Chapter 2
It was dusk by the time Chelsea managed to get back to her own home, physically and mentally exhausted from everything that had happened that day.
She still couldn’t believe it. A three-year relationship, thrown away just because of a childhood friend whom he had said he only considered a sister.
Just because that same childhood friend was also pregnant with a pup, unlike Chelsea.
‘Maybe that’s why he left me for Vivian,’ Chelsea thought bitterly. ‘Because she gave him what I couldn’t.’
From what she knew about Vivian, the girl was just an ordinary werewolf, an average pack member who didn’t have any abilities that stood out, but was also not the weakest. Vivian hadn’t grown up in a particularly influential family, but she was generally well-liked by the other pack members, mainly because of her looks.
It was no secret that she had feelings for Anthony, especially because the others could clearly see the way she looked at him.
This train of thought eventually brought her back to the elephant in the room that she had yet to address.
‘How did he know?’ Chelsea thought, staring down at her wrist, where her old pack mark used to be.
‘How did he know… that I used to belong to the Wellvine Pack?’
It was known that the Drakewood Pack and the Wellvine Pack were enemies. In the past, they had tried to call a truce, but the other would either still cross boundaries or resort to betrayal.
In short, the two packs hated each other and had held grudges for centuries.
Which was why, when she had first met Anthony and found out that he belonged to the Drakewood Pack, she instinctively lied and told him that she was a rogue who didn’t belong anywhere. He then invited her to his pack, which she readily accepted. She left the Wellvine Pack without hesitation despite her father’s anger, and then the rest was history.
She didn’t know if Anthony had believed her when she claimed that she was a rogue, but he didn’t say anything to counter her claim. Thinking back on it now, it was possible that he had simply been humoring her and had a background check done on her secretly afterwards.
Or maybe he had already known who she was from the get-go. Chelsea didn’t know, and she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to at this point.
At that moment, her phone in her pocket beeped with a new message.
She pushed down the instinctual hope that it might be Anthony, him asking her to come back, that he had made a mistake.
But when she saw who the sender of the email was, her blood instantly ran cold.
[I’ve heard the news. News of your broken engagement with that Alpha is all over the media now. Nevertheless, you might still be able to pick yourself back up with this opportunity that I am giving you. However, I am not taking no for an answer.
The Wellvine Pack has agreed to a marriage arrangement with the Silverclaw Pack, and you will become Alpha Daniel’s soon-to-be wife. This arrangement is crucial to the alliance between our two packs, so you have no choice but to agree.
Come back to the Wellvine Pack so that we can try to salvage whatever dignity you have left.]
Chelsea sat on the floor and leaned back against the wall, letting out a dry, humorless laugh.
Of course her father had already heard about the news. Of course it had already spread all over. Even on the way back home, Chelsea hadn’t failed to notice all the looks and whispers from the pack members. Anthony and Vivian sure moved fast.
To think that her father had actually arranged her life without even bothering to ask her.
She really shouldn’t have expected anything less from James Moore, the man who never cared about his own daughter and only cared about results instead of empathy.
But then, as Chelsea thought more about it…
Wasn’t this a good opportunity anyway, like James said?
At that moment, she lifted her head and instantly caught sight of her reflection in the standing mirror of her bedroom. She looked like a haggard woman who had lost her only purpose in life, with her slumped body, bandaged arms, and dead gaze.
Suddenly, seeing the look on her face caused something to ignite within her, like a spark that had long since been unlit.
Enough was enough, wasn’t it? Hadn’t she spent far too long being someone else’s accessory? Giving everything she had to someone only to receive betrayal and humiliation in return?
Chelsea glared at her reflection, eyes blazing with renewed determination.
Fine, then. If everyone in this world intended on treating her like a piece on a chessboard, then she’d have to learn how to play the game herself.
Her fingers moved swiftly on her phone screen as she typed up a reply.
[I accept. I’ll be there right away to sign the contract and then go meet Alpha Daniel.]
The news spread faster than Chelsea had expected. By the following morning, almost everyone already knew and was talking about it.
Chelsea Moore, Anthony Brook’s ex-fiancée, turned out to be from an enemy pack and was now marrying Daniel Winston from the Silverclaw Pack.
But Chelsea no longer cared what people thought about her anymore.
Anthony, however, seemed to care a lot.
When he heard the news, his expression darkened as he stared at the headline on his phone for several seconds. Without even realizing it, his claws were already out, nearly breaking through the surface of his desk.
“How dare she…?”
The thought of Chelsea marrying another Alpha — especially Daniel Winston, of all people — filled him with an anger that he couldn’t explain.
Hadn’t she been devastated when he threw her away? What were all those three years for?
How could she move on so quickly?
Anthony’s jaw clenched in irritation.
“If she thinks that she can humiliate me like this and walk away…” Anthony’s eyes were ice-cold. “...she’s going to regret it.”
It was near midnight when Chelsea returned to the Drakewood Pack to get the last of her things from her house.
Even though she was currently technically someone from an enemy pack, the news regarding her and Daniel Winston was enough to call a temporary truce and for the members not to touch a hair on her unless they wanted to face Alpha Daniel’s wrath.
However, when Chelsea opened her bedroom door, she froze in place.
Her closet was wide open, and there was a very noticeable empty gap between the hanging clothes, like someone had taken something.
When she hurriedly went over to inspect it and check what was gone, the realization made her blood turn to ice.
Her expensive tailored wedding dress that was supposed to be for her marriage to Anthony was gone.
And so was the special crystal necklace that was a family heirloom passed down to her from her mother.
It was the one piece of jewelry that Chelsea treasured above everything else. She had even planned on wearing it for her wedding.
But now it was just… gone.
Desperate, she searched the entire room, every nook and cranny. There was still no sign of them, even though she already knew it deep inside.
But then she noticed a piece of paper lying innocently on the ground of her closet.
Confused, Chelsea picked it up.
[Thanks for the wedding gifts, Chelsea! I’ll be sure to treasure them! — Love, Vivian]
For several seconds, Chelsea just stared at the shameless words written on the paper. Her mind was blank, and she was unable to move.
Then she crumpled the paper and threw it to the floor.
It was as if something inside of her had finally snapped.
Anthony had wasted three years of her life. Vivian had taken away all of her dignity.
And now, they had taken the two things that were precious to her.
‘This has just made my decision a lot easier,’ Chelsea thought, a cold determination filling her chest.
The next day, she was already on her way to the Silverclaw Pack, vowing to make that scumbag Anthony and that scheming bitch Vivian pay for what they did to her.