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Synopsis
After being banished from the pack for five years, my mother, Luna Maggie, suddenly contacted me and told me to return to Ridge Pack.
I thought she regretted banishing me back then, but the moment I stepped into the packhouse, I saw John—a fifty-year-old Alpha who had once beaten his own mate to death.
“Lily, you’re not getting any younger. I called you back this time because of your marriage.”
John smiled, his face covered in wrinkles, and reached for my hand.
I kept backing away, staring at Maggie and Dora in disbelief.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
Maggie’s brows shot up, and impatience immediately spread across her face.
“What’s wrong? Alpha John generously prepared a large wedding payment for you. Aren’t you satisfied?”
So it was all for money.
The last trace of hope in my heart disappeared completely.
They still didn’t know that my fated mate was the Alpha of the strongest pack in the werewolf world.
The Alpha John Maggie and Dora kept talking about was the leader of another pack.
His pack was neither big nor small, with around thirty members and five or six warriors. He was nothing special in this region, but compared to our Ridge Pack, he was considered respectable.
He had once had a mate, but he was an alcoholic and a violent man who had beaten his partner to death.
Ever since then, the werewolves nearby had avoided him like the plague, yet Maggie was desperate to marry me off to him.
John showed his large yellow teeth and grinned at me.
“So this is my mate? Not bad-looking. Come over and let me take a closer look.”
I stood frozen in place, still unable to accept what was happening.
When John saw that I wasn’t moving, he stood up and walked toward me, actually reaching out to grab my hand.
I kept retreating, staring at Maggie and Dora in disbelief.
“Maggie! Dora! How could you do this to me?”
“I thought… I thought you regretted banishing me from the pack when I couldn’t survive on my own. I thought you called me back to make it up to me.”
Dora looked as if she had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
“Did studying make you stupid? Banishing you from the pack was the smartest thing Maggie ever did.”
Maggie’s expression turned impatient, and her voice was cold.
“How have we mistreated you? Haven’t we already been good enough to you, you little bad-luck charm?”
“You’re not young anymore. We only had you divined because you couldn’t find a mate. And now you’re acting picky?”
“You ungrateful brat. You haven’t contributed anything to the pack in five years. Once you marry Alpha John and give us the wedding money, we’ll be even.”
Even?
I had never owed this pack anything.
Looking at these so-called family members who couldn’t wait to push me into an abyss, I swallowed my tears and forced a faint smile.
“Fine. I’ll marry him.”
From the time I was little, every good thing in the pack had gone to Dora.
There were only a dozen or so members in Ridge Pack, all crammed into three old houses. We barely had any decent warriors.
If I wanted a piece of meat, I would be beaten with a switch while Maggie asked how I could dare fight Dora for food.
The welts from those switches would close within a few hours on the other wolf pups, but it took several days for my swelling to go down—because I had been born without a wolf of my own, and even my most basic healing ability was far weaker than everyone else’s.
Winter was freezing, so I secretly took a blanket Dora no longer wanted, only for Maggie to make me kneel outside in the snow.
I was the unnecessary one in the pack. Dora was their precious darling.
I was ridiculous for still holding on to even the slightest hope for this place.
“Now that’s more like it.”
“Would I really hurt you? Just follow Alpha John and live a good life.”
“Look at your classmates struggling to find jobs after graduation. You won’t have to do that. Alpha John will support you. Isn’t that wonderful? Other people would beg for a life like that.”
Maggie excitedly slapped her thigh, unable to hide the smile on her face, as if she couldn’t see my suffering at all.
Dora spoke arrogantly from the side.
“You fought so hard to get into a human city and study. Now you still have to come back to the pack and get married, and you’re still arguing with Maggie. Is there something wrong with your brain?”
John rubbed his hands together, his gaze greasy and disgusting.
“Don’t worry. Once you become my mate, I guarantee you’ll get pregnant soon. Two pups in three years shouldn’t be a problem.”
With that, he reached for my hand again.
I quietly moved out of his reach, and his expression darkened.
“You little slut. You already agreed to marry me, so what’s wrong with letting me touch you? Once you become my mate, I’ll teach you some manners!”
I kept smiling as I looked at them coldly.
John called an Elder from his pack and asked her to come over and inspect me.
I sat silently beside them, listening to their haggling.
“My daughter went to college. She’s young and intelligent. One hundred and eighty thousand dollars is too little! Any pups she has will definitely be smart too. It has to be two hundred and eighty thousand dollars!”Maggie crossed her arms, her eyes sharp as she engaged in a fierce verbal battle with John.
John refused to back down and argued right back.
“We agreed on one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Why are you haggling now?”
“You have no integrity. Believe me, I can call off the marriage!”
“You’re not the only pack in this region with a daughter who went to college.”
Dora quickly tried to smooth things over.
“Alpha John, please don’t!”
“Just tell us whether you like my sister. Is she your type?”
“If I like her, you still need to name a reasonable price.”
John looked me up and down, the smile on his face greasy and unpleasant.
In the end, he gave in.
“Wait until the Elder arrives. She’s the one paying, so how much you get depends on how capable you are.”
When I had wanted to attend college, Bob had refused to pay, and Maggie hadn’t been willing to give me a single cent.
She had simply banished me from the pack and cut off all contact so I couldn’t ask them for money.
Now, for the sake of money again, she had called me back to destroy the rest of my life.
Just then, a baby began crying from inside the house.
Dora and Maggie didn’t react at all.
I looked at them curiously.
“Maggie, what’s going on? Where did a pup come from in the pack?”
Dora’s face lit up with uncontrollable delight, as if she had just thought of something wonderful.
“Of course it’s your little nephew. We’re just waiting for you to complete the mate bond. Once I get the money, I’ll be able to live a good life!”
So Maggie and Dora had sold me to John to use the money from my sale to raise the pup and pay for a wedding.
Maggie cut Dora off and spoke to me.
“Tomorrow, you and John will go to the pack hall and hold the Mate Ceremony.”
My heart skipped a beat, but I pretended to remain calm.
“Maggie, isn’t that a little too soon?”
I quietly began massaging Maggie’s back.
“Forming a mate bond is a major event. It shouldn’t be handled so casually.”
When Maggie ignored me, I began to feel anxious.
“Alpha John, why don’t you come with me to the human city? I just found a job that pays twenty thousand dollars a month!”
John rejected the idea immediately and glared at me viciously.
“No! What if you dump me after we go to the human city?”
“You’re staying with me in the pack territory. You’re not going anywhere.”
“If you dare run, I’ll break your legs!”
He was terrified that I would escape.
Maggie’s eyes lit up as she looked at me, and she asked again to confirm.
“Is it really that much?”
“You’re not lying to me, are you?”
I took out my phone and showed them.
“Of course not. Look, all the terms are written right here.”
“This company is publicly traded worldwide. There will be no shortage of chances for promotions and raises.”
Maggie snatched the phone from me and stared at the words “twenty-four thousand dollars” in the salary section.
Greed glowed in her eyes as she muttered to herself.
“Twenty thousand dollars a month. Our entire Ridge Pack can’t save that much in a whole year.”
Then Maggie pulled me behind her like a mother wolf protecting her pup and shouted confidently at John.
“You’re no longer good enough for my daughter. If you want to marry her, you’ll need at least one million dollars!”
Dora looked at me with jealousy and disbelief.
“Twenty thousand dollars a month? For a useless loser like you? How is that possible?”
“Maggie, don’t let her trick you!”
“I think she just wants to escape back to the human city. Once she does, there’ll be nothing we can do about her.”
Maggie looked at me suspiciously before shutting down my phone and slipping it into her pocket.
“You don’t have the guts to do that.”
John’s gaze turned vicious, completely losing its earlier greasy quality.
“If she can earn twenty thousand dollars, that’s her money. Do you really think she’ll obediently hand it over after she gets to the human city?”
“You should still marry her to me. Once she has a pup, she’ll be tied down. Then you can send her to the human city to work and support the family.”
“By then, we’ll all be one family. We can use the money she earns together.”After hearing this, Maggie thought for a while and decided he made sense.
She immediately began cursing me.
“I almost fell for your trick. You want to escape back to the human city? Keep dreaming!”
“First complete the mate bond with John and have a pup. Only then can you go out to work.”
“Once you return to the human city, bring Dora and me with you. We raised you for all these years, so now it’s time for you to repay us.”
I couldn’t help sneering inwardly.
Repay them?
Didn’t they know how they had raised me?
When I was fifteen, I weighed only sixty pounds and was severely malnourished, which made the contrast between Dora and me painfully obvious.
Even when the other wolf pups couldn’t eat their fill, they at least had their wolves to preserve their strength. Their wounds healed quickly, and they could endure hunger.
But I had nothing.
Even a common cold could last half a month, and winter was even harder to survive.
If the pack’s Healer hadn’t pitied me and secretly slipped me food, I wasn’t sure I would have survived.
I continued acting obedient, wrapping my arm affectionately around Maggie’s and, for the first time ever, acting spoiled with her.
“Okay. I’ll do whatever you say, Maggie.”
“I haven’t been able to come back to the pack for five years. I really missed you.”
Even I felt sick after saying it.
I reached for my phone, but she slapped my hand away.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re not getting your phone back yet. We’ll finish everything first, so you don’t try anything funny.”
I had no choice but to give up and wait for the right moment.
That evening, the Elder from John’s pack arrived.
She had a hunched back and a crooked body, but her eyes were strangely clear.
Dora eagerly led me to stand between John and the Elder.
“Elder, look. This is my sister. Isn’t she beautiful?”
The Elder looked me up and down and said disdainfully:
“She’s all right, but she’s too thin. Her hips are so narrow. How is she supposed to have pups?”
As she spoke, she reached out and squeezed my butt.
Just as I was about to lose control, Maggie slammed her cup onto the table.
“You dare look down on my daughter? My daughter went to college. Is your son good enough for her? The one hundred and eighty thousand dollars we discussed is no longer valid. I want two hundred and eighty thousand!”
“What?”
The Elder was shocked by Maggie’s outrageous demand.
After all, it was already extremely difficult for a pack to produce one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, let alone two hundred and eighty thousand.
John hurriedly stood up and whispered something into the Elder’s ear.
When the Elder raised her head and looked at me again, her expression had changed.
Then she removed the cheap jade bracelet from her wrist and put it on mine.
I forced a smile and accepted it, feeling nauseous as I looked at the ugly faces around the table.
In the end, they eagerly scheduled the Mate Ceremony for the day after tomorrow.
After dinner, I wanted some fresh air, so I walked around the edge of the pack territory.
Because I stayed outside for only half an hour, Maggie slapped me the moment I returned.
“Were you trying to run?”
Dora fanned the flames from the side.
“You left as soon as you finished eating. If you weren’t trying to run, what were you doing?”
I tried to defend myself, but Maggie refused to listen and continued punching and kicking me.
I looked up at them, my eyes filled with hatred.
Maggie grew uneasy under my stare and kicked me again.
Then she tied me up tightly with a hemp rope and violently threw me into a room.I was locked up for an entire day and two nights.
During that time, I begged for mercy and cried out, but they didn’t give me so much as a bite of food or a sip of water.
An ordinary person might be able to endure two days of hunger, but I didn’t have my own wolf to help me conserve my strength.
By the evening of the second day, I was dizzy and lightheaded, without even enough strength left to shout.
Why had I come back to suffer this?
On the morning of the Mate Ceremony, they finally untied me.
I shook my numb hands, and the bruises left by the rope around my wrists were horrifying.
If I had been any other werewolf, most of the injuries would have faded overnight, but deep purple-red marks still covered my skin.
“You little slut,” Maggie’s shrill voice rang out. “If you try to run again, I’ll break your legs myself!”
“I already gave the money to your sister, so don’t blame me for being cruel. Your sister needs the money more than you do.”
Dora chimed in from the side.
“Exactly.”
I ignored Dora and turned to Maggie, unable to keep the words inside any longer.
“Stop pretending. Didn’t you call me back so you could sell me and give all the money to Dora for her wedding?”
Maggie glared at me viciously and spoke as if she were completely justified.
“I’m your mother! I can spend a little of your money, and you’re going to make a fuss forever?”
I froze and stopped indulging them.
“If I remember correctly, you were the one who banished me from the pack five years ago.”
“You called me back this time because you wanted to sell me for the highest price possible. Why are you still giving me all this self-righteous nonsense?”
“You’re unbelievable.”
Dora rushed over, snatched my bag, and began rummaging through it in front of me.
She didn’t find a single cent, stomped her foot, and walked away.
Maggie’s face flushed red as she cursed furiously.
“You dare talk back to me? I’m your Luna! I can treat you however I want!”
“I’m warning you. If your sister’s marriage falls apart, don’t expect to have an easy time either! Hurry up and help your sister raise the money!”
Just then, John entered, and Maggie’s furious shouting abruptly stopped.
Maggie took my belongings out of the bag and handed them to John.
John accepted them with a wrinkled smile, revealing two rows of large yellow teeth.
Then Maggie took me to the car.
I asked in confusion:
“Aren’t we holding the Mate Ceremony? Where are we going?”
John’s sleazy voice came from the front.
“Of course we’re going to the pack hall to complete the mate ceremony. We’ll make it back in time for the celebration.”
I was so hungry that I barely had the strength to speak.
Without a wolf, my body was this fragile. I couldn’t endure even one day without food.
I responded coldly and gazed calmly out the window.
This farce was about to reach its conclusion.
When we arrived at the pack hall, Maggie forcefully linked her arm with mine and whispered a warning in my ear.
“If you dare say anything inappropriate in front of the Alpha, don’t blame me if I…”
I curled my lips into a faint smile and nodded before walking firmly into the pack hall.
John’s grin stretched almost to his ears, and Maggie gave me a satisfied smile.
Just then, the doors to the hall were suddenly shoved open.
Dozens of werewolf warriors in black combat uniforms filed inside and quickly took control of the entire room.
The man at the front was tall, with a powerful and intimidating presence.
He was Alpha Jason, the leader of Crimson Pack.
Crimson Pack was one of the largest packs in the region, with more than a hundred members and a highly trained elite force.
My fated mate.
He had come.
Chapters (4)
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Watch & Promotions
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