Chapter 1

My boyfriend, Ethan, was hired as a Beta by the Silver Creek Pack under very generous terms.

I gave up everything to follow him here.

But three months had passed, and I was still not accepted into the pack. Ethan hadn't marked me, either.

Yet, Ethan approved his cousin, Zara, to join the Silver Creek Pack.

Furious, I decided to leave right then and there.

Ethan, usually so calm, looked at me with bloodshot eyes and begged me to stay:

"You're my mate, Grace. I'll mark you soon. Zara is just my cousin."

My heart softened, and I put down my suitcase.

Until one day, when I tried to enter the Packhouse, the guard stopped me:

"Ma'am, you are not a member of this pack. Please leave!"

No one knew that my fated mate was actually the Alpha of this very pack.

He was about to finish his three-month inspection tour and return to my side.

I got home, but after three tries, the fingerprint scanner on the smart lock still wouldn't open.

I called Ethan.

"What's wrong?" He answered quickly.

"Why won't the door open?"

He went silent for two seconds, then said:

"Oh, I reset the lock and only registered Zara's fingerprint. I haven't had time to add yours yet. Why don't you find a hotel to stay in tonight? I have to patrol the pack borders tonight and won't be back."

He was actually telling me to sleep outside?

I wanted to argue, but in the end, I just replied:

"Fine."

What else was I supposed to say?

This was supposed to be our place, yet he registered Zara’s fingerprint—an outsider—and locked me out.

I hung up the phone.

I booked a room at a cheap motel in town.

Fifty bucks a night.

When I swiped my card, my balance was almost down to zero.

When we first arrived, Ethan gave me a secondary card.

But later, Zara started handling most of his shopping.

His clothes, his watches, even his office supplies—she bought all of them.

Gradually, the access to the card was handed over to her.

Ethan would just transfer a tiny bit of allowance to my account every month.

He said she was better at shopping, had good taste, and knew how to coordinate outfits.

She claimed she was just helping out.

I couldn't really say anything.

Until one night, when Ethan and I finally went on a rare date.

Just as the mood was getting romantic, the doorbell rang.

Ethan went to answer it.

Zara was standing outside, panting, and handed him a box of condoms.

"Ethan! You asked me to buy these for you!"

She glanced at me with a natural smile. "You always say this brand is the most comfortable. Aren't I thoughtful? Don't I deserve a reward?"

Ethan took them, letting out an awkward grunt.

She waved and walked away.

The door closed.

He walked back to the dining table with the box of condoms and tossed them aside.

I stared at the box, speechless.

I never even knew which brand he preferred...

Because we wanted to have a baby, so we had never even considered using them.

That dinner felt like torture.

In the end, he said there was some urgent pack business, grabbed his coat, and left.

The moment the door shut, it suddenly hit me.

Her care for him had reached such an intimate level.

That night, I dreamed about the year we first arrived.

I was dragging two heavy suitcases out of the station.

Ethan was waiting for me at the exit.

Back then, he was still the man whose eyes would turn red with guilt because I had given up everything to be with him.

He was the man who would carry my bags and let me lean on his shoulder when I was tired.

But then Zara arrived.

Ethan said she was his cousin and that it wasn't easy for her to leave her old pack to find him, so he immediately applied for her dependency status.

He even got her a job as an administrator in the pack's warehouse.

Meanwhile, I still hadn't received my pack registration. I lived in the human town like an undocumented rogue, surviving on odd jobs.

And now, he had even given her the access to our home...

The next morning, I went to buy a bus ticket.

As I stood by the street waiting for the light to turn green, my phone buzzed.

It was a friend from my old pack.

"Grace, about the thing you asked me to look into..."

She paused, sounding hesitant. "I pulled some favors, but I could only find out so much. I couldn't get the specific details of their internal pack records."

"It's fine," I said. "Just tell me what you found."

The other end of the line was quiet for a couple of seconds.

"The Silver Creek Pack has very strict background checks for new members. Zara was registered as a Beta’s mate to get in."

I gripped my phone, unable to make a sound.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. "Thank you."

I hung up. The light turned green.

The crowd surged past me, and another group stopped beside me.

I stood frozen, staring at the building across the street. The bright sunlight made my eyes sting.

So, his true mate was her.