Chapter 1 Sacrificial Bride
"You are just a sacrifice to take my place," Chloe said, lifting her chin beneath the crystal chandelier. "Did you actually believe you could keep the title of the Vance family's true daughter?"
Elena pressed her cracked lips together. "The Moon Goddess will see your wickedness."
"The Blackwood town car arrived at the gate," the butler announced, entering the foyer with his eyes fixed straight ahead.
Chloe waved one manicured hand toward the entrance. "Drag her out."
Two tall pack guards seized Elena by both arms, hauling her across the threshold.
Elena looked back before her boots hit the courtyard gravel. Victor and Marianne stood beside Chloe under the porch lights. Cold rejection hardened her biological parents' faces, crushing whatever foolish hope remained in her chest.
---
Bitter herbal steam hung thick in the air of the master bedroom inside Midnight Manor. Elena pressed the cut on her forearm, scanning the dim stone hall. Upon the wide mattress rested Alexander Blackwood. The city called him a cold-blooded tyrant, yet now the pureblood black-wolf Alpha lay trapped in unbroken slumber.
His skin appeared bloodless. Sharp jawlines cast long angles into the shadows, carrying an innate authority even with his eyes shut. Dormant wolf power lingered around him, heavy enough to weigh down her breath.
This was her contract husband.
Elena took slow, aching steps toward the bedside. She sat on the edge of the mattress and reached out, tucking the cold blanket over his shoulder.
Fingers clamped around her wrist. The cold grip tightened, threatening to snap the joint in two.
Elena ground her molars together. She pried at his grip and laid her free palm against his jawline. Under her palm, his gray-blue lashes stirred. He remained asleep.
The iron hold on her wrist loosened.
Elena rubbed the reddened mark, releasing a breath.
Rumors named Alexander Blackwood a monster who tore rivals apart. Trading places with Chloe and stepping into this silent tomb should have marked her grave.
Elena accepted the wager anyway.
The Blackwood syndicate held far more power than the Vance family could ever claim. She intended to borrow the fangs of this sleeping predator to pull the entire Vance bloodline into the dirt.
Fever flared along the whip marks on her forearm, burning with stale silver poison. Darkness took over her sight. Heat surged through her veins, and she slumped sideways against the bed, losing consciousness against the sheets.
---
Memory dragged her back to the dawn of her eighteenth birthday in the Mistwood border.
Black sedans lined the dirt path outside the wooden cabin. A Vance emissary stood on the porch in a crisp uniform, announcing that she carried the pure bloodline of Silvercrest City's Vance Pack.
Arthur and Sarah held her hands, their eyes red with unshed tears. "You are not our blood daughter, Elena. Return to the city. The clan offers you true protection."
"You are my parents," Elena said, gripping their calloused hands while tears hit the mud. "I will not go to some wealthy clan."
Her foster father turned his head away. "Go. You will not waste your wolf's blood in this dirt."
The emissary pushed her into the leather interior of the car. She clung to her faded canvas bag and cheap cotton dress, completely mismatched against the glossy city streets.
When the vehicle stopped before the Vance estate, Victor and Marianne stood waiting on the front steps. Their attention belonged entirely to their adopted darling, Chloe.
Chloe hurried forward, looping an arm around Elena's elbow with a bright smile. "Sister must be exhausted after such a long ride. Come upstairs, I hung so many new dresses in the wardrobe for you!"
Victor observed Elena's stiff posture and frowned with disgust. "Clean yourself up. You look pathetic."
Inside the guest bedroom, Chloe dropped three out-of-season blouses on the chair, tags still attached. She turned to the hallway and dismissed the staff. "Leave us. My sister is the true heiress of this house, and no one disrespects her!"
The door clicked shut. Chloe's sneer pierced through the wood from the hallway. "Did you smell the bog on her? A peasant in fresh clothes remains a peasant. If the Blackwood heir had not become a vegetable, this wedding arrangement would never belong to her."
"You are the master's true daughter, Miss Chloe," a maid replied in hushed tones. "Once she takes your place in the Blackwood house, everything stays yours."
Footsteps approached from the gallery. Marianne arrived, and Chloe shifted into sweet, clingy words.
"Mother, let Elena attend St. Claire Academy with me," Chloe coaxed. "I can watch over her."
Marianne stroked Chloe's blonde hair, praising her kindness before leading her down the stairs.
Elena watched them from the dim corner of the second-floor banister, pulling her thin robe tight. The grand living room below welcomed only their golden child.
The following month shattered every pretense.
Chloe rode to St. Claire Academy in a town car. Elena walked to the crowded public transit station in the rain. At school, people treated Elena like a penniless charity case. Inside the Vance residence, servants treated her like hired help.
Three days ago, Elena stood outside the study door and heard Victor's cold instructions.
"Alexander took silver poison to the heart. His wolf is dead. The Blackwood elders demand our mating decree, so we hand Elena over. Chloe is the prize of our pack. She will not waste her youth tending a corpse."
Blood ties proved hollow. Her family brought her to Silvercrest City for one purpose: a disposable pawn traded away to save their favorite daughter.
