Years ago, I saved the alpha with the Heart-Calm Talisman-a relic that pulses with wolfsbane-neutralizing energy-earning his favor as imperial sister.

On my coming-of-age day, he waved atportraits:

"Luanne, choose a mate who'll guard you every moonrise."

I picked Haymanor Luis, my werewolf childhood friend.

But after our mating ceremony, he colluded with rogue lycans to kidnap me, demanding the Talisman for his sister Selene, who suffered from weak heart syndrome-a curse where her wolf's core failed to ignite.

Tied to the pack wall, I felt silver blades slice my legs, my ears-their countdown echoing like silver bells.

"The Talisman's gone!"

I howled, blood pooling on the stones.

"I gave it to the alpha!"

Haymanor's golmanor eyes glowed with scorn:

"Liar, Luanne Smith! Your witchcraft cursed Selene. This is but a taste of her pain."

Darkness claimed me, only to wake back on that fateful day.

The portraits lay before me.

Staring at the candidates, I ignored Haymanor's feral smirk, pointing to Sean's portrait.

The alpha blinked: "But you love Haymanor. Why choose Sean Charles? He's vowed celibacy for a werewolf maimanor he can't mate."

Ah, yes-once, Haymanor saved me at the Moonlit Festival.

I remembered his chest's warmth.

But in my past life, he'd watched lycans flay me, sneering: "

You deserve this for cursing Selene."

When I fell from the wall, Sean's howl had shaken the pack-his eyes red as a cornered alpha. That loyalty I craved.

"Sean," I repeated, voice trembling.

As the alpha drafted the decree, a butler burst in:

"Your Majesty! Luis has caused trouble again!"

I smiled coldly.

No doubt for his foster sister.

One day she's "insulted" by a lycan crime lord, the next "harassed" by rogue wolves-always demanding Haymanor's intervention.

Before our mating in the past life, he'd already marked Selene with his scent, treating her like a claimed mate.

How many times had this happened? Too many to count.

I once blocked his path, only to meet his wolf's glare:

"Selene can't fight like you, Luanne Smith. She's weak-nothing like your cursed kind."

His words still stung.

When had the pup who nuzzled my neck under the full moon become this?

No matter-the blood debt from my past life would be repaid in kind.

The alpha noticed my frown.

"Luanne, if you still care for Haymanor, let me arrange your mating. A bond will tame his restlessness."

Tame him?

He'd only leash me to a silver stake.

"No, Brother," I croaked.

"Only Sean Charles."

After the decree sealed our bond, I wandered from the palace, sunlight warming my cheeks-yet tears spilled.

Why did the wolf's heart ache so?

A hand clamped my wrist-Haymanor.

His anger faded at my tears, but I flinched from his touch.

His face darkened: "So this is how you greet your intended? Playing the wounded doe, Luanne-you've always been clever."

Selene's lithe form pressed against Haymanor, her scent a sickly-sweet.

His voice rumbled low: "Luanne, Selene's heart grows weaker. Where are the lycan potions you promised?"

Once, I'd have raced to deliver them-those elixirs took my blood to brew, each drop mixed with lunar herbs to soothe a warrior's wounds.

But Haymanor didn't know I'd fed him my own essence for years, believing it mere "medicine".

Now Selene's cheeks glowed with my stolen vitality.

"She looks healthier than me," I sneered, tracing the silver scar on my wrist.

"That 'weak heart' seems to thrive on my sacrifices."

"Watch your tongue, Luanne Smith!"

She nuzzled his arm, faking a wheeze:

"Brother, please-she didn't mean it."

Her nails dug into his forearm.

I caught the glint in her eye-she knew those potions held my wolf's life force, draining me to strengthen her own half-bred core.

Haymanor's golmanor eyes burned as he clamped my wrist.

"She's my sister-soon your packmate. Can't you behave?"

I wrenched free, lip curling.

"Your packmate? "

His pupils constricted.

"What are you mad at? Over a hairpin? You have trunks of jewels! What's one for Selene?"

Selene whimpered, pressing against his side.

"Brother, please... Princess is highborn; I shouldn't have touched her-"

My mother's jade phoenix pin-the last thing she'd pressed into my palm before her wolf's heart failed.

I'd scoured Jade Flower Palace for it, weeping until my eyes swelled.

Then I saw it in Selene's hair, her smirk slicing deeper than any silver blade.

"Princess or not," she'd bragged to her lackeys,

"when she mates into House Luis, I'll rule this manor."

Haymanor had heard her, only sighing: "Mind your tongue around Luanne."

She'd nuzzled his neck, purring: "What's she to do? You'll always choose me, big brother."

His smile then-soft, adoring-was a dagger in my gut.

Now, I turned on my heel. "Yes, I'm petty."

Behind me, Haymanor's snarl shook the air.

"Fine! Mock Selene now, but on our mating day, I'll make you howl for this!"

Back in my chambers, the dizziness of rebirth-like a wolf's soul snapping back into its skin-still thrummed in my temples.

Judith burst in, her scent reeking of terror:

"Princess! General Luis and Miss Luis have stormed your herb valley! They've trampled Lady 's moonbloom roses-and surrounded the valley with silver-clad guards!"

I shot to my feet.

In my past life, Selene had purred: "Brother, I've never seen lycan herbs grow. Wouldn't it be thrilling?"

Racing to the valley, I found guards blocking the path, silver swords bared.

"General's orders, Princess-no interruptions."

My snarl shook the air.

Moonbloom roses-mother's pride, their petals laced with wolfsbane to repel dark spirits-lay crushed.

My carefully tended vitality moss-the kind that mends a werewolf's torn flesh-had been ripped from the earth.

"How dare you!"

My palm connected with a guard's cheek, his silver armor burning my skin.

"These herbs sustain the alpha's Heart-Calm Talisman! Are you plotting his death?"

Guards dropped to their knees, baring throats in submission.

I charged in-then stopped, blood turning to ice.

There, in the ruins of mother's garmanor, Haymanor had Selene pressed against a moonbloom trellis. His fangs were bared near her throat, her dress torn to reveal mating bites on her shoulder.

The air reeked of their mingled scents-claiming this sacred place as their place of sex.

Mother's voice echoed: "Never let a werewolf mark you in a place of power."

But Haymanor had done worse-he'd desecrated the very soil where my wolf had first howled at the moon.

My claws unsheathed, tearing through silk as I prepared to unleash the beast within.

In mother's sacred moonbloom meadow-once a haven for werewolf spirits-their filthy paws had trampled the silver-lined flowers.

Selene lay beneath Haymanor, her cheeks flushed from wolfsbane-laced arousal.

"Brother..." she purred, as his hand vanished under her skirt.

My wolf's stomach heaved.

This was the same Haymanor who'd once nuzzled me under peach trees, purring: "Luanne, your scent drives me wild."

Now his tongue lapped Selene's collarbone.

"FILTH!"

I screamed, hurling a watering can.

It missed Haymanor, smashing a moonbloom bush.

Haymanor shielded Selene, his snarl fading when he saw my white face.

But Selene's cry reignited his anger: "Luanne Smith! You almost killed her !"

Selene collapsed at my feet, blood trickling from a self-inflicted head wound.

"Forgive me, Princess!"

She latched onto my leg, a hairpin piercing my calf.

I kicked her into the frozen silver pool, her shriek echoing.

Haymanor hauled her out, eyes burning with loathing:

"You're heartless! Unfit to be a Luis!"

His palm struck my chest, sending me crashing into the pool.

Cold seared my skin-the water was laced with silver.

"I can't swim!"

I choked, remembering how I'd once saved him from this very pool, drowning myself to lift his unconscious form.

He knew.

Yet his boot ground my fingers against the pool wall, forcing me under.

"A she-wolf like you deserves to drown."

Bubbles escaped my lips as memories flooded: him watching lycans flay me, his icy stare as my blood stained the wall.

In that moment, his wolf's face merged with the monster from my past life-both wearing the same cruel grin.The water burned my throat, but the betrayal hurt more.

I blacked out, waking to the alpha's wolfish rage.

Haymanor Luis was chained in the silver-lined dungeon, sentenced to 300 lashes with silver-tipped whips for attempting to drown a princess.

But Selene-crawling on all fours from the gates to the palace-begged like a mangy pup.

The alpha relented, honoring General Luis's past battles for the Luis pack.

Yet whispers spread like wildfire:

"She's just a she-wolf with tricks-wait till she mates into the Luis manor. The alpha and luna despise her!"

"An unholy abomination-only the alpha's favor spares her from being hunted as a rogue."

My brother tried to silence them, but his alpha's growl couldn't drown the lies.

"Luanne, you suffer for my crown," he said, guilt lining his features.

Tears fell, but I only whispered: "I need to run, brother."

The next moon, I fled south to Sean Charles's post.

Rogue lycans ambushed me en route, their rotted wolfsbane scent filling the air.

As I fought, a hand seized my wrist- his scent burned into my memory.

"Princess?" Sean's voice rumbled, his ice-blue wolf eyes scanning my wounds.

When he saw me staring, his ears twitched red. "Apologies, highness."