“Oh no! What’s holding her back? It’s been fifteen minutes, the castle is almost gone.” The pack doctors gathered around, trying to revive the Luna and give first aid to kids who inhaled smoke.

“This won’t do. We need to take Luna to the pack’s hospital, she had a heart attack.”

The Alpha King, Howard Frost, nodded and carried up his mate. With a deep breath, he ran to the hospital, forcing himself to tear his attention away from his daughter who was trapped in the fire.

“Erica! Where are you?” Amaya’s eyes were red from the smoke’s irritation. For fifteen minutes she searched for Erica, but she was nowhere to be found, till the fire blocked the exit... almost as if she didn’t want to be found.

“Amaya, I’m here.” Erica cried out just as she was giving up hope of ever finding her. She rushed to Amaya, covered with a wet blanket.

“It’s so hot, do you have another blanket?” she added in a small pitch, her watery eyes staring into Amaya’s while looking exhausted as if she would pass out the next second.

Amaya sighed and removed the blanket wrapped around her neck, using it to add an extra layer of protection to Erica.

The Erica she knew was a naive, spoiled baby who couldn’t endure hardship and cried whenever things didn’t go her way. Being caught in the fire must have been terrifying, so Amaya had no problem giving up her own blanket.

“Let’s go.”

Just then, Erica staggered.

“I’m having cramps, ah, ah, it must be the smoke.”

Without further thought, Amaya carried her up bridal style, racing out of the castle, which was almost burned to the ground at this point. Just as they reached the door, a beam fell, blocking the door. Amaya screamed and jumped back, diverting to a nearby window.

The entire ground was burning with flames from fallen wood. Amaya’s legs were filled with blisters as she ran in the flame.

With a powerful kick, the glass window shattered, and fresh air hit her face.

“Ethan, guards, anyone. Come get Erica!”

Everyone turned to the window on hearing her voice.

“She’s out, she’s out. Amazing. She’s stronger than what we heard.”

No one noticed the hatred in Stacy’s eyes, nor the wicked cruelty in Ethan’s. And most importantly, Amaya couldn’t see the cold smirk on Erica’s face beneath the blanket.

Two guards quickly rushed forth, grabbing each of Erica’s hands. Just as they dragged her out, she gave Amaya a hard kick, sending her back into the raging flames.

“Alpha!!” The guards who saw what happened screamed and dumped Erica on the floor, rushing to Amaya.

She began to cry, seemingly terrified.

“What happened?” someone asked, just as one of the guards bent in to look for Amaya, who was already getting up with a groan.

The huge burning wooden statue, which Erica upset with her other foot as she was being pulled out, fell squarely on Amaya’s face, making both her and the guards scream in terror.

A second beam fell on her, and she cried out, her shout animalistic and full of pain.

Gathering all her strength, she pushed away the beam and staggered to the window. With a powerful leap, she dived out, rolling on the grass. Shards of the shattered glass cut into her arms, and she groaned, crawling further away.

Erica rushed to her where she was sitting with her head bowed, her clothes nearly burnt to nothing. Her once pristine and enviable silver hair was now covered with soot and ashes, some parts of it burnt.

“I’m so sorry. It was not intentional, I’m so sorry. It wasn’t my intention to kick you back into the flames.” She grabbed Amaya’s hand and slyly pushed the glass shards deeper.

Amaya hissed in pain, knocked Erica’s hand away, and nodded, trying to stop her from crying. In her mind, she still thought that everything so far had been inadvertent.

Her head was buzzing, too heavy for her. Erica’s loud cries were making it worse.

She raised her head to comfort Erica amidst the pain wracking through her body, and Erica screamed like one who saw a ghost, drawing back in horror as she screamed repeatedly. Her actions made the rest curious, and they rushed to get a clear look at Amaya.

Those who saw her equally screamed or gasped. Amaya, once hailed as the most beautiful woman in the world, currently looked terrifying. The right side of her face, shoulder, and arms were burnt beyond recognition.

Even worse was the fact that her right eye was nearly blind, slightly bleeding from when a jagged piece of wood from the beam pierced her eye. The left side of her face, although not completely burnt, was smeared with soot and ash.

“Holy goddess. Is this Amaya?” a woman whispered, unable to believe her eyes.

If not for her long, thick, and wavy silver hair, there was nothing to suggest that the current person was “the Amaya” whom everyone knew. Her beautiful lips were slightly chapped, and her nose was peeling off.

Stacy covered her mouth, trying to hide her laughter, while Ethan smirked, his eyes full of disdain. He pasted an expression of worry and panic on his face, rushing to her. Amaya felt his presence even before she saw him.

She sighed in relief as she felt his cold touch on her shoulders, instinctively trying to lean into him, but he screamed at that moment, quickly stepping back like he just got burned.

“Ethan…” Amaya whispered, her tone filled with pain and disbelief.

If she thought that the words from others were painful, then Ethan’s reaction brought it to a whole new level.

Her wolf howled, unable to take it.

“There was something wrong with the fire. Someone added something poisonous to the flames. Otherwise, this little fire wouldn’t have been able to leave a mark on us because we’re the purest breed of ice wolf. Someone intentionally set it to target us. Can’t our mate see that we were set up?”

Every bone in her body felt crushed, and her skin prickled as if someone poured a mix of pepper and nettle leaves on the burn wounds. If it was anyone else, they would already be dead.

Amaya forced herself to stand, staggering slightly. Her foot was filled with painful blisters; the agony of standing went straight to her heart like a million arrows.

Ethan shook his head repeatedly, his face filled with disgust.

“This is not what I bargained for. I can’t do this.”

“What do you mean?” Each word felt like shards of glass in her parched throat as she subtly hid her shaking hands, hoping others couldn’t hear her palpitating heart as she did her best not to assume the worst.

“I can’t live the rest of my life looking at that terrible, horrifying face. You look disgusting, I can’t do this with you. Merely looking at you sends goosebumps down my spine.”

Visceral anger rippled through her body, terror clawing up her spine. She bit down on her trembling lips, trying to process what she just heard.

Who was it telling her just an hour ago how much he loved her? Who was it telling her he would always be with her through thick and thin? Who the fuck was it that promised to be loyal forever and never let her regret letting him become the next Alpha King heir?

“What do you mean, Ethan? I got hurt trying to save Erica, your only sister, from being burnt to death!”

The tears she had been holding back finally fell in hot, steady torrents. A huge lump settled in her throat; the heavy weight in her chest made breathing impossible, and she gasped severally, trying to hold herself together.

She was the strong woman who never cried, but today, a man she loved managed to milk out tears of heartbreak from her emotionless eyes.

Ethan’s face twisted with fury, his eyes full of disdain, no longer seeing the need to pretend.

“So what? I won’t get tied to an unpleasant marriage out of gratitude. I don’t want you anymore, is that so hard to understand? Saving Erica was your choice. Don’t try to gaslight me into putting up with that disgusting face of yours.”

Amaya opened her mouth and closed it, unable to make a sound as more tears rushed down her face. When she finally spoke, her pitch was low and cracked.

“Should I have abandoned her there to die? Your only sister. Even after saving her, I could have left in one piece, but she kicked me back into the fire and knocked a burning beam over me. I didn’t say anything because she’s your sister, but you’re actually breaking my heart…”

“Shut the fuck up! You only have your clumsiness and stupidity to blame. Stop pinning it on Erica. She would never do that. You disgust me. There’s no need for much talk. I can’t stand a malicious and calculative woman like yourself. How dare you accuse my sister just to manipulate me?”

Amaya tried to speak, but no sound came out. Her vocal cords seemed to be temporarily disabled from shock. The buzzing sound in her head got worse, blood roaring in her ears as the white-hot agony ripping through her sliced her to pieces.

“I, Ethan Dawson, of the Storm Blood Pack, reject you, Amaya Frost of the Silver Fang Pack, as my mate and Luna.”

A loud snapping pain went off in her mind, totally shattering her sanity. An ear-splitting howl echoed in the distance, loud, animalistic, and full of pain. It took a while for Amaya to realize that the woman screaming like an animal, the one howling in pain, the one who had lost everything, was her.

Her eyes turned red, blazing with anger. She roared again and raised her hand, which had changed to a claw, ready to attack Ethan. Just then, a sneak attack from a poisoned needle hit her neck, making her fall to the ground, unconscious.