Chapter 2

I woke up with a pounding headache.

My hands were cuffed behind my back with silver. The metal bit into my flesh, making my wrists throb with pain.

Through the window, I could see the towering outline of the Packhouse. We were deep inside Silvermoon Pack territory.

From outside the door, Sophia’s hushed but ecstatic voice drifted in.

"Mom! James's Beta just said the Alpha is heading down to the main hall!"

"Once James sees her in his bed, his bloodlust will take over. He’ll tear her apart, and then the Shadowfang Pack will have every right to demand heavy compensation from him!"

"There’s no way I was going to marry that monster anyway. Letting her take the fall will save our pack!"

Evelyn’s voice followed, filled with sickening amusement.

"Don't worry, Sophia. The drug I slipped into her drink would keep a fully grown Lycan down for three days."

"Whether James kills her or sleeps with her, we win. We’ll squeeze every resource out of him."

"That orphan has fed off our charity for five years. Paving the way for your future is the least she can do."

I leaned against the freezing wall, a cold smirk playing on my lips.

Five years ago, I was a rogue starving on the streets. Evelyn had brought me back to the Shadowfang Pack.

I thought I finally had a family. But I was wrong. I was just a convenient tool.

On the surface, Evelyn played the doting mother. In reality, she was poisoning my food for years.

She suppressed my inner wolf, making me believe I was born weak and sickly.

I only found out about the poisoning recently.

Even then, I had tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. I couldn't believe the woman I called "Mom" for five years could be so cruel.

Until today. When she drugged me and threw me into a stranger's bed like meat to a beast.

Her words still echoed in my mind: *“Sacrificing you to secure your sister's future is your duty.”*

I finally got it.

To them, I was never family. I was just a pawn.

Now that the Shadowfang Pack was losing its grip on power, they desperately needed a stronger ally.

So my adoptive father, the Alpha of Shadowfang, decided to sell a daughter to James.

Rumor had it that James was a psychopath who showed no mercy to anyone who crossed him.

Sophia had threw a massive fit, refusing to marry him, so Evelyn turned her eyes to me.

Their plan was simple: present me to James. When he snapped and killed me, they would use my death to blackmail the Silvermoon Pack for resources.

If I survived and became his plaything, they would use me to feed their greed.

So, Evelyn drugged me without a second thought.

But they forgot one thing. I am a Lycan. My body metabolizes toxins at a terrifying speed.

My fingers were already moving, reaching for the lockpick hidden in the heel of my boot.

Three seconds.

*Click.*

The handcuffs fell open.

I rubbed my chafed wrists and stood up.

Looking around the dark bedroom, a wave of familiarity hit me.

Three years ago, I lived in this exact room for two months.

Back then, James was already the Alpha of Silvermoon. But he had been ambushed, poisoned, and left for dead by a traitor in his own pack.

I dragged his bloody body back here. I patched him up, neutralized the poison, and slaughtered the traitors for him.

When he woke up, he swore a blood oath to me. He owed me his life.

But then he found out I was his fated mate. His toxic possessiveness flared up, and he tried to lock me away to keep me "safe."

So, I ran. I disappeared the moment he went on a hunt.

The poison Evelyn had been giving me weakened my wolf, making the mate bond fade, which kept James from tracking me down.

For three years, he had been searching for me like a madman, turning the werewolf world upside down.

He never would have guessed my adoptive family would hand me right back to him on a silver platter.

I walked to the heavy wooden door and raised my leg.

*BANG!*

With one kick, the door shattered. My strength was fully restored.

Two guards standing in the hallway whipped around, their faces turning pale with shock.

"How... how did you get out?!"

I didn't bother answering. I walked right past them.

"Stop right there! You're Alpha James’s property!"

One guard partially shifted, his claws extending as he lunged at me.

I sidestepped his clumsy attack, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it backward.

*CRACK!*

The sound of snapping bone echoed in the quiet hallway.

The guard screamed, his claws instantly retracting as he fell. I slammed my boot into the back of his knee, forcing him to his face.

The other guard stumbled back in terror, frantically grabbing his walkie-talkie.

"Code Red! The cargo in the Alpha's room escaped! She's hostile!"

*Cargo.*

So that was what they called me.

I picked up a metal pipe resting against the wall and walked toward him.

"I designed the security layout of this entire Packhouse three years ago," I said, my voice dead calm.

"You guys didn't even bother to change the patrol routes, and you thought you could stop me?"

The guard stared at me, paralyzed by confusion.

I swung the pipe, cracking it hard against his temple. He crumpled to the floor, knocked out cold.

I stepped over their bodies and headed to the control room.

I knew a secret path that even James didn't know about. I activated the backup communications.

Then, I rerouted the signal from Sophia's tracking device directly to the giant screen in the main ballroom.

Let the show begin.