“I stood at the altar in my lace gown, the heiress of the Sterling Pack, waiting to marry the man I had protected for years. To soothe his fragile ego, I had taken suppressants to hide my wolf, letting everyone believe I was "defective" and unable to shift. But when the priest asked for his vows, Liam didn't say "I do." Instead, he looked toward the back of the hall where his pregnant mistress stood with a toddler. "I can't let my bloodline die out with a broken mate," Liam announced to the entire city's elite. He looked at me with cold, hard eyes. "I reject you, Ava. Sarah carries a strong male heir. You are nothing but a wolf without a skin." The humiliation burned as I coughed up blood onto the white roses, the bond shattering in my chest. He thought he was discarding a useless cripple. He didn't know that the only reason he felt strong was because I had dimmed my own light. I wiped the blood from my lip and looked up. My eyes, usually hazel, flashed a blinding silver-white. "I accept your rejection." I turned and walked away, leaving him with his stolen happiness. He didn't know that when I returned five years later, I wouldn't be alone. I would be coming back with a Lycan King, and I would own the very ground he stood on.”