I gave my heart to a man who never deserved it.On the night I was supposed to become Damien's chosen mate, I walked in on him in the arms of my cousin Lena, laughing like I was the joke everyone already knew the punchline to.Broken and alone, I ran into the dark woods outside our pack borders. I never expected to find anyone out there. I never expected him.A stranger. Dangerous. Warm. The kind of man whose scent made my whole body forget every rule I had ever followed.I told myself it was just the heat. Just one night. I left before sunrise, before I could see his face clearly, before I could make it mean something.But some things cannot be undone.When I came home, my stepfather saw the mark on my neck and gave me an ultimatum that froze my blood: find a husband in three days or disappear forever.The only man who steps forward is Alpha Caden of the Ironpeak Pack, cold, ruthless, feared by every pack within a hundred miles.He says he already has a marked mate somewhere. He says he will not mark anyone new.But the way he looks at me does not feel like a stranger looking at a bride.It feels like someone who already knows exactly what I sound like when I fall apart.

Everyone in the Crimson Ridge Pack knows my name.Not because I matter. Because I'm the reason their future Alpha never drew his first breath.I was born on the night of a blood moon, and my twin brother died before he could cry. They said I stole his life. My own mother said it first, and the pack believed her. Eighteen years later, I'm still paying for it.I cook. I clean. I bleed. I stay silent.I don't dream about mates or moonlit dances. Girls like me don't get happy endings. We just survive long enough to see another sunrise.But then he arrived.Alpha Damon of the Iron Crest Pack. Cold. Powerful. The kind of man who walks into a room and makes everyone forget how to breathe.He wasn't looking at me like I'm the answer to a question he doesn't know how to ask?And why, when he finally learns the truth about who I am, does everything change?

My father sold my freedom before I even had a chance to live.I thought I was just marrying a cruel, aging billionaire to clear an old family debt. I thought I was saving my mother and father from financial ruin. I didn't know I was being sent into a predator's den as an unwitting spy.The Iron Citadel was built to be a prison. Lord Valerius ruled it with absolute terror, treating every woman inside like property. Locked inside his cold stone walls, watched by hidden cameras, my father commanded me to report every guard shift, every room layout, and every secret back to him.Then he returned from abroad.Drake Valerius. The dark, towering billionaire heir who carried the cold aura of an elite ruler. He was ruthless, untouchable, and harbored a dangerous hatred for his own father. He wasn't supposed to notice me in the dark corridors. He wasn't supposed to step between me and his father's wrath. And I was never, ever supposed to fall in love with him.When I uncovered the dark secret hidden in the fortress archives, my world shattered. My whole life was a lie designed by the man who raised me.Now, my husband's father is dead, murdered using the exact security notes I sent home. The man I surrendered my heart to looks at me with eyes full of betrayal, believing I was the blade in his back all along.I lost my freedom. I lost my heart. But I will be damned if I let either of them destroy my soul.