Alpha Marked Me for My Stepsister, I Faked Death

My childhood sweetheart Alpha Logan promised to mark me after my first shift at eighteen.

But on the day of the First Shift Ceremony, he marked my stepsister Serena's neck in front of everyone.

And Alpha Cain, the most powerful Alpha from the neighboring territory, walked up to me while the crowd was still in shock, dropped to one knee, and asked if I'd be his Luna.

For three years after the mating, he treated me like I was everything. I thought it was the Moon Goddess's way of making it up to me.

Until I opened his safe.

Inside were over a thousand photos of Serena. And a letter in his handwriting

"Serena, since I can't make you my Luna, I'll protect you for the rest of my life."

So that's why he'd kept me away from herbal research for three years. It wasn't because he was worried about me overworking myself. He was afraid my talent would overshadow Serena and threaten her position as chief healer.

So I planned a fake death.

If you love her that much, then let's never see each other again.

But when he saw my "body"why did he lose his mind?

I pressed the end-call button.

On the other end was my contact from the Rogues. Every detail was confirmedthe night after tomorrow, our mating anniversary, the Rogues would stage a fake attack. I'd swallow an herbal concoction I'd brewed myself, one that would sever the mate bond between me and Cain completely. He'd feel me die. Then the Rogues would pick me up at the meeting point, and I'd vanish.

Two more days, and it would all be over.

The door clicked. Cain walked in, tossed his car keys on the entryway counter, and noticed the phone still in my hand.

"Who were you calling?"

"Checking on an herbal formula. There's a new strain I want to try."

He didn't push it. He came up behind me, leaned down, and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"I'll take you shopping tomorrow. Get whatever you like. The day after is our mating anniversaryI booked an island getaway. We'll spend a couple of days there."

I leaned into his arms and said nothing.

Three years. This was how he always came to me. Gentle. Attentive. Like a husband no one could find fault with.

But I already knew. It was nothing more than a routine he repeated every day.

The next morning, Cain got dressed and stood at the bedroom door to tell me shopping was off.

"A few Packs' Alphas organized a healer symposium. Someone's presenting a new antidote for silver poisoningsupposedly revolutionary for battlefield treatment. I have to be there."

"I want to go too."

He frowned. "You haven't been sleeping well lately. It'll be loud and crowdednot good for you. Stay home and rest."

I didn't say anything else.

For three years, every time the Pack needed healers to show up for something, he'd blocked me out.

When I applied to set up an herbal lab in the Pack, he said, "No needSerena already has one." When I wanted to register for the regional healer certification, he said, "You're not strong enough. Healing takes too much out of you."

At first, I actually believed him. I thought he was being protective.

Looking back now, he just couldn't let me show up anywhere Serena would be. If anyone saw my talent, her path to chief healer wouldn't be so smooth.

Cain grabbed his jacket, walked to the door, then turned back.

"On our anniversarynowhere else. Just the two of us."

I nodded.

After he left, I started packing the things I'd take with me.

Passing the study, I noticed the safe in the corner.

I stared at it for a few seconds, then crouched down and tried a passcode.

Cain's birthday. Wrong.

My birthday. Also wrong.

My hands trembling, I tried Serena's birthday.

The lock popped open.

Inside, stacked in neat piles, were photosall of Serena. Some were taken without her knowing. Others looked like she'd sent them to him herself. Beneath the photos was an old phone. I opened it. The gallery was full of videos of Serena.

In that moment, something inside me died for good.

I put the letter and the phone back exactly as they were and closed the safe.

My hands were still shaking, but my mind was perfectly clear.

I grabbed the car keys and drove to the symposium.

By the time I got there, the hall was packed. The stage lights were on, and Serena stood at the center, rows of herbal samples and a projection screen laid out in front of her. Five or six Alphas from different Packs sat in the audience, along with healers from every territoryat least a few dozen people.

She was presenting a silver poisoning antidote.

Starting from the base herbal ratios, she built it up step by stepwhich herbs formed the foundation, how to purify moonflower extract, what temperature range to maintain, and how to administer the dosage in stages.

I sat in the last row, and the more I listened, the more familiar it sounded.

Not "similar." Identical.

The herb ratios were mine. The purification process was mine. The staged-dosage method was mine.

Then Serena said something: "Moonflower must be harvested on the night of the new moon. Miss that window, and the potency drops by at least half."

That line doesn't appear in any textbook.

It was a conclusion I'd reached after three rounds of experiments, written only in my private notebook. I'd never told a soul.

The entire audience rose to their feet, applauding.

Several Alphas stood up on the spot and invited Serena to serve as a guest healer in their territories. Someone said this formula would revolutionize battlefield treatment across the entire werewolf world. Someone else called Serena the most promising healer of her generation.

Before the applause even died down, Serena spotted me.

She came down from the stage, walked straight toward me, grabbed my hand in front of everyone, her voice dripping with concern: "What are you doing here? Cain told me you haven't been feeling well. You drove all this way by yourself?"

I pulled my hand free.

The next second, she stumbled backward, staggered two steps, and collapsed to the ground.

The crowd erupted.

Cain appeared out of nowhere, crouched down to help Serena up, then looked up at me with a stare cold enough to cut.

"She was just worried about you. Was that really necessary?"

Serena leaned against his arm and shook her head, her voice soft and fragile: "Don't blame her. I just lost my footing."

I didn't explain.

I knew this act by heart. She'd pulled it countless times over the past three yearsalways the same playbook. Show kindness first, then fall, and suddenly everyone thinks I'm the problem.

The applause started up again, but this time it wasn't for the formula.

An Elder from the Alliance took the stage and announced that, in recognition of Serena's outstanding contributions to the field of healing, she would be formally awarded the title of Alliance Chief Healer Consultant.

The moment those words landed, the Elder added with a smile: "And one more piece of good newsSerena is pregnant. Alpha Logan is about to have an heir."

The whole room exploded. Cheers, whistles, clinking glassesall blurred together.

I didn't look at Serena. I didn't look at Logan.

I looked at Cain.

He was standing at the edge of the crowd, wearing a perfectly calibrated smile of congratulation, a glass of wine in his hand. But when the Elder said "Serena is pregnant," his fingers tightened around the glass for just a fraction of a second. His smile froze for less than a heartbeat.

Too brief. No one else in the room caught it.

But I did.

I'd spent three years with this man, and never once had he shown that kind of slip over anything related to me.

Not even for a second.

On the drive back, the car was silent.

I spoke first.

"The silver poisoning formula Serena presented today is exactly the same as the research I was doing."

Cain kept his eyes on the road. Two seconds passed before he answered.

"Healing's a small field. It's normal for research to overlap."

"Even the detail about harvesting moonflower on the night of the new moon?"

"Then it means you both reached the same conclusion."

I didn't ask again.

The photos in the safe. The videos on the phone. The notes that had vanished from my study at some point. And the words that came out of Serena's mouthwords I'd only ever written down myself.

Every piece of the puzzle was in place.

I didn't need him to admit it.

Trees slid past the window. The sky was almost dark. I leaned against the glass and said it like an afterthought.

"Let's skip the island for our anniversary."

He glanced at me.

"Take me to Moonfall Lake."

"Moonfall Lake?"

"Where you first marked me." I looked at him. "Just the two of us. I want to spend a night by the lake."

Cain was quiet for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay. I'll arrange it."

He had no idea Moonfall Lake was the rendezvous point I'd arranged with the Rogues.

On the evening of our anniversary, I finished packing everything I needed.

An hour before we were supposed to leave, Cain's phone rang.

He picked up, listened for less than thirty seconds, and his expression changed. He hung up and told me Serena wasn't feeling wellprobably a pregnancy symptom. He needed to go check on her. He'd be right back.

"Go," I said. "I'll drive to the lake myself. Meet me there when you're done."

"An hour. At most."

I nodded.

I drove to Moonfall Lake alone.

The sky wasn't fully dark yet when I arrived. I sat on a rock by the shore and took out my phone.

Someone had just shared a photo in the Pack group chat. Serena lying on a couch, someone behind her pulling a blanket over her shoulders. The photo only caught one of his handsbut the tattoo on his wrist was the totem that only the Alpha of Blackthorn Pack carried.

The caption was from Serena: "When you're not feeling well, having someone by your side makes everything okay."

I called Cain.

It rang three times. Then the call was cut off.

I called again. This time Serena answered, her voice languid: "Cain just fell asleep. Is it urgent? I can pass along a message."

I hung up.

He didn't come. Not all night.

The lake was quiet. The wind came off the water, cutting straight to the bone.

At four in the morning, I called Cain one last time.

Powered off.

I stood up, opened my phone, and set the file package I'd prepared to send on a three-hour delaystraight to Blackthorn Pack's public communication channel.

The package contained three things.

First, scans of every page of my handwritten herbal research notes, each one bearing my handwriting and dates. Second, a side-by-side comparison of every "breakthrough" Serena had published over the years, matched line by line against my notes. Third, the photos from the safe.

At the end, I'd attached a message

"I was Cain's fated mate for three years. In those three years, he handed my research to another woman, erased my name from my own work, and told me to stay home and rest. Today is our mating anniversary. He promised to be here. He didn't come. This is the last time."

I pulled the herbal concoction from my pocket, tilted my head back, and swallowed it.

In fifteen minutes, the bond between me and Cain would be forcibly severed. He would feel the tearing agony of a mate's death.

The Rogues were already nearby.

I sent a message: Move in.

Then I sat back down on the rock and waited for the herbs to take effect.

On the other side.

Cain jolted awake in Serena's apartment, seized by a bolt of searing pain.

His chest felt like something was ripping it apart from the center. The pain doubled him over.

The bond was severed.

His Beta's call came through, voice trembling.

"AlphaLuna was attacked by rogues at Moonfall Lake. She's been... she's been torn apart."

It was still dark when Cain burst out of Serena's apartment.

He started the car and tore toward Moonfall Lake, one hand on the wheel, the other dialing my number over and over. Every time, the same automated messagepowered off.

His Beta called in, voice tight: "Alpha, the patrol team is at the lake. All they found was Luna's jacket and her phone. The water's too deepthey can't see anything."

"Did she contact anyone in the Pack before this?"

"She tried calling you multiple times last night. None of them went through. The patrol tried to reach you toono answer on your end either."

Cain glanced at his phone. The screen was lined with over twenty missed callsmine, his Beta's, the patrol team's. All from after he'd fallen asleep at Serena's place.

The phone hadn't been turned off. It had been switched to silent, and it wasn't on himit was on the coffee table in the living room.

He was certain he hadn't put it on silent.

He dialed Serena's number.

Her voice came through, tinged with hurt: "I didn't touch your phone. Maybe you bumped it when you set it down. How could you accuse me over something like this?"

Cain didn't respond. He hung up and floored the gas.

By the time he reached Moonfall Lake, the sun was up.

A perimeter of caution tape surrounded the shore. The patrol team and several Elders were standing by the water.

The Gamma came over and reported in a low voice: my jacket had been folded neatly, placed on a rock at the water's edge, my phone tucked beneath it, screen unlocked. The patrol had swept the entire perimeter of the lake. At the edge of the cliff, they'd found footprintsfacing the water. An underground river ran beneath the lake. The current was deep and fast. Anyone who fell in wouldn't come back up.

An Elder walked over and asked Cain: "Has your Luna been acting unusual lately?"

Cain shook his head. "She was fine. Nothing out of the ordinary."

The Gamma looked at him but said nothing.

Cain was still standing by the lake when his phone buzzed.

His Beta again. Something off in his tone: "Alpha, you need to check the Pack communication channel."

Cain opened the channel. My timed message had gone out.

The first post was my notes. Dozens of pages of handwritten herbal research, every page in my handwriting, dates marked in the bottom right cornerthe earliest entries going back three years. The complete derivation of the silver poisoning antidote filled an entire chapterfrom initial hypothesis, through rounds of revision, to the final version. "Moonflower must be harvested on the night of the new moon"that line was written in the margin of page three, with an arrow drawn beside it.

The second post was a comparison. My original notes on the left. Screenshots from the slides Serena had used at the healer symposium on the right. Not similar in directionidentical, down to the punctuation.

The third post was the safe. The input log on the combination lock screen, showing the last successful code was Serena's birthday. Photos taken after the door was openedpiled with pictures of Serena, along with video screenshots.

The last post was a message.

"I was Cain's fated mate for three years. In those three years, he handed my research to another woman, erased my name from my own work, and told me to stay home and rest. Today is our mating anniversary. He promised to be here. He didn't come. This is the last time."

Cain's hand was shaking as he held his phone.

He scrolled back through the photos of my notes, page by page. He'd seen those notebooks before. They'd always been on the shelf in my study. He'd catch a glimpse of them when he walked past.

But he'd never once opened a single page.

The Pack communication channel had erupted. Everyone was sharing, everyone was talking. The news spread from Blackthorn Pack to the neighboring Packs, then to the Alliance.

In under three hours, the entire community knewthe Alpha of Blackthorn Pack's Luna was the true creator of that formula, and the woman who'd been awarded the title of Alliance Chief Healer Consultant had built her reputation on stolen work.