Chapter 1

The day before the class reunion, Clara Morgen—the queen bee who had bullied me for three years—suddenly posted a video in our old class group chat.

In the video, I was two hundred pounds back in high school, locked in a bathroom stall. My limbs were twisted at unnatural angles, and my ash-gray wolf tail lay limp against the dirty floor tiles, pathetic and broken.

A piece of paper was taped to the back of my school uniform:

[FAILED SHIFT CASE]

The group chat went feral.

"Goddess! She's coming to the reunion too?"

"Can the hotel doors even fit her? A wolf who can't awaken wouldn't be able to get through those doors, right?"

"It's been years—she still hasn't awakened? This could be a medical case study!"

Clara, who'd led the bullying back then, took the initiative to tag me:

"Evelyn, everyone wants to see you. You have to come to this reunion."

Soon enough, someone started a betting pool on whether I'd show up.

Clara put down 10,000 USD, betting I wouldn't dare come.

Elias Weber—the guy I'd secretly crushed on for three years—followed suit.

He used to be the most popular boy in class.

"If she actually shows up, I'll let her hug me once."

"Call it my way of saying sorry for back then."

The group chat erupted in laughter.

I stared at the video—the same one that had haunted my nightmares for years—and clenched my fists.

No one knew that six months ago, under the full moon, my wolf had finally surfaced—three years late.

No one knew that I was actually the long-lost daughter of Marcus Eisenklaue, Alpha of the Frostspine Pack.

A month ago, my father, Alpha Marcus, found me. I would inherit the Frostspine Pack—the very pack Clara had been dreaming of joining.

I quietly placed a bet of half a million.

Betting that I'd show up on time.

Then, amid everyone's jeers, I typed out a single message:

"A bet's a bet."

......

The group chat went dead silent for a solid ten seconds.

Then the chat lost its mind.

"???"

"Wait, Evelyn actually bet half a million?"

"Where the hell did she get half a million? Did she borrow it?"

"Who gets the money if she loses? Just saying, no take-backs!"

Clara was the first to jump in.

“Evelyn, don’t be reckless,” Clara wrote.

"We’re only joking. If money’s tight, no one will judge you for taking the bet back."

Same old Clara.

She had always known how to wrap cruelty in concern.

That's exactly how she operated all through high school.

I hadn't awakened, so I was placed in the Omega track—the lowest tier.

She'd pour my nutritional supplements straight down the drain, then pinch her nose and coo, "I'm just worried your body can't process all that. You should be thanking me for watching your weight.

Then she'd toss my training uniform into the Alpha locker room's dirty laundry bin, forcing me to wear clothes reeking of Alpha pheromones to theory class.

The other students would squirm under the oppressive scent, while she hid behind her textbook and laughed.

Finally, she'd corner me in the girls' bathroom,shoved an illegal shift-triggering pill under my tongue, then call a crowd over to watch me writhe in agony as I failed to transform.

Now, she was reposting that video, just to remind everyone:

No matter how many years passed, I was still the same joke she could laugh at.

I opened the betting rules.

Clara had bet ten grand that I wouldn't come. A few others had thrown in another thirty grand between them.

Only me—I'd bet half a million that I'd show.

I typed slowly.

"Don't worry. I can afford to lose."

Clara replied with a hand-over-mouth laughing emoji.

"Good. I was afraid you'd chicken out when the time came."

Someone chimed in.

"Clara, you're overthinking it. Maybe she's doing really well these days."

"Of course she is—skip a few meals a month, save up for a few years, and voilà—half a million, hahahaha!"

The screen was flooded with laughing emojis.

I was about to exit the chat when a private message popped up.

It was Elias.

Back in high school, I'd liked him for three whole years.

When he played basketball, I'd secretly stuff energy bars into his locker.

When his first Alpha surge hit and his pheromones went out of control,I'd skip class to steal scent-suppression patches from the nurse's office and slip them into his backpack.

Later, he taped the love letter I'd written him to the back wall of the classroom and asked the whole class, laughing:

"Tell me—I'm an Alpha of the Weber Pack. If a wolf who can't even awaken had a crush on me... wouldn't that be a stain on my record?"

The whole class laughed so hard the desks shook.

And now, he'd messaged me:

"You're really coming?"

"We were young and stupid. Don't hold it against us."

I stared at the words "young and dumb" and suddenly laughed.

So as long as the perpetrators grew up, all the evil they'd done could be casually filed away under "youth."

"Also—what I said in the group about hugging you—that was just to lighten the mood. I didn't mean it."

"Don't get the wrong idea. I have a mate now."

I finally replied.

"Don't worry."

As if afraid I was still hung up on him, he quickly added:

"My mate's coming to the reunion too. So when you see her, watch your boundaries. Don't make her uncomfortable."

I ignored him.

I'd barely put my phone down when the doorbell rang.

David, my father's Beta—his second-in-command—walked in lugging two massive garment bags.

He said to me, with utmost respect: "Miss Eisenklaue, you have a class reunion tomorrow."

"Alpha Marcus specifically instructed me to make sure you're dressed properly."

He unzipped the bags, revealing over a dozen gowns that hadn't even been publicly unveiled yet.

I glanced at them.

"Too formal."

David nearly laughed in exasperation.

"Tomorrow night isn't just your class reunion—it's also a banquet between the Frostspine Pack and other packs."

"Alpha will officially announce you as the next Alpha at the banquet."

"Did you think you'd show up in a hoodie?"

He held up a silver-white gown in front of me, then quickly shook his head.

"No. Too sweet."

Then he picked out a black velvet dress.

It had no flashy embellishments, but the waistline was cut exquisitely.

"This one."

"Tomorrow night, every wolf who ever looked down on you will remember exactly who they underestimated."

I looked into the full-length mirror.

The reflection showed a girl with a slender figure and cool, delicate features.

It had taken me five full years to make this transformation.

No one knew how I'd survived those days when I was mocked so badly I couldn't even bear to look in the mirror.

And no one knew that Clara had applied to join the Frostspine Pack three times in a row—and I'd rejected her every single time.

The Frostspine Pack was currently the strongest pack among all wolves. Every wolf dreamed of joining.

And I was the future Alpha of the Frostspine Pack.

David handed me an itinerary.

"Arrive at Palais Aurelia at 7 PM."

"The banquet officially begins at 8 PM sharp."

I looked down at the sheet.

The class reunion was on the third floor.

The banquet was on the top floor.

One was desperately trying to drag me back to the past to humiliate me.

The other was waiting to send me toward a new future.