

Ethan mistakenly believed that Scarlett's father had killed his own father, leading him to confine Scarlett in a mental hospital, where she endured torment for two years. Later, Ethan, in an effort to thwart his stepmother Evelyn's scheme, chose to enter into a fake marriage with Scarlett, with a three-month deadline. However, just as Ethan and Scarlett received their marriage license, Ethan discovered the mysterious woman he had slept with, Sophia.

Before turning 25, the pack elders use the mind-link 99 times to forcibly summon me. I have to bond with a mate before my 25th birthday or face an arranged marriage to serve the pack. When I tell Jacob Fulton, our patrol captain, he just scoffs. "I've never heard of any pack having a rule like that. Wendy, you don't need such a pathetic tactic to test me. I was going to mark you, but seeing how desperate you are, I've changed my mind." He tosses the protection necklace I hand-crafted for him to his childhood friend, Yelena Shaw, and walks off without a second glance. Yelena blushes as she offers the necklace back to me. A triumphant glint flashes in her eyes. I step back, refusing it with a soft voice. "You can keep my trash." Ignoring her sudden paleness, I turn and walk away. I don't want the necklace anymore, and I don't want Jacob, either. What Jacob doesn't know is that I'm the sole heir to the Darkmoon pack. Once I turn 25, I must return to fulfill my duty—to take my place as Alpha Female and bond with a mate. Only this time, Jacob won't be the one I choose.

The Northern Pack had one unbreakable rule: the Alpha heir could never bond with a human girl. Despite that, Alpha Kieran Wolfe still formed a mate bond with me. To be with me, he openly defied the Elders' Council. He endured 99 lashes and was forced to kneel at the altar for three days and nights. Even as blood soaked through his shirt, he smiled at me and said, "Elise, don't be afraid. I only want you." Eventually, the Elders' Council finally relented and agreed to let Kieran leave with me. However, there was one condition: he had to leave a pure-blood heir behind for the Pack. From that moment on, the phrase I heard most from Kieran was "wait". The first time, Kieran asked me to wait while he got another she-wolf to carry his pup. He slept with Cecelia Donati 33 times until she was carrying his pup. The second time, he told me to wait again because the first pup was a female, and the Elders wanted a male. So, Kieran slept with Cecelia 99 more times until she was carrying his pup again. Just when I thought our ordeal was finally over, their daughter, Tyra Wolfe, accidentally ate wolfsbane at her Meet the Pup Party. Everyone was convinced I had poisoned her. When they threw me into the freezing cold storage room, Kieran stood at the doorway with bloodshot eyes. "I told you to wait..." His gaze was ice-cold and cutting. "You know what wolfsbane means to our kind. Why would you hurt my pup?" The words "my pup" hit me like a knife to the heart. My fingernails dug deep into my palms as the pain tore through me. When the storage room door opened again, I loosened my bloodied hands. This time, I was not going to wait anymore.