The Lycan King's Pampered Bride

CELINA POV:

The ping from my phone cut through the silence of my apartment at 2:01 AM.

My stepsister's name-Karri-flashed on the screen. A knot of irritation tightened in my stomach. Late night. Karri. Nothing good ever came from that combination.

I swiped open the lock screen.

It wasn't a text. It was a photo.

My fiancé Jared was shirtless, with Karey nestled in his arms.The background was unmistakable-that expensive Italian leather sofa in his private lounge. The same lounge I'd helped him furnish last spring.

And around Karri's neck hung the moonstone necklace he'd given me for my birthday. The one he'd called "a symbol of our future."

She'd sent it at 2:01. She'd waited until the very last second of the recall window to let me see it, then pretended it was an accident.

"Oops, wrong person, sis. Don't mind me." Tongue-out emoji.

A wave of nausea churned in my gut. My fingers stayed steady. I took a screenshot of everything-photo, messages, timestamps-and saved it to an encrypted folder.

I didn't reply. I didn't block her.

I just silenced my phone and set it aside.

Walking to the window, I stared down at the glittering lights of Blackwood City. No tears. Just a cold, hollow space opening in my chest, expanding with every breath.

This engagement had never been mine. It was a contract signed before I understood the word. My father, Delbert Garner, had pushed for it from the beginning. "The future of the Garner Pack," he'd called it. Security. Power. An alliance with the Snyders.

I'd never loved Jared. But I'd tried. For six years, I'd tried to make peace with the cage they'd built for me. Six years since my mother died. Six years since I'd left the Garner Pack's territory and never looked back.

Jared Snyder. Future Alpha. Handsome. Powerful. And a man who'd never once asked me what I wanted.

This was a contract. A business deal.

But even deals have rules.

Jared hadn't just broken the contract. He'd done it with the one person I despised most, in the most humiliating way possible. My necklace. My sofa. My future home.

My wolf-the white beast I kept chained deep inside, the one I'd been taught to suppress, to hide, to be ashamed of-let out a low, guttural growl in the back of my mind.

It wasn't heartbreak.

It was territory being violated. Honor being challenged. Something ancient waking up from a very long sleep.

I picked up my phone again. Canceled my flight back to the Garner Pack territory. Booked the earliest flight to Blackwood City-not to my father's house, but to the airport on the opposite side. The one where no one would expect me.

Then I started thinking about where they would go to have sex.

Because that photo wasn't just evidence of betrayal. It was evidence of a location. And I knew Jared well enough to know his habits.

He was still under his father's thumb. The old Alpha hadn't fully stepped down yet. Jared had money-he spent lavishly on appearances, on cars, on Karri's gifts. But a private property? A secret love nest? The elders would notice that kind of purchase. Too many questions. Too many eyes.

A hotel would be sloppy. Too much foot traffic. Too much paper trail. Too much risk of being seen.

That left only one place where he could take her without raising suspicion.

The Pierce House.

The sprawling private residence the Snyder Pack had set aside for Jared and his future mate-the one I'd been given a key to three years ago, back when everyone still pretended this marriage was real. A gesture of "good faith." A symbol of the future they'd carved out for me.

I still had that key.

I reached into my suitcase and pulled out the hard drive I'd prepared months ago-the one loaded with architectural blueprints, security schedules, and every entry point I'd ever mapped. I'd been gathering intelligence for a day I wasn't sure would ever come. I'd told myself it was just being prepared.

But somewhere beneath the denial, I'd known.

I pulled up the schematics. The Pierce House's security was light-Jared was arrogant enough to believe no one would dare. And why would anyone? The future Alpha's private residence? Untouchable.

Untouchable.

That word tasted like ash in my mouth.

I had the key. I had the tools. I had three days until the Snyder Pack's annual charity auction-the most public event of their calendar. Every major Pack in the region would be there. Alphas. Elders. Lunas. Press. This is the perfect platform for publicly exposing these two people's shameful affairs.

But first, I needed the evidence. Real evidence. Not just a photo they could claim was doctored. Not just Karri's smug little "oopsie."

I needed to catch them.

I needed to plant cameras in the Pierce House. In his bedroom. His study. His lounge-right there, on that sofa, where she'd draped herself like she already owned it.

And I needed to do it before the auction.

My pulse quickened. Not with fear. Something else. Something that felt dangerously like excitement.

I'd spent six years being passive. Six years waiting for someone to save me. Six years telling myself that if I was just good enough, quiet enough, patient enough-everything would work out.

No more.

I dialed a number from memory.

"Ferne," I said. "I'm back. I need your help."

A pause. Then her voice, already alert. "Celina. You never use my full name unless something's very wrong."

Ferne is the only true friend I've had in these six years who actually cares about me.I told her about Jared Snyder and my stepsister.

"Jared and Karri," I said. "I have proof. I need a way into the Pierce House tomorrow night."

Another pause. Then Ferne's voice dropped, low and lethal. "Tell me you have a plan."

"I have a plan." I pulled up the auction date on my calendar. "Three days. Then the Snyder Pack's charity auction. By the time it's over, Jared Snyder will wish he'd never heard my name."

I looked at my reflection in the dark window. My blue eyes, usually calm, now held a glint of something cold and sharp. Something that had been buried for a very long time.