The mating ceremony had just ended, and Giovanna couldn’t wait to flood her social media with pictures of her and Amos from the celebration. The images portrayed them as an ideal couple, radiating love and dominance, as befitting an Alpha and his chosen Luna. Comments below were filled with congratulations and best wishes from pack members and allies, praising the union as a boon for the Silver Moon Pack.

By the time Elsie returned to her den, darkness had fallen. She gazed at the remnants of the celebration—white banners adorned with the pack’s crescent moon emblem, and balloons that still hung in the air, their cheerful colors mocking her. The sting in her eyes was unbearable. Just then, the door creaked open behind her.

She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Amos. He brought with him the scent of whiskey and exhaustion, his imposing frame filling the room. His Alpha aura was heavy, almost suffocating, as he wrapped her in an embrace from behind. He rested his chin on her shoulder, his warm breath tickling her ear.

"I’m sorry for putting you through this," he murmured, his voice low and gruff.

His breath was a mix of alcohol and another woman’s perfume—Giovanna’s scent, floral and cloying. It almost made Elsie gag. She pulled away from his arms and turned to face him. Tears rolled down her cheeks despite her best efforts to hold them back.

Seeing this, Amos reached out to wipe away her tears, his touch firm yet tinged with pity. She turned her head to avoid his hand. "Stop pretending to care," she said, her voice trembling.

For a moment, the air between them seemed to freeze. Her abrupt rejection erased the guilt on Amos’s face, replacing it with irritation and a hint of disdain. His Alpha tone cut through the silence, sharp and commanding.

"Can’t you be rational? I should be with Giovanna today. She was worried you might do something drastic and asked me to be with you instead."

"So I should thank her? Thank her for taking you and then gracing me with your presence?" Elsie shouted, her body trembling with anger. Amos’s face flushed with alternating shades of red and white. Finally, he gritted his teeth, his Alpha aura flaring in frustration.

"It was just a marking ceremony. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?"

"The pup? Is the pup pretend too?"

At the mention of the pup, Amos faltered, but quickly regained his composure, his dark eyes narrowing as he stared at her defiantly.

"That was because I was drugged by an enemy. She helped me out," he said, as if it were the most natural thing.

Elsie couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. This wasn’t the first time he had been drugged. She remembered once when he was in the same situation, he had chosen to injure himself with a small knife rather than touch the female who had been sent to him. But now, everything had changed. He seemed oblivious to his wrongdoings, standing more self-righteously than ever.

"I’ve hurt your sister. Besides, the healer said her condition can’t handle any stress, so I had to agree to mark her."

But it was Elsie who was sick. When she found out about her illness, she kept quiet to avoid worrying them. She never planned to mark Amos, afraid of burdening him. But he was insistent, pleading earnestly to make her his mate. He had held her, saying his greatest wish was to be with her. She loved him too much at the time. She thought she could be selfish just once.

But on the day of the marking ceremony, she regretted it. She planned to tell him the truth, but... she was no longer the one standing beside him.

"Elsie, your sister is already going through so much. Can’t you just let her have this? Please, don’t make a scene."

He softened his tone, but it wasn’t for her—it was to protect her sister. Elsie looked at him and suddenly found him unfamiliar. Before he could come closer to hold her, she pushed him away with all her strength.

Wiping her tears, she enunciated, "We are breaking the mate bond."

He looked at her in disbelief, then let out a mocking laugh. "Breaking the bond with me? Are you still just angry?"

He casually sat on the sofa and lit a cigarette, the smoke curling around him like a shroud. But Elsie couldn’t stand the smell. She had allergic rhinitis, and the smoke made her feel miserable. He knew this.

It wasn’t until he saw her tearing up from the coughing that he finally put out the cigarette, his dark eyes locking on hers with a mix of irritation and something deeper—something she couldn’t quite place.

Amos’s piercing amber eyes bore into her, his Alpha aura radiating an intimidating mix of frustration and impatience. His broad shoulders tensed under the weight of the situation, his voice sharp and commanding.

"None of us have wronged you; we’re all just caught in a situation beyond our control."

His tone softened slightly, though it still carried the authority of an Alpha addressing a subordinate. "Besides, your sister is seriously ill and doesn’t have much time left. Why are you arguing with someone who’s living on borrowed time?"

"But I'm the one who's sick," Elsie said, her voice trembling as she struggled to meet his gaze.

Amos’s expression darkened, his lips curling into a frown. His towering frame seemed to loom over her, the dominance of his Alpha aura pressing down on her. "Are you really using this to seek attention?"

Elsie let out a bitter laugh, her voice rising with hysteria.

"Yes, yes, I’m the dramatic one, while you’re all so noble and innocent."

Her words grew sharper, each syllable laced with pain and anger, as if they could cut through the mate bond that still lingered between them.

"One person makes mistakes because of medication, and another selflessly gets pregnant for the Alpha’s sake, hahaha..."

Amos’s jaw tightened, his fists clenching at his sides. The Alpha tone in his voice deepened, a clear warning. "Enough, Elsie."

But she didn’t stop. She couldn’t. The betrayal, the humiliation—it all spilled out in a torrent of words.

Finally, Amos turned on his heel, his heavy boots thudding against the floor as he stormed out, slamming the door behind him with a force that reverberated through the pack house.

After the marking ceremony, Naomi and Dilan publicly disowned Elsie.

They painted her as the one who had come between the Alpha and his rightful Luna, using their status as respected elders of the Silver Moon Pack to tarnish her name.

Giovanna, now the Luna, appeared on a popular pack talk show.

On the show, she spoke with grace and poise, her words carefully chosen to twist the narrative in her favor.

She recounted countless moments of Amos’s devotion to her: how he had prepared extravagant Christmas gifts for her, even catching up on the years before they had met.

She shared how Amos had dropped everything to take her to see the northern lights after she casually mentioned it.

And how, even when she had a mild cold, he would fuss over her, ensuring she felt loved and cared for.

Elsie’s hands trembled as she watched.

Amos had never treated her that way.

Only then did she realize she had been nothing more than a placeholder, a pawn in Giovanna’s game.

No wonder Giovanna had scoffed when Elsie had announced her relationship with Amos,

"You? Are you sure he loves you? Ha, you really lack self-awareness."

Giovanna had known all along that Amos was in love with her.

She had watched Elsie stumble through the dream Amos had spun for her, all the while enjoying the show.

Giovanna’s words had their intended effect.

The pack’s social media was flooded with scorn and accusations against Elsie.

"Who is this shameless sister who would even steal her own sibling’s mate?"

"Where did this competitive she-wolf come from? She’s really unbearable."

Amos did nothing.

He didn’t step forward to clear Elsie’s name, nor did he defend Giovanna.

His silence was a tacit approval of Giovanna’s actions, a clear message to the pack that Elsie was no longer under his protection.

Elsie locked herself in her room, her heart twisting in agony.

She wanted to set the record straight.

But her accounts were shut down, her access to the pack’s communication channels revoked.

Even her anonymous attempts to defend herself were blocked.

Every message she tried to send vanished into thin air.

That’s when a message from Naomi arrived.

“Don’t blame us; if anyone’s to blame, it’s you for causing a scene at the marking ceremony.”

“We had no other choice; otherwise, the pack would label Giovanna as the intruder.”

“This time you’ll just have to endure it. Come home tonight, and we’ll have a family dinner to make it up to you.”

Make it up to her? A meal as compensation?

How laughable and tragic.

Elsie didn’t want to go back.

But Naomi’s next message carried a veiled threat.

“You must come back; today is Giovanna’s first time visiting home after the marking ceremony. If you don’t come, the pack will think our family is falling apart.”

Naomi’s voice was calm, but beneath it lay a warning.

That was the real reason they wanted Elsie back.

Compensation was just a pretense.

Elsie had always wondered, am I really their child?

Why, when they are both their daughters, do they favor one so heavily over the other?

For so many years, she had been the one overlooked.

As much as they cherished Giovanna, they were indifferent to her.

Finally, she could hold it in no longer. “Am I really your child? Why do you want to hurt me?”

On the other side of the line, Naomi and Dilan were taken aback, about to voice their rebuke, but in the end, they swallowed their words.