Gregory, a man who always tried to maintain a veneer of respectability, was failing miserably. His face was a mask of strained purple. "Yasmine, darling, this is the Sinclair Pack! Think of what this means!"
"It means I'll be shackled to a corpse for the rest of my life!" she screamed back. "No! I'm meant to be the queen of the ball, not a nursemaid!"
I remained in the shadows, a ghost in my own home. The air was thick with the cloying scent of Yasmine's cheap perfume mixed with the sour tang of her fury.
That's when my stepmother, Rhonda Hayes, descended the stairs. She moved with a practiced, predatory grace in her tight silk robe, her gaze sweeping past her hysterical daughter and landing squarely on me.
The look was as cold as a snake's belly. Knowing exactly what was expected of me, I immediately shrank back against the wallpaper, making myself look as small and pathetic as possible. I let my lower lip tremble-a practiced, deliberate maneuver that had saved me from countless beatings over the years.
Rhonda ignored Yasmine's tantrum and glided to Gregory's side. "We have another daughter, don't we?" she murmured, her voice a poisonous whisper meant only for him.
Gregory's eyes shifted to me, a flicker of hesitation quickly extinguished by resolve. I felt like a piece of livestock being appraised.
Rhonda crossed the room. Her fingers, tipped with sharp red nails, clamped onto my chin, forcing my head up. "Listen, Vivianna"-her voice was like honey laced with arsenic-"Yasmine can't go. But the Sinclairs need a bride."
She let out a short, contemptuous laugh. "You're a wolfless, anyway. A waste of space without an inner wolf. Marrying a comatose Alpha is the best you could ever hope for."
A wolfless, a genetic dead-end, couldn't even trigger the mate-bond recognition, making me a blank slate, a perfect, worthless substitute.
My stomach plummeted, and I forced a tear to well up in my eye, letting it spill over my cheek. "But... please, Rhonda," I whimpered, making my voice crack perfectly. "I'm scared. He's an Alpha King... I'm just... I'm nothing. They'll hate me."
"No buts," Rhonda snapped, her ego clearly fed by my pathetic display. "It's time you repaid the Hayes family for raising you." Her idea of raising me was treating me as Yasmine's shadow and the house's unpaid servant.
Yasmine's sobs subsided, replaced by a malicious glee. "Yeah, Vivi. It's perfect for you. A nobody for a vegetable. A perfect match!"
I lowered my head, letting my long hair curtain my face, hiding the flash of cold ice in my eyes.
Gregory produced a document bearing the Sinclair Pack's sigil-a roaring dire wolf. "Sign it, Vivianna," he commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument.
I saw the name Kaelen Sinclair. He was a legend, one of the most powerful Alpha Kings in history, until an ambush with a silver weapon left him in an incurable coma. Silver was the only substance that could truly harm a werewolf, bypassing our healing abilities and poisoning us from the inside out.
I let out a small, choked sob as I reached for the pen. I made sure my hand shook violently, nearly dropping the expensive fountain pen onto the parchment. It was a flawless act, masking the physiological cocktail of fury and pure exhilaration rushing through my veins.
My signature was shaky and small, the exact script of a terrified, broken girl.
Rhonda snatched the document, a satisfied smirk on her face. She patted my cheek as if I were a pet. "Good girl. Go pack your things. No, on second thought, don't. We can't have you showing up with your rags."
She turned to Yasmine. "See, baby? Problem solved. Don't cry, I ordered you that new Céleste handbag."
I was dismissed to my room-a cramped storage space in the attic.
The moment the heavy wooden door clicked shut behind me, the trembling stopped instantly. I wiped the fake tear from my cheek, my posture straightening as a cold, hard smile curled my lips.
They thought they were sending a lamb to the slaughter. They thought they were punishing me. They had absolutely no idea they had just handed me the keys to the Sinclair kingdom.
A substitute bride. It was a stroke of brilliant luck.
If I had tried to infiltrate the most powerful pack in the country on my own, I would have been torn to shreds at the borders. But as the legally bound wife of their comatose Alpha? I would be untouchable. Being a "wolfless nobody" was my greatest weapon-no one would perceive me as a threat.
I would be invisible, granting me unrestricted access to the pack's inner sanctum. The exact place I needed to be to find out who really orchestrated the murder of my biological mother.
Half an hour later, a sharp knock interrupted my thoughts. A woman in a severe business suit stood there. "Miss Monroe," she said, her tone flat and professional. "I'm Carol Reynolds, Mr. Hayes's secretary. Please come with me."
I followed her down the stairs, taking one last look at this place I was forced to call home.
Yasmine, lounging on the sofa, made a face at me. Rhonda didn't even bother to look up.
Gregory avoided my gaze. "Get her there safely," he told Carol.
I was led out to a black sedan, understated but screaming wealth. The door closed behind me with a heavy thud, sealing my fate.
As the car pulled away, I watched the lights of the villa shrink in the rearview mirror.
I let out a slow breath, rolling my shoulders to release the tension of playing the victim. The mask of fear completely dissolved from my face, replaced by a sheet of absolute, calculating calm.