I’ve always been the shadow behind Bianca, the golden girl of the Hartwell Pack beautiful, graceful, perfect. Me? I’m the broad-shouldered one everyone overlooks, with a gift nobody values. I sense the threads binding our pack, taste truth and lies in a wolf’s scent. The elders laugh, calling it a distraction for the fat girl while the real wolves handle what counts. Everyone expects Alpha Prince Kaelan Ashford to choose Bianca at the Mate Ceremony. But when the bond snaps into place, it’s me. For one wild heartbeat, I believe fate picked me. Then Kaelan laughs right in my face. He doesn’t just reject me he mocks my weight in front of everyone. The bond splinters, leaving something raw and bleeding inside. Kaelan has no idea what he’s done. Rejecting a true mate isn’t just cruel. For an Alpha, it’s a curse. The bond will eat away at him, slow and merciless, until nothing’s left. After the ceremony, Hartwell turns to nightmare. Bianca’s jealousy grows sharp and cruel, and every day reminds me I don’t belong. I have nothing left to lose. So I run. But before I can vanish, Alpha Rhys Sterling finds me. He’s young, respected, and his eyes see through me. He doesn’t care how I look, only what I can do. Rhys wants me in his pack. He thinks I matter. I’m shoving the last of my things into a bag when Kaelan storms in, his grip iron, eyes burning with a fury I’ve never seen. “You’re not leaving,” he growls. Now I’m trapped between the prince who broke me and the Alpha who sees me. I must choose where I belong before fate rips the choice away.