The eldest daughter of the Bennett family, Chloe Bennett, had her pick of suitors. She chose to marry a "mute." In the first year of their marriage, Chloe was alone at home with a fever of 104 degrees in the middle of the night. She held on long enough to send Leon Lancaster voice messages, begging him to come home. Ten voice messages. No response. In the second year, Chloe was nearly robbed and had her throat slashed on a New York street. She called Leon, who was nearby, for help. Twenty phone calls. No answer. In the fifth year, Chloe's car lost control on the highway. Pregnant and hemorrhaging, she was on the brink of death and needed her guardian's signature for surgery. Through the endless dial tone that never connected, she signed the consent form herself in despair and felt her child slip away on the operating table, one breath at a time. That was when she finally gave up. The moment she was off the operating table, she stormed into Leon's office with a hammer and smashed his phone to pieces. "If you can't check messages or answer calls, what's the point of keeping it?" Leon stood calmly to the side, letting her rage. It wasn't until his shattered phone let out a specially assigned notification tone, silenced forever under Chloe's hammer, that a crack appeared in his composure. He grabbed his car keys and rushed downstairs.

There was a rule in the town of Cedar Creek: whenever twins were born, one had to become the scapegoat. Only then could both children grow up safe and sound. My name was Rowan Ellis, and my twin sister was Sophie Ellis. I had been born four minutes earlier, so I became that scapegoat. Sophie climbed over a fence and snuck into an abandoned swimming pool. Mom didn't scold her. Instead, she grabbed me by the hair and shoved my face into the laundry sink again and again. She didn't let go until my sister sobbed and promised never to do it again. When Sophie made dinner, she failed to cook the pasta through. Mom found the macaroni in the baking dish still hard. She set two bowls of dry pasta in front of me. "Eat it all. Not one piece left." The hard, dry tubes cut my mouth until it bled, while she kept her eyes fixed on my sister the entire time. Only when Sophie finally cried and admitted she was wrong did Mom take the bowls away, satisfied. I spent 16 years as the scapegoat. Then the town issued a major earthquake warning, and every resident had to evacuate overnight. But Sophie had gone out with her friends. She came back with her dress soaking wet, still laughing about what had happened at the party. Mom shoved her into our SUV, then turned to me and said calmly, "You stay. Once this earthquake is over, your sister will have learned to come home on time." Everyone left. Dust kept raining down over my head. Then an entire wall came crashing down. 'Mom, this time the scapegoat is really going to die. Is that lesson enough for you?'

I was Nina Harlow, and for three years, my husband, Nathaniel Mercer, hadn't touched me once. I put on a lace slip, faked hickeys, and pretended another man had taken a picture of me asleep and sent it to him. Anonymous: Buddy, she smells sweet. Divorce her already and let me have her. What do you say? I figured Nathaniel would be disgusted and furious when he got the anonymous message. He would toss me aside like garbage—just a substitute for the woman he really wanted. I thought I would finally get my divorce.

On our birthday, my twin sister, Lily Bennett, drew the princess card again. And I, Erin Bennett, drew the knight. Again. Mom and Dad smiled and applauded. "Looks like even the Moon Goddess knows your sister was born to be cherished." According to the rules of our family's game, the princess could make one wish of the knight. Lily looked at the engagement ring on my hand and suddenly smiled. "Erin, I want Aiden to be my fiancé." The private dining room fell silent. Before he died, Grandpa had arranged my engagement to Aiden Blackwood, the Alpha of the Black Pine Pack. After our mating ceremony, I would become the pack's Luna. And after all these years, that engagement was the only thing Lily had never taken from me. I instinctively pulled my hand back. Mom immediately pressed a hand to my shoulder. "Aiden has never even met you. What does it matter if we switch you two?" Dad pushed the ring toward Lily. "That's right. The knight is supposed to grant the princess's wish. You've followed the rules your whole life. Don't ruin the game now." Lily slipped on the ring and winked at me. "You don't mind giving it up, do you, Erin?" I suddenly remembered how, when we were children, she had wanted my trophy, my dresses, even my bedroom. Every time, Mom and Dad said Lily deserved the very best. All I had to do was let her have it. I lowered my head and looked at the unread message on my phone. Aiden Blackwood: See you at the engagement party in 3 days. This time, I would be my own princess.

On the third day after I died, Alpha Ronan Calder got the call to identify my body. He had another woman in his arms, fastening a diamond necklace around her neck. His hands froze, then he said calmly, "A new trick? If she's dead, call me after she's cremated." My body went into the furnace. Once it had burned down to ash, the staff called him again. He clicked his tongue, impatient. "Still acting. Got it. I'm on my way."

The Moon Priest read my fortune. "This child's lifeline is weak. She may not live to see adulthood. "Remove her from the line of succession, and do not let her train. The less noticeable she is, the better her chances of survival." My stepmother broke into a fit of coughing. "Priest, that's enough. Enough!" Later, claiming she was "afraid I would die young," she forbade me from learning to read or receiving any training. She was determined to make me completely useless. So every day, I crawled through a hole in the wall and snuck into the Silver Moon Pack's training camp to sit in on the cubs' lessons. The day my training ended, I set fire to my room and left behind a charred body to fake my death. Then I fled to the frontier and enlisted as a common soldier defending the pack. Ten years later, I returned to Moon City, and Alpha Raine awarded me a medal. Smiling, he asked, "Liz, I have a daughter. Would you like her?" I answered cautiously, "Does the offer come with a pardon?"