The wedding dress was supposed to belong to a bride.
Apparently, it belonged to a sacrifice.
Elena Vale stood beneath the enormous crystal chandelier of Blackthorn Hall, staring at the man waiting at the altar.
For the last three months, everyone had told her the same thing.
Smile.
Be obedient.
Marry Alpha Adrian Blackthorn's younger brother.
Forget the past.
Forget her father's name.
Forget the whispers.
And most importantly, forget what happened twelve years ago.
Elena had tried.
She really had.
But now, with hundreds of wolves watching her from the decorated hall, forgetting seemed considerably harder.
Her fingers tightened around the bouquet.
White roses.
She hated roses.
Too cheerful for a funeral.
And somehow, this wedding felt like one.
Across the hall, the Blackthorn family sat beneath their silver-and-black banners. Their crest—a wolf's head surrounded by thorns—hung above the altar.
Elena's eyes stopped on the man sitting in the center.
Alpha Adrian Blackthorn.
Twenty-four years old.
The youngest Alpha to rule the Northern Territories in decades.
Cold.
Untouchable.
And, according to every story Elena had heard growing up, the son of the man who had destroyed her family.
Adrian wasn't the groom.
His younger brother, Cassian, was supposed to be standing beside the altar.
Except Cassian wasn't there.
Elena glanced toward the empty space.
Her stomach tightened.
Where was he?
The music stopped.
Silence swallowed the hall.
Then the enormous doors behind Elena closed.
Boom.
She turned.
Two guards stood in front of them.
Locked.
That wasn't normal.
Elena looked toward the altar again.
Adrian was standing now.
Not Cassian.
Adrian.
The entire hall seemed to hold its breath.
He walked toward her.
One step.
Then another.
Elena's instincts screamed at her to move.
She stayed where she was.
When Adrian finally stopped in front of her, his expression was unreadable.
"Where is Cassian?" Elena asked quietly.
Adrian didn't answer.
Her grip tightened around the bouquet.
"Alpha."
Still nothing.
Then he reached past her and took the bouquet from her hands.
He handed it to one of the servants.
Elena stared at him.
"What are you doing?"
Adrian looked directly into her eyes.
"You aren't marrying Cassian."
A murmur swept through the hall.
Elena's heart stopped.
For one ridiculous second, she thought she had misunderstood him.
Then Adrian turned toward the crowd.
"You're marrying me."
The silence shattered.
Voices erupted around the hall.
Elena stared at him.
"No."
Adrian looked back at her.
"Yes."
"No."
His expression didn't change.
Elena stepped closer.
"You can't simply decide that."
"I already did."
"You were not the groom."
"I am now."
"That's not how weddings work."
A faint flicker appeared in his eyes.
Almost amusement.
Almost.
"You're remarkably concerned about tradition for someone whose family hasn't had a normal wedding in twelve years."
The words struck harder than they should have.
Elena's face hardened.
"Don't mention my family."
Adrian's gaze didn't move.
"Then don't make me."
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
She looked around the hall.
Nobody seemed surprised.
Not really.
The guests were shocked, yes, but beneath the shock Elena saw something else.
Expectation.
They had known.
Everyone had known.
Everyone except her.
Her pulse began to race.
"What happened to Cassian?"
"He's alive."
"Where?"
"Elsewhere."
"Why?"
Adrian stepped closer.
"Because this marriage was never supposed to be between you and him."
Elena's stomach dropped.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian reached inside his coat.
He pulled out a folded piece of parchment.
The paper was old.
Yellowed.
Burned along one edge.
Elena recognized the seal immediately.
Her father's seal.
Her breath caught.
"No."
Adrian held it between them.
"This was signed twelve years ago."
Elena stared at the parchment.
She knew that seal.
She had seen it on letters in her father's study when she was a child.
But her father had supposedly died twelve years ago.
Along with everyone else.
"Where did you get that?"
"My father kept it."
"Your father?"
Adrian nodded.
"The former Alpha."
The man Elena had spent twelve years blaming.
The man whose soldiers had stormed her family's estate.
The man responsible for the bloodshed that had destroyed her childhood.
Her voice became barely audible.
"Why would my father sign anything with him?"
Adrian unfolded the parchment.
"There are many things about your father you don't know."
Elena snatched the document.
Her eyes raced across the ancient writing.
The words blurred.
Then one sentence became clear.
In exchange for protection, the bloodline of Vale shall be bound to the Blackthorn Alpha until the debt is fulfilled.
Her hands trembled.
"Protection?"
Adrian watched her carefully.
"Keep reading."
She did.
Her eyes reached the final line.
Her father's signature was unmistakable.
Marcus Vale.
Below it was another name.
Darius Blackthorn.
Adrian's father.
Elena looked up.
"What debt?"
Adrian didn't answer.
"What debt?" she repeated.
He stepped closer.
"The debt is being fulfilled tonight."
Her blood ran cold.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian extended his hand.
"Give me the contract."
"No."
"Elena."
She stepped backward.
For the first time, something changed in Adrian's expression.
Concern.
Not fear.
Concern.
"Don't tear it."
She looked down.
The parchment had begun glowing faintly beneath her fingers.
A strange symbol appeared on the paper.
A circle.
Then a wolf.
Then a thorn.
Elena dropped it.
The parchment landed on the floor.
Nothing happened.
Then pain shot through her palm.
She gasped.
A thin silver mark appeared across her skin.
The crowd went completely silent.
Adrian's face changed.
For the first time since she'd met him, the perfect control disappeared.
"Impossible."
Elena stared at her hand.
"What?"
Adrian grabbed her wrist—not violently, but urgently—and examined the mark.
His voice dropped.
"The contract recognized you."
Elena pulled her hand away.
"What the hell does that mean?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward the older members of his pack.
Several of them had gone pale.
One elderly woman stood abruptly.
"Alpha..."
Adrian turned.
She shook her head.
"That mark shouldn't exist."
Elena looked between them.
"What are you all hiding?"
Nobody answered.
Then a voice came from the back of the hall.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Almost amused.
"Perhaps it's time someone finally told the girl why her father was really killed."
Elena froze.
The entire hall turned toward the speaker.
Lucien Voss stepped out of the shadows.
He smiled.
And Elena immediately knew one thing.
She had seen him before.
Twelve years ago.
At her father's house.
Before the fire.
Before the soldiers came.
Before her family died.
Her breath caught.
Lucien's smile widened.
"Hello, Elena."
Adrian's expression turned murderous.
Elena barely noticed.
She was staring at the man who was supposed to have disappeared twelve years ago.
The man who had been standing beside her father on the night everything ended.
The man who had just told her the one thing she had spent twelve years trying to discover.
Why her father was killed.
Lucien lifted his glass.
"Happy wedding."
Elena looked at Adrian.
Then at Lucien.
Then at the ancient contract lying between them.
Suddenly, she wasn't afraid of being forced into a marriage.
She was afraid that her entire childhood had been a lie.
And someone in this room knew the truth.
Someone had known it for twelve years.
End of Chapter