The laughter around me grew louder, sharp like snapping teeth; someone even whistled mockingly.
Alaric’s eyes were ice. “Enough,” he said, voice cutting through the noise. “Stop humiliating yourself. Take your banishment scroll and leave. From this moment, you no longer exist to me or to this pack.”
I gripped the scroll tightly, feeling only emptiness crawl through me. For five years, I had hidden my true identity, living as an ordinary wolf in his ranks, working tirelessly to help him rise to power.
And now, after personally laying the path to his dominance, he was ready to cast me aside like a used tool. I could endure loss—but I would not be made a fool. The last five years of my youth might have been wasted on an ungrateful alpha, but I would not break.
“Alaric… you’ll regret this,” I whispered, low and deadly.
Alaric’s reaction was laughter, sharp and mocking, as though I had just made the world’s most absurd joke.
“Regret?” he barked. “The only thing I’ll regret is ever meeting a faithless she-wolf like you!”
He extended his hand toward Lilith. The two exchanged a triumphant smile and strode together to the center of the clearing.
It was only then that I noticed—their matching ceremonial attire, a designer set of dark tailored leathers and a flowing gown of deep crimson. He raised their joined hands high, his voice loud and commanding over the gathered pack.
“Tomorrow marks the most crucial day in the history of our territory—our ascension! None of this would have been possible without the effort of every wolf here. Together, we shall continue to rise to greatness!”
The pack erupted in cheers, the forest shaking with howls of approval and thunderous applause.
The endless flattery of Alaric and Lilith, hailed as the perfect golden pair of the pack, rang sharply in my ears. Alaric’s eyes swept over me, indifferent, as though I were nothing more than a shadow passing through the clearing. I felt utterly invisible, a ghost among wolves.
As I stared at the male I had devoted five years of my heart to, I finally understood why my parents always said my judgment was flawed. They had been right—I had been blind, hopelessly blind.
I hadn’t realized that Lilith, Alaric’s ever-loyal mate-in-waiting, had been entwined with him all along, hiding in plain sight.