I spent ten years helping William rise to Alpha while waiting for him to claim me before the pack. Then a Heartbeat Challenge exposed the truth: his pulse stayed at seventy-four for me but raced to one hundred seventy-six for Avery, the first love he never forgot. The perfume I wore, the passenger seat I called mine, and even my Luna gown had all been shaped around her. I was not the woman he chose. I was the replacement he kept. Before the marking ceremony, I publicly rejected his claim and crossed into a neutral city alone. There, my work saved Harbor House, and I met architect Julian Mercer—a powerful wolf who respected my boundaries without hiding his desire for me. When Avery tried to kill me with powdered silver, I turned her attack into a trap and made her confess on a livestream she did not know was active. I reclaimed the achievements William had stolen, watched the council strip away his Alpha mark, and refused every attempt at reconciliation. In the end, my partnership contract carried only my name—and my next love began with a choice that belonged entirely to me.
