Chapter 1

• Chapter 1
• Elysia
• The moon was full and high up in the night sky. It glowed beautifully, illuminating the ceremony that was happening below—my engagement party.
• It was a perfect night for such a gathering to take place. A night with a full moon when werewolves like me felt our best.
• A clink of a fork against a wine glass stopped the chattering among the guests, and we all looked up to see my father, Alpha Griffin Ashbourne, standing in the center of the stage with a wide grin on his face.
• “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you all for being here with us on this beautiful evening to celebrate the coming together of my daughter, Elysia Ashbourne and Alpha Jaxon Nightwell of the Ironclaw Pa—”
• My father’s words were cut off when a loud sound pierced the air—it was the sound of a phone ringing.
• I looked towards Jaxon, who was sitting beside me, and he cleared his throat as all eyes fell on him. The ringing phone belonged to him.
• “Excuse me…” he murmured as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
• A woman's shaky voice came through when he answered. It was loud enough for me to hear. “Jaxon… I'm in so much pain. I got hurt… I'm so stupid. It hurts so bad—”
• Jaxon's eyes darkened when he heard the woman's words, and his grip around the phone tightened. “Lexa, take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”
• A snivel came from the other end of the phone as Lexa spoke, “I got burned… I touched silver by mistake… I didn't know it was silver, it hurts so bad…”
• “I'll be right there, Lexa. Don't move. Hang on for me,” Jaxon said shakily as he stood up and began to leave.
• I stood up immediately I saw that, and I went to stand in front of him, stopping him from walking any further.
• “Where do you think you're going, Jaxon?” I demanded, looking at him in confusion.
• Jaxon raised a brow, a deep frown on his face. “Didn't you hear the conversation I just had on the phone? Lexa just called telling me she's hurt. She touched silver by mistake. She needs me.”
• “So what? You're just going to leave our engagement party because she got hurt? She's not a child, she knows what silver looks like and how harmful it is to us, how could she have touched it by mistake? She should call somebody else or go to the pack infirmary to get treated!”
• “Elysia, you know how close Lexa and I are. She can't just call me and tell me she's hurt, and I won't do anything about it. Step aside and let me go to her,” Jaxon said haughtily, and I stared at him unflinching.
• “Tell me now, Jaxon, do I even mean anything to you at all? Are you engaged to me or Lexa?” I asked calmly, and Jaxon looked at me for a few seconds.
• This question had been on my mind for a while.
• I have always questioned the relationship Jaxon had with Lexa, despite Jaxon supposedly being my fiancé. He would always stop whatever he was doing to be with Lexa whenever she called him. I couldn't help but suspect there might be something going on between them.
• And one thing about Lexa was that she knew how to put on the helpless girl act. She would always antagonise me when nobody was there, and she would act sweet in front of others. My own family began to hate me, and they always chose Lexa over me.
• But I was the real daughter, and I was supposed to be the only daughter of Alpha Griffin and Luna Dominique, the leaders of the Bloodfang Pack. But everything changed when I went missing several years ago at the age of thirteen. My family never found me despite how much they tried to look for me.
• Around the time I went missing, my father took Lexa in as his daughter. She was the daughter of my father's Beta who had died while protecting my father. He took her in because she had nobody else, and since Lexa's parents were close to my family, everybody favoured her.
• My family couldn't find me despite their efforts, and Lexa slowly took over and became the sole daughter of the family. Everybody forgot about me as the years went by and they only recognized Lexa as the daughter of the Ashbournes.
• It was a shock to everyone when I returned after seven years of being missing. Nobody knew what had happened to me, and I refused to tell them no matter how much they asked. I always got panic attacks whenever they brought it up, so they stopped asking.
• I noticed how much my family doted on Lexa, and I badly wanted them to treat me the way they treated her, so much so that I would do anything they asked me. My efforts were never enough and they still considered me an embarrassment.
• I even agreed to this engagement with Jaxon because of them, but here they were. The man I was supposed to get married to favoured Lexa over me, just like the rest of my family.
• “This engagement party is cancelled,” Jaxon suddenly said, and the words felt like a slap to my face.
• Loud gasps and chatters broke out in the clearing as the guests began to murmur amongst themselves.
• I scoffed, my gaze fixated on him. “You have to be kidding me, Jaxon. You're going to cancel the engagement because Lexa was stupid enough to touch silver? She's an adult, she can take care of herself.”
• “What is going on with you, Elysia? Why are you making such a big deal out of this? He said Lexa got hurt. She needs someone to be there with her!” my mother, Luna Dominique, suddenly shouted.
• I rolled my eyes, letting out a dark chuckle. “Mother, please. If she's that badly hurt, then you, dad or Calden should go to her. Why does it have to be Jaxon?”
• “You know she's very close to Jaxon, they are very close friends. She'll appreciate his presence more than ours…” my father cut in.
• I couldn't believe my ears. My family and my fiancé were really going to let the engagement party get cancelled because of Lexa.
• But I shouldn't be surprised.
• This was how things had been since I got back three years ago.
• “I really can't believe this is happening…” I trailed off, scoffing in disbelief.
• “It's not that big a deal, Ely. Everybody already knows you're going to be married to Jaxon. You can just have the party later,” my older brother, Calden, spoke up. I shot him a glare, making him purse his lips.
• Jaxon looked slightly calmer now, and he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Elysia, the engagement party can wait. We can always do it another time. From the way Lexa sounded, I could tell she was in so much pain. I have to go and check on her. We'll talk la—”
• I didn't let him complete his statement. “If you leave, that'll be the end of whatever this is between us.” My face was cold as I spoke.
• Jaxon stared at me in silence for a few seconds, and he sighed. “I know you don't mean what you just said. But let's stop the party here for now. We'll do it properly later. I just have to go see how Lexa is doing.”
• He gave me a small pat on the shoulder, and then he ran out of the clearing without sparing me a glance.
• The rest of my family members followed after him, and I could see the worry on their faces as they left.
• I knew the only thing on their minds at that moment was Lexa being hurt. I knew they had long forgotten about me and the engagement party. And I knew they didn't care about my feelings at all.
• And that was when I realized.
• I had no place in the family anymore. Lexa had replaced me in their hearts and in their lives.
• So I would stop trying so hard to be the perfect daughter.