Chapter 1

The graduation party in the underground training hall fell apart during a game of Put a Finger Down.

Serena grinned and said, "Put a finger down if you've already had sex."

I watched Asher, the boy who was supposed to become mine, lower one finger.

Which meant he had slept with someone.

Just not with me.

I had loved him for ten whole years.

After a few rounds and too much cheap alcohol, only two players were still in the game: Serena and me. Everyone else had run out of fingers.

Serena smiled like a queen at the Moon Crown ceremony and said sweetly, "I'm seeing someone."

The underground training hall went silent.

Then the room erupted.

I looked toward Asher in the corner. He had told me countless times, "Elena, after the Moon Crown Ball, I'll swear myself to you."

But right then, he was sprawled across a worn black leather couch, and he did not even look at me.

Someone whistled. "Prove it, then."

Serena rose with a smile and walked straight to Asher. She cupped his face, leaned down, and kissed him in front of every young wolf heir in the room.

He did not push her away.

He did not even look at me.

I was technically still in the game, but I folded my last finger into my palm anyway.

The game was over.

So were my ten years.

Whistles, screams, and applause crashed together. The training hall felt as if it had caught fire.

Someone shouted, "Oh my god! I knew it!"

Someone else asked, "When did this happen?"

Serena straightened, her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. "Graduation night. We officially got together."

Everyone's eyes fell on the newly announced couple.

One was Mooncrest Academy's most dazzling Alpha heir. The other was the school's most popular highborn she-wolf. Together, they looked inevitable, as if the Moon Goddess herself had arranged them.

No one noticed me in the corner.

No one noticed that I suddenly could not breathe.

I watched Asher lift a hand and casually wipe the corner of his mouth. The crowd rushed in around them, and someone called, "Come on, tell us. Who made the first move? Details."

Serena gave Asher a shy glance and said, "It was nothing, really. On graduation night, I sent him a message..."

She told them everything.

She said she had asked him to meet her by Moon Lake. She had taken his hand under the full moon and asked, "Do you want to try being together for real?"

With every detail, the laughter grew louder.

With every detail, someone glanced my way.

"Wait, wasn't there something between Asher and Elena? Didn't they grow up in the same pack?"

"Says who? When has Asher ever really looked at her?"

"Elena? That little shadow? Nobody even sees her as a she-wolf."

"Exactly. Who would like her? Asher is the future Alpha. His standards have always been high."

"Do you remember her silverleaf allergy? That emergency in the healing room. Asher made her pasta and somehow forgot she was allergic to silverleaf. Sent her straight to the healing tower."

"Serena wanted the full scholarship to Lunar Academy in Eastshore. Elena was her only real competition. Do we need to spell out the rest?"

"That's brutal. Elena was just a backup from beginning to end."

Serena put on an innocent, wounded expression, but her eyes shone with a winner's smug delight.

"Elena, I'm sorry. I might have mentioned the academy scholarship to Asher once. He wanted to help me so badly back then, so he used silverleaf to trigger your allergy. Don't blame him. If you have to blame someone, blame me."

So everyone knew Asher had done it on purpose.

Everyone except me.

Or maybe I had known all along.

I had just refused to admit it.

In our first year at Mooncrest Academy, Asher had slowly pulled away from me. Whenever we passed each other, he would lower his head and walk by as if he did not know me.

Once, I chased after him and asked what was wrong.

He said, "Don't let people get the wrong idea."

I told myself he was about to become an Alpha. One day, an entire pack would rest on his shoulders. He needed dignity. He could not let people tease him. It would weaken his authority.

I explained everything away for him.

I just never expected that, afterward, I would always see him laughing and talking with Serena.