Chapter 1：Losing Everything

Ivy’s POV

My fiancé is having sex with my best friend, in my room, on my wedding day. 

For just a moment, I stand frozen in the doorway, staring at them. My fiancé Erick is still mostly clothed, save for the dress pants bunched around his knees, and my best friend Veronica’s skirt is bunched up at the hip as he thrusts into her roughly from behind. Erick’s got one arm wrapped around her waist, and he holds her tight as he fucks her. Veronica’s eyes are squeezed shut in pleasure, and she’s clearly enjoying herself–Erick has to clamp a hand around her mouth just to keep her from moaning. 

And they’re fucking on my bed. 

Somehow that’s the biggest insult of them all. 

“What are you doing?” I shout, snapping out of my shock and bursting into the room. My wedding dress nearly trips me up, and my cheeks burn as I confront the pair. 

Erick laughs cruelly. He doesn’t even have the decency to pull out–his hips snap lazily, thrusting in and out of Veronica as she continues to stifle her moans. “What does it look like we’re doing?” He asks.

I gape up at them in disbelief. My heart feels like it’s shattering. The betrayal is devastating.

“It’s our wedding day,” is all I can manage to say. “You–you’re my mate!”

Veronica laughs. “You really thought you were good enough to make him faithful?” She gasps out, breath heavy. Her eyes damn near roll back in her head. “You’re nothing but an illegitimate bastard. A pathetic excuse for an Alpha’s daughter.”

“You’re supposed to be my best friend!” I snap, tears stinging at the corners of my eyes. 

“How’s that working out for you–fuck, Veronica!” Erick grunts suddenly. He closes his eyes and grips her hips tightly, picking up the pace as he rams into her harder and harder. 

Veronica’s moans rise to match his, and I flee the room before I have to watch either of them finish. 

I hike up the skirts of my wedding dress and slam the door shut, already wiping away the furious tears that have sprung to the corners of my eyes. I need to find my father, tell him to call off the wedding. It was meant to be a marriage alliance between my pack, the Obsidian pack, and Erick’s pack, the Thunderclaw pack. And he’s supposed to be my mate. My mate. If I can’t count on Erick to maintain decorum even on our wedding day–

We’re doomed. 

But when I rush into the wedding hall to deliver the news to my father, the Alpha, I find the entire Obsidian pack locked in vicious combat with the Thunderclaw pack. 

I let out a bloodcurdling scream as I looked around the fray. Bodies are strewn about the fine marble floor already, and I can recognize a few of them. An enemy wolf lunges at me. I manage to swerve and shift into my wolf form fluidly. The dress vanishes, and I can finally move freely, claws extended and fangs snapping. 

I jump into the fight with a howl. “Father!” I shriek desperately, sprinting through the dining hall.

My claws swipe into an enemy’s flank, tearing out a wicked chunk of flesh, but I press on. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see a familiar wolf rushing towards me.

His teeth are bared. His muzzle is bloody. There’s murder in his eyes. 

I’ve never seen Erick look at me with such loathing before. 

I know as he rushes towards me that he’s going to attack me, that he’s ready to strike me dead, but just like I was when I saw him fucking Veronica I find myself frozen in place. He sprints towards me, fangs gleaming wickedly, and I squeeze my eyes shut, braced for death, when–

A pained howl cuts through the room. 

“Alpha Bradley!” Someone shouts, but the words sound a thousand miles away.

Who would be calling my father’s name?

All the fighting in the dining hall has stilled. 

I crack one eye open, surprised to find myself alive.

At my feet lies the lifeless body of my father.

“No!” A ragged sob tears from my throat. I sink to my knees, shifting into human form and cradling my father’s body. “No, no, no…”

Deep claw marks arc across his chest, blood pooling from them and sullying my wedding dress. I hear cruel laughter and look up. 

“So much for the Alpha, hm?” Erick says with a wicked chuckle.

“You…” I can barely speak. “You killed him!” 

Veronica walks up from behind Erick and wraps an arm around his waist. Her skirt is wrinkled, hair and makeup mussed. There’s not a speck of blood on her. 

“And now the Obsidian pack is without an Alpha!” She declares haughtily.

“No.” My eyes widen in horror. “That would mean–”

Across the room, I can see Beta Kinney, Veronica’s father, smirking proudly at the chaos before him. He must have teamed up with the Thunderclaw pack to betray us. As brokenhearted as I am, right now, all I can feel is pure, seething hatred.

“Go on, Erick!” Veronica urges with a giggle. “Finish this off.”

“Right.” Erick grins, gaze slipping over my body as my chest heaves with distress. 

“I, Erick Smythe, the Alpha of the Thunderclaw pack, reject you, Ivy Bell, the Alpha’s daughter of the Obsidian pack, as my mate.”

The pain of the mate-bond breaking engulfed me. But soon I heard Erick continue in a cold voice, “From today on, Ivy Bell is a slave.”