Beverly's POV

The white wedding dress felt like chains around my body. I stood in front of the mirror at the Silver Moon Hotel, staring at my reflection. My brown hair was perfectly styled, my makeup flawless, but my green eyes looked dead inside.

Today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Instead, it felt like walking to my own execution.

"Beverly, honey, you look beautiful," Mom said from behind me, adjusting my veil for the hundredth time. "Marcus is such a lucky man."

I forced a smile. Marcus Williams. My boyfriend of two years. The man everyone said was perfect for me. Handsome, successful, from a good werewolf family. The Alpha of the Riverside Pack had approved our match himself.

But something felt wrong. It had been feeling wrong for weeks now.

"Mom, I need a minute alone," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Of course, dear. But hurry. The ceremony starts in thirty minutes."

As soon as she left, I pulled out my phone. Three missed calls from an unknown number. I'd been getting them all morning but ignored them. Today wasn't the day for distractions.

The phone buzzed again. Same number.

Against my better judgment, I answered. "Hello?"

"Beverly Stevens?" A woman's voice, nervous and shaky.

"Yes? Who is this?"

"You don't know me, but... I need to tell you something about Marcus. Before you marry him."

My heart started racing. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm pregnant. With his baby."

The phone slipped from my hand, clattering on the marble floor. No. This couldn't be happening. Not today. Not now.

I picked up the phone with trembling fingers. "You're lying."

"Room 412. He's there right now. With my sister. Go see for yourself."

The line went dead.

I stood frozen for a moment. This had to be some sick joke. Marcus would never... But then I remembered all those late nights at work. Those business trips. The way he'd been avoiding my eyes lately.

My legs moved before my brain could stop them. I hiked up my wedding dress and ran out of the bridal suite, ignoring the shocked gasps from the bridesmaids in the hallway. The elevator felt like it took forever.

Fourth floor. Room 412.

The door was slightly open. I could hear voices inside. Marcus's voice. And a woman's giggle.

I pushed the door open.

There he was. My fiancé. In bed. With not one, but two women. The sheets barely covered them, and Marcus had his arms around both of them, laughing at something on his phone.

"Beverly!" Marcus jumped up so fast he nearly fell off the bed. "This isn't what it looks like!"

I couldn't speak. Couldn't move. One of the women, a blonde with too much makeup, smirked at me. "So you're the bride. Marcus told us all about you. How naive you are. How easy to fool."

"Shut up, Crystal," Marcus snapped, grabbing his pants from the floor. "Beverly, please, let me explain."

"Explain?" My voice came out eerily calm. "Explain how you're in bed with two women an hour before our wedding?"

"It's my bachelor party thing! It doesn't mean anything!"

The other woman, a brunette, laughed. "Bachelor party? Marcus, we've been doing this for six months."

Six months. Half a year of lies.

"Beverly, don't listen to them. I love you. We can work this out." Marcus stepped toward me, and that's when I noticed it. The mate mark on his neck. Fresh. Red.

But it wasn't mine.

"You found your mate," I whispered.

His face went pale. "Beverly..."

"You found your mate and you were still going to marry me?"

"She's nobody! Just some omega from another pack. You're the one I choose. You're from a good family. We make sense together."

"We make sense?" I laughed, but it sounded broken. "You were going to let me spend my whole life with someone who already found their mate?"

In our world, mate bonds were sacred. Once a werewolf found their mate, the bond was forever. And Marcus had hidden his from me.

"You're not my mate anyway," Marcus said coldly, his mask finally dropping. "I was doing you a favor. No one else wanted the girl whose father went crazy and abandoned his pack."

The words hit like physical blows. My father had left when I was fifteen. Just disappeared one night, leaving Mom and me to deal with the shame and whispers.

"Besides," Marcus continued, "what are you going to do? Call off the wedding? Your family has already spent everything on this. Your mom put a second mortgage on the house. You'll be the laughingstock of the entire city."

He was right. Mom had spent everything. Borrowed from everyone. All for this perfect wedding to the perfect man.

I looked at the three of them. Marcus is standing there shirtless, trying to look authoritative. The two women are smirking from the bed. This was my life. This was what I'd been about to chain myself to.

"You're right," I said quietly. "Calling off the wedding would ruin my family financially."

Marcus smiled, thinking he'd won. "So you'll go through with it. Smart girl."

"No." I pulled off my engagement ring and threw it at his face. "I'll pay my family back myself. Every penny. But I'd rather be broke than married to you."

I turned and walked out, my wedding dress trailing behind me like a white flag of surrender. But I wasn't surrendering. I was escaping.

Behind me, Marcus shouted, "You'll regret this! Nobody else will want you! You're nothing without me!"

I kept walking. Down the hall. Into the elevator. Through the lobby where guests were already gathering. I heard the gasps, the whispers, saw the shocked faces. I didn't care.

My mom rushed over. "Beverly? What's wrong? Where are you going?"

"The wedding's off, Mom."

"What? But... the money... the guests..."

"I'll figure it out. I'll pay you back. I promise."

I pushed through the doors of the hotel and into the afternoon sun. I had no car, no money on me, nowhere to go. My phone was back in the bridal suite. I started walking, my heels clicking on the pavement, my dress getting dirty from the street.

Three blocks later, a black Lamborghini pulled up beside me. The window rolled down.

"Need a ride?"

A man's voice. Deep. Smooth. I looked over, ready to tell him to get lost, and froze.

The most gorgeous man I'd ever seen was looking at me from the driver's seat. Dark hair, silver eyes that seemed to see right through me, a jaw that could cut glass. But it wasn't just his looks that made me stop.

It was the way my wolf suddenly woke up inside me, howling one word that changed everything:

Mate.