Chapter 1: 0001
Lorelei POV
The second I was born, they labeled me a curse.
"Hold her down."
My twin sister, Callista, stood above me with a knife clenched in her fist and pure hatred burning in the green eyes we shared.
"What do you think you’re doing?" I managed to choke out despite the two guards pinning my arms and legs against the cold stone floor.
Before I could even blink, she slapped me hard across the face. My head snapped to the side, and my vision blurred with tears I refused to let fall.
"You don’t speak unless I permit you to," she hissed, leaning so close I could smell the jasmine perfume she always wore. "Everyone keeps whispering that we look alike. I’m just fixing that little problem."
But how could we not look alike?
We were mirror images.
The same pale blonde hair spilling like liquid moonlight. The same emerald eyes that should have meant sisterhood instead of this nightmare. Our faces were identical... except hers was flawless and pampered like the Beta daughter she had been born to be, while mine was gaunt beneath dirt and rags, worn down like the slave I had grown into.
Her lips curled into something vicious.
Suddenly, she fisted my hair and yanked my head back so hard my scalp burned.
"First, the hair," she said.
Then she brought the knife to my hair and hacked off a thick chunk.
Then another.
And another.
All I could do was stare in horror as my long strands, the only feature that could never truly be hidden, fell to the stone floor around me.
"Now the face..." Callista purred, twirling the knife between her fingers.
Her expression darkened, and a shiver crawled down my spine.
"Callista, please..."
"Shut up," she hissed, pressing the edge of the blade against my cheekbone, right where our dimples would match if she had ever smiled at me without cruelty. "I hate you."
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for what was about to happen.
"What’s going on here?"
A male voice suddenly cut through the tension, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps.
And I recognized it instantly.
Jaxen.
Relief hit me so hard my chest almost gave out.
I opened my eyes and found him standing there in front of us.
At that, Callista turned to him, and within seconds her expression shifted into an innocent smile.
"Jaxen," she pouted, gracefully tucking a strand of her flawless blonde hair behind her ear. "She attacked me. You know how fragile I am. I just wanted to teach her a little lesson."
"With a knife to her face?" Jaxen pointed out.
Her expression flickered for the briefest second before smoothing out again.
"She’s a maid," she said, tightening her grip on the knife. "Don’t tell me you’re siding with a servant."
"I’m not," Jaxen corrected quickly, his eyes darting toward me for half a second before returning to Callista.
Then he stepped closer to her, placing one hand on her shoulder while the other gently pried the knife from her grasp. He forced her fingers open until the blade finally slipped into his palm.
"But even with maids, there are limits," he continued calmly. "Pack law says no permanent disfigurement without council approval. You know that."
At that, Callista’s smile returned, and she leaned into his touch in a way that made my chest tighten with a pain far sharper than the blade ever could.
"You’re right, of course," she said softly, lowering her lashes in perfect imitation of remorse. "I let my temper get the better of me. I’m sorry."
Jaxen nodded once before stepping back and breaking contact.
"Go to the Great Hall. Your father is looking for you. I’ll deal with this."
Callista’s eyes brightened with triumph.
"Of course," she said sweetly, smoothing down her dress with graceful hands.
Then, with a toss of her perfect blonde waves over one shoulder, she glided toward the door as if none of this had ever happened.
"You two, leave us," Jaxen added, turning to the guards.
The guards exchanged a quick glance before finally releasing me completely. They bowed their heads and backed out of the room, slamming the heavy door shut behind them.
Now it was just the two of us.
Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet, brushing the strands of my hacked-off hair from my skin.
"I look hideous, don’t I?" I muttered, my voice sounding smaller than I wanted it to.
I felt painfully aware of him standing there, watching me with that unreadable expression.
I couldn’t see my reflection, but after how brutal Callista had been, I knew the uneven chunks had to look ridiculous.
"It’s just hair. It’ll grow back," Jaxen finally said, stepping closer until barely any space remained between us.
I searched his face for any sign that he was lying, but his blue eyes softened almost instantly.
Those eyes.
Jaxen Reed.
Six feet of lean muscle. Dark hair that always fell just messy enough to make him look dangerous. And those piercing blue eyes that had haunted me for years.
Not only was he the Alpha’s son and heir to the Silver Fang pack, he was also my mate.
The one I had felt the second I turned eighteen.
The one who had felt it even stronger.
So strong that sometimes he could barely stand to be in the same room with me without his control slipping.
For over two years, we had pretended to be strangers.
Because my parents had suppressed my wolf to "protect" Callista, the bond felt weaker on my end. Just a faint tug in my chest that was easy enough to ignore if I forced myself to.
But Jaxen had always been kind to me, even before we knew.
And because of that, I had let myself believe, just for a second, that maybe the Moon Goddess hadn’t completely abandoned me after all.
Without warning, Jaxen’s hand wrapped around the back of my neck, his fingers tangling carefully through the jagged remains of my hair.
Then he pulled me toward him and crashed his mouth against mine, kissing me like he was starving.
Because he had been.
The last time we had been this close was over two months ago.
A soft gasp escaped me, and the second it did, he deepened the kiss. My hands flew to his chest, bunching his shirt in my fists as I dragged him closer.
The bond inside me roared violently back to life.
Heat coiled low in my stomach, and even without my wolf, I felt it.
Jaxen groaned softly against my mouth before sliding his hands under my thighs and gripping hard as he lifted me like I weighed nothing.
My legs wrapped around his waist instinctively, and a second later, my back hit the wall.
He pressed against me slowly, grinding his hips just enough to make me feel how hard he was for me, and a broken sound slipped from my throat before I could stop it.
Then his mouth left mine.
His lips trailed down my jaw and along my throat, warm enough to make my entire body shiver beneath him. And when he reached the place meant for the mate mark, I felt the faint scrape of his fangs against my skin.
My head tilted back automatically, exposing my neck completely.
Every part of me screamed yes.
Two years.
I had wanted his mark for two years.
But then he froze.
His fangs hovered against my throat, trembling slightly.
"I’m sorry," he whispered, pulling back just enough to look at me.
His hands slid up to cup my face, his thumbs brushing softly across my cheekbones like I was something fragile he was terrified of breaking.
I let out a slow breath, feeling the fire inside me begin to turn cold.
"Your coronation is in two months," I said quietly, though my voice still cracked despite how hard I tried to steady it. "What difference would it make if you marked me now?"
"Two months," he repeated, his jaw tightening before he looked away for a second. "Only when I become Alpha can I rewrite the laws that keep you in this dirt."
His gaze returned to mine, intense enough to make my chest ache.
"Then I’ll mark you in front of the entire pack. No one will be able to deny it. No one will dare challenge you." His fingers tightened slightly against my skin. "You’ll stand beside me as Luna. Not as a maid or the cursed twin but as mine."
The words hit me like a promise wrapped in barbed wire.
Beautiful.
Painful.
Everything I had ever dreamed of and everything I was terrified I would never have.
"Two months," I repeated softly, but this time it sounded more like I was trying to convince myself than him.
