rumors about me spread through the pack—whispers of my cruelty, my bloodlust, how I roamed the streets at night, hunting for victims. It was around this time that Aylani Jackson appeared in my life.

Laney Nelson, the daughter of our Gamma, pushed me into the lake during a pack gathering. I clung to the rocks, pulling myself out, then dragged her into the water. She nearly drowned.

Her father pleaded with the Lycan King to punish me.

The King summoned everyone to hear the case, but no one dared to speak in my defense—except Aylani.

“Laney was the one who provoked Miranda first,” she said, her voice steady. “If punishment is necessary, it should be fair and equal.”

The King, after hearing the truth, didn’t punish me. Instead, he ordered the Gamma to discipline his daughter more strictly.

Before Aylani, my philosophy was simple: if someone wronged me, I’d make them pay, no matter the cost.

But Aylani taught me something else.

“Don’t sacrifice yourself just to punish someone,” she said. “It’s not worth it. Make them suffer, but don’t let them blame you for it.”

I warned her to stay away from me.

“I’m toxic,” I said.

Aylani just laughed.

“It’s fine. I’m immune.”

From then on, whenever I got into trouble, Aylani was always there to clean up the mess.

The rumors about me changed. No longer was I the bloodthirsty monster; now, I was the pitiful girl who’d lost her mother, bullied by her stepmother and half-sister.

I asked Aylani why she helped me.

“With your reputation and lineage, you might end up as the Luna of a powerful pack one day,” she joked. “I’m just securing my future.”

I didn’t believe her.

Not until my Marking Ceremony, when I was officially mated to Josue Williams, the future Alpha of our pack. Only then did Aylani tell me the truth.

She said she was from another world, sent here to save me. Without her intervention, I would have destroyed not just myself but the entire pack. Now that my life was back on track, she was ready to leave.

“When my body dies here, I’ll return to my world,” she explained. “I love it there. Don’t try to stop me.”

I was happy for her.

But I never expected Lilah Pierce to enter the picture.

And I never imagined the chaos that would follow.