Chapter 1
Olivia’s POV
Here I sit, draped in ivory satin, a veil pinned neatly to my hair, waiting to marry the man who promised me the world. The knot in my stomach hasn’t eased since I arrived, flanked by wolves “from his pack. They sat in clusters, their whispers filling the room with low, rumbling tones. I have
always been an outsider to them, a human daring to step into their world. Today is supposed to change that. Today, I would officially become one of them–or so I think.
The judge’s bench, repurposed as an altar, is adorned with white roses and silver cords, traditional
ymbols of a wolf bond. It’s beautiful, though strangely impersonal. I try to focus on the details,
anything to distract me from the growing murmur of unease among the guests.
Sarah, my assistant and only ally in this sea of wolves, sits beside me in her navy–blue bridesmaid dress. She keeps fidgeting with her phone, her nervous energy palpable.
“He’s just running late,” she whispers, as if saying it aloud would make it true.
I nod, though my heart doesn’t believe it. Lucian was never late.
I glance down at my wrist, tracing the faint crescent–shaped mark he’d left there during the engagement/bonding ceremony. The mark is a promise, a claim, a tether that connects us in ways I
don’t fully understand. Wolves take their bonds seriously–it’s why I trust him, even when doubts are creeping in.
But now, sitting alone in this cold, formal space, I feel that bond begin to fray.
Thirty minutes pass. Then an hour.
The murmurs grow louder, the tension thick enough to cut. I stare at the polished wooden door t
the back of the courtroom, willing it to open. Any moment now, Lucian would walk in, his dark hair perfectly tousled, his Alpha confidence filling the room. He’d explain everything–why he was late,
why I’d been left to sit here, alone and humiliated.
Instead, Sarah’s sharp intake of breath breaks my concentration.
“Olivia,” she says, her voice tight with panic. “Don’t look at your phone.”
“What?” I ask, already reaching for the device in my lap.
yo, seriously,” she insists, but I ignore her, unlocking the screen with shaky fingers.
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Notifications flood the screen, mostly congratulatory messages, but one headline stand out, bold and unforgiving.
“Alpha Lucian Marries Childhood Bondmate in Intimate Ceremony.”
I stare at the headline, my brain refusing to process the words. It isn’t ‘t until I tap on the post and the image loads that the full weight of betrayal hit me.
There he was, Lucian, in a tailored black suit that made him look every inch the Alpha he was born to be. Beside him stood Lyanna, her hair cascading down her shoulders, her pale face radiant. She wore a simple white dress, the city skyline stretching behind them as they exchanged vows beneath a golden sunset.
The photo was timestamped just thirty minutes ago.
“Olivia …” Sarah’s voice sounds far away, drowned out by the roaring in my ears.
I clutch the phone tightly, my nails digging into the case as I stare at the image. Lucian’s smile isn’t the nervous, excited grin I’d imagined seeing on our wedding day. It was serene, intimate–reserved
for her.
Lyanna.
I’d heard her name whispered before, always with reverence. She was his childhood love, the ghost of Lucian’s past. The bond they’d shared had been severed years ago when she left the pack, or so I’d been told. But now, she was here, standing where I was supposed to be, wearing the life I’d been
promised.
The room blurs around me, the whispers of the pack turning into a deafening hum. I drop the phone onto the bench beside me and stand, my legs shaky beneath the weight of my dress.
He promised he would never leave me. He promised to love me. He promised…
I’d believed him then. Just like I’d believed every whispered promise, every tender touch, every moment where he made me feel like the center of his universe. Lucian wasn’t just my fiancé–he was my safe haven in a world I didn’t belong to.
When we first met, I’d been nothing more than a curious human, stumbling into a world of dominance and hierarchy I couldn’t begin to understand. Lucian had been patient, peeling back the layers of his Alpha stoicism to reveal the man beneath–the man who once bought me daisies Because he remembered they were my favorite flowers, who held me tightly during the storm that knocked out power in my tiny apartment, whispering that no force on earth could ever harm me
while he was there.
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used to joke that he was my shield and my sword, a warrior who made me feel invincible, I loved ni fiercely for it.
But now, being alone in the midst of mocking eyes, in this cold courtroom, I couldn’t help but feel
like a fool.
“I need to leave,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
Sarah grabs my arm, her expression stricken. “Olivia, wait. Let me-”
The doors to the courtroom bursts open, and Rowan, Lucian’s Beta, strides in. His broad shoulders and commanding presence immediately silence the murmurs. His hard eyes scan the room until they land on me, filled with something that looks like pity.
“Olivia,” he says, his voice low.
I take a step forward, my hands trembling. “Where is he?”
Rowan hesitates, and in that moment, I knew.
“He’s not coming,” he says finally.
The room falls silent, the weight of his words sinking in like stones.
“What do you mean, he’s not coming?” I demand, my voice rising. “We’re supposed to get married. He promised me-”
“He’s with Lyanna,” Rowan interrupts gently. “I can’t explain the details right now. This is neither the time nor place for this”
The world tilts beneath me. I clutch the back of the bench for support, the polished wood cool against my trembling hands.
“Not the place?” I echo, my voice breaking. “I just got humiliated publicly and you say it’s not the place? What about me? What about the life we were building together? Does that mean anything to
him?”
Rowan’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t respond.
I laugh bitterly, the sound echoing in the cold, empty space of the courtroom. “So that’s it? He left me–left us–because I am human?”
“He didn’t want to hurt you,” Rowan says, though the words feels like salt in an open wound.
a
He didn’t want to hurt me?” I repeat, my voice shaking with fury. “He abandoned me on our wedding day. He humiliated me in front of his entire pack. And he didn’t even have the decency to ell me himself?”
“That bastard. He told me I was his world. He told me he would never leave me. You wolves talk so much about loyalty, but when it comes down to it, you’re just as weak as humans. Maybe weaker.”
“Please give him a chance to explain. You owe him that“, Rowan pleads
“I owe him nothing, I spat back.
“I don’t think I will ever forgive him. I don’t want to.”
Rowan opens his mouth to respond, but I cut him off.
“Tell him,” I say, my voice cold and sharp, “that I hope she was worth it. Because when I’m gone, he’ll
realize what he’s lost. And he’ll have no one to blame but himself.”
Without waiting for a response, I turn on my heel and walk out of the courtroom, my heels clicking against the marble floor. Sarah hurries after me, her hand brushing my arm as we stepped into the bustling city street.
“Olivia, wait,” she yells, her voice laced with concern.
But I don’t stop. I don’t cry. Not yet. I don’t care about the stares, the judgment in their eyes. All that matter is getting out of that place.
With my veil trailing behind me in the soft breeze, and the tears soaking my face, I rush into the first cab in front of me, spits out my address and finally breaks down in despair. The cab driver looks at me through the mirror in confusion but I don’t care.
The Alpha who had promised me forever had chosen someone else. And now, I was left to pick up the shattered pieces of my heart.
