HAZEL
Of course he chose me. I was the elder daughter, the Luna, the obvious choice. Fia already had a mate, so she was out of consideration. That, to many-including my father, was my moment. My chance to finally have everything I deserved. To become the Luna of a powerful pack and leave this place.
But it still wasn’t fair, was it? I had to settle for an arranged marriage while Fia got to keep her fated mate bond. She’d always have that over me. That cosmic connection I could never claim. Then with me as Luna of Skollrend, she would take over Silver Creek as honorary Luna.
Over my dead body.
So I took Milo away from her completely. Convinced him to reject the bond. Convinced him to run away with me, or so she thought. The plan was perfect. She’d lose her mate, I’d escape the wedding, and Cian would blame the pack for the insult. Our father would be ruined. Maybe even killed. And when the time was right, I would blame it on the obsessed Sentinel.
But then Mother came up with something even better.
She was the one who suggested using Fia as a replacement bride. At first I thought she was joking. But the more she explained, the more brilliant it became. We could set Fia up to take the fall for everything. Make it look like she’d attacked me out of jealousy and tried to steal my place. Cian would be furious. The pack would turn on her. And I’d swoop in at the last moment, injured and heroic, to save the day.
I’d still have to marry Cian, but it would be different now. He’d be grateful to me. Protective. And Fia would be destroyed in a way she could never recover from. Ever.
So I beat myself up. Split my own lip against the sink. Punched my face into the wall until the bruises bloomed dark and ugly. Tore my dress. Locked myself in a closet and waited for the right moment to make my entrance.
Watching Fia standing at that altar in my dress, her face exposed, the crowd turning on her, it was everything I’d dreamed of and more.
And now came the best part.
Father pushed his way through the crowd toward Fia. I saw the horror on his face, the shame, the desperate need to defend his precious daughter. Of course he would try to save her. He always protected her. Always chose her mother over mine.
"Wait," Father said, his voice shaking. "There has to be some explanation. Fia wouldn’t..."
"Wouldn’t what?" Mother cut him off sharply. She moved to stand beside me, her hand on my shoulder in a show of maternal protection. "Wouldn’t attack her own sister? Look at Hazel’s face. Look at what she did."
Father’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. He looked between me and Fia, clearly torn. Good. Let him suffer. Let him feel what it was like to have his world ripped apart by choices that weren’t his.
"Hazel," he tried again. "Are you absolutely certain..."
"Are you seriously questioning your daughter right now?" Mother’s voice rose with indignation. "Your legitimate daughter, who has been beaten and locked away? You’re going to side with the girl... the omega who did this?"
The crowd murmured agreement. I saw several wolves nodding. Father’s face went gray.
I knew I had him. He might want to defend Fia, but he couldn’t. Not in front of the whole pack. Not when I was standing here with visible injuries and a clear story. His spine had always been weak when it came to Mother. She’d spent years making sure of that. Comeuppance for his sin of betrayal.
This was my moment. Time to seal Fia’s fate completely.
I walked forward slowly, letting my limp be visible. Every step looked painful. I’d practiced this in the closet, figuring out exactly how to move to sell the story of someone who’d been violently attacked.
Cian watched me approach. His face was unreadable, but I could feel the tension radiating off him. The mate bond between him and Fia must have pulsed in the air. I had to be careful here. Had to make sure he blamed her completely.
I stopped right in front of Fia. She stared at me with these wide, confused eyes. Like she still couldn’t process what was happening. Like she still believed there had been some mistake, some misunderstanding that could be cleared up.
"What did I do to deserve this, little sister?" I asked softly.
My voice broke on the last words. Tears welled up in my eyes, real tears because I was thinking about everything she’d taken from me just by being born. The legitimacy. The attention. The stable position in my own home. The mate bond I never got to experience.
"I never..." Fia started, but her voice was barely a whisper.
"I loved you," I continued, letting the tears fall. "I tried so hard to be a good sister to you. Even though you were... even though your mother..." I trailed off, like I was too kind to finish the sentence. "But I accepted you. I welcomed you. And this is how you repay me?"
The crowd was eating it up. I could hear sympathetic murmurs. Several women were crying now.
"I wanted you at my wedding," I said, my voice growing stronger. "I wanted you by my side. I chose you as my bridesmaid because you were my sister. And you... you..."
My knees buckled. I’d practiced this too, the exact way to collapse that would look natural. My vision swam, and for a moment I wasn’t entirely faking it. The adrenaline and satisfaction flooding through me was making me genuinely lightheaded.
Mother caught me before I hit the ground. "Hazel! Help! Somebody help me! Hazel!"
I let my eyes flutter closed. Let my body go limp. The perfect victim. The innocent sister betrayed by jealousy and malice.
The last thing I saw before I committed fully to the act was Fia’s face. She looked broken. Shattered. Like everything she’d ever believed about herself had just been proven wrong.
Perfect. Rot in hell bitch.