My Stepsister Stole My Mating? I'll Take Everything Back

The healer arrives like a bolt of lightning, shattering the charged silence that had settled over the room.

His nose twitches over the goblet, a menacing growl rumbling from deep within his chest. "Westland moonvine dust," he snarls.

"This dosage-had she drunk it last night, waking at all is a lunar blessing. Expect skull-pains for two moons. I'll mix a willow-bark poultice."

The room seems to shrink under the weight of his pronouncement, and a suffocating silence follows

I tilt my head, letting my pelt pale to an ashen hue, a mask of vulnerability.

"Why would Isla do this? If she craved Marquis Thorne over alpha Morgan, she could have asked Father-I would have yielded. Why defile our pack's mating ritual?"

My voice cracks with pain, a howl of anguish that rips through the silence.

"What of our manor's honor? If Thorne reports this to the Royal Pack. do you want silver collars, Mother?"

Stepmother Hazel's eyes blaze with fury, her face contorted into a mask of hatred.

"Aurora, as elder sister-" she begins, her voice dripping with venom.​

"Spare me," I snarl, my eyes narrowing into slits.

"You want me to lie: say I begged Isla to take my place? To let her get my mating and my dowry?"

Aunt Rowan, the mate of House Everen, spits at Hazel's feet, a show of defiance.

"You dare ask the true luna to crouch? You've starved her of alpha favor for years, and now this treachery!"

Her voice is a thunderclap, shaking the very foundations of the manor.

"My sister left Aurora a dowry of moonstones and silver-you'll not let Isla paw it!"

Hazel bares her throat in mock submission. "This is Hamilton manor business, Everen. The Beta is away; I rule here."

I rise to my full height, blocking her path like a mountain.

"Which dowry did Isla take? The one with my mother's moonstone comb? Or the rags you stuffed for her?"

Hazel flinches, her mask slipping for a moment.

"Sisters share-" she stammers, her voice weak.​

"Lies!"

Aunt Rowan's howl shakes the rafters.

"My sister's dowry holds royal gifts! You'll return every piece, or I'll howl to the Royal Pack."

I rest a hand on her shoulder, a silent gesture of gratitude.

Turning to the priestess, I ask,

"Alpha Morgan waits outside, yes?"

When she nods, I square my shoulders, steeling myself for what's to come. "Fetch him. I have words for the alpha."​

Grayson Morgan strides in like a force of nature, his battle-scared pelt glinting in the light.

I bare my throat in a show of submission, a sign of trust.

"My stepsister stole my mating. If you'll have me, I'll wear your luna's mark."

He bows, a sign of respect. "I honor your father's war scars. But are you sure-"​

"Positive," I growl, my eyes locked on Hazel's.

"But first, help me reclaim what's mine. The dowry Isla stole. it holds a moonstone vital to my mother's spirit."

In Thorne Manor's great hall, where the moonlit mating ceremony still lingered, Isla Hamilton and Marquis Asher Thorne had just sealed their bond.

As they turned to enter the alpha's manor, my aunt and I stormed across the threshold.

"Hold, Marquis," I howled, my voice echoing off the stone walls.