As the High Priestess of the Silver Wolf Pack, I had grown up alongside three Alpha princes. Our pack had one ancient law. Whoever took the High Priestess as his Luna would inherit the throne. I had always believed my Alpha would be one of them. 3 years ago, all three princes were struck by the Black Moon Curse. To save them, I drained nearly all the wolf blood from my body. I managed to pull them back from the edge of death, but the price was permanent.   From that day on, I could no longer summon my wolf under the moonlight. In the eyes of the pack, I had become useless, a wolf who could no longer shift. But when the princes woke, they mistook Seraphina Montclair for their savior. From then on, they worshiped her as the "Daughter of the Moon Goddess" and gave her everything. They even forced me to give her my blood when she was injured, and now they wanted me to hand over my title as the High Priestess too. Standing before the Sacred Blood Spring, I smiled. "Fine. She can have it." It did not matter anymore. Soon, I would be marrying the Alpha King of the North.

At my birthday party, my boyfriend, Joel Wheeler, rolled out the cake. But on top, it read: Happy Birthday, Iris. I froze mid-reach for my prenatal checkup report. Iris, wearing the birthday dress I was supposed to change into, threw herself into Joel's arms. "Joel, you actually gave Olivia's birthday to me?" Joel ruffled her hair. "It's just a birthday. She gets one every year. You just went through a breakup. What's the harm in letting you be happy for once?" When the cake was cut, Iris grabbed the first slice and held it up to Joel's mouth. Only after everyone had finished singing Happy Birthday to Iris did Joel walk over to me with a slice of cake, a candle leaning crookedly on top. "Make a wish. Don't ruin the mood." I watched the candle burn down to the wick, and suddenly remembered what my friend Nora had asked me that afternoon. "The guesthouse in Southford opens at the end of the month. I need a partner. Are you in?" At that moment, I finally had my answer.

The moment the rings were about to be exchanged at the wedding, Ruby Tennyson, my boyfriend's childhood sweetheart, burst through the doors in a frenzy to steal the groom. Alistair Whitaker, my supposed-to-be husband, halted the ceremony on the spot and ran off with her. Just like that, he vanished without a trace for two whole years. Then, two years later, the man had the audacity to show up at my doorstep, bold as brass, announcing he wanted to marry me all over again. "Kiara, I told you once... my bride will always be you. Running away back then was just me keeping a promise to take Ruby on a trip together. Only... last year, she unexpectedly had my child. I figured, why not set the wedding on the kid's first birthday? It might make her feel a little better to know the kid will be taken care of by you and I." I could scarcely believe my ears. I'm a daughter of a powerful family, raised like a princess, cherished by everyone. He had already betrayed me, and now he had the gall to try and make me play stepmother to his illegitimate child? My stomach churned violently. I clamped down hard on the wave of morning sickness surging up my throat and fixed him with an icy glare. "Alistair, I'm warning you, don't you dare set foot in my house again. Or you'll live to regret it, I swear." Quentin Marshall, the man who made all of Sicily tremble. If he ever found out someone was harassing his wife and child... he would put a bullet in him with his own hands.

My best friend, Jenna Brooks, and I were kidnapped together, and the kidnappers gave my husband, Ethan Pierce, 10 minutes to choose which one of us to save.   Ethan picked me without a second thought.   By the time I was rescued, Jenna had already sunk into the deep sea.   Ethan locked down the entire dock, put up a 10 million bounty, and searched the area so thoroughly that he might as well have turned the whole place upside down.   And the mastermind they finally uncovered? My older brother, Ryan Hayes, who had been missing for years.   Ethan immediately jumped to the conclusion that I'd asked Ryan to plan the entire kidnapping.   On our wedding night, he slammed me into a bathtub filled to the brim with seawater.   "You took advantage of how much I loved you, paid off those kidnappers, and killed Jenna," he snarled. "I'm going to make you spend the rest of your life paying for what you did to her!"   Later, he personally made sure Ryan was sent to death row and executed.   He slept with one woman after another who looked strikingly like Jenna. Ethan said this was all the retribution I deserved. It was not until ten years later that Jenna appeared before me again, tangled in desperate passion with Ethan on our marriage bed. Only then did I learn that Jenna had never died. In the days that followed, I was forced to watch Jenna and Ethan love each other tenderly, and in the end, I died of grief. *****   When I jolted awake, I was right back on the day Jenna and I were kidnapped together.   The kidnapper was barking demands into the phone, forcing Ethan to choose right then and there.   This time, I spoke first, my voice steady and unwavering.   "Save her, please."