My Twin Stole My Mate, So I Exposed Her at the Wedding

"Stand aside," I told the guard, my voice level and hard.

His eyes darted between my scarred skin and the path behind me. "Lady Elena... what happened to you? Why are you out here? You're supposed to be in the bridal suite."

"Do not sound an alarm," I warned him. "Not a word through the mind-link."

"Yes, my lady," he whispered, stepping backward into the brush.

I slipped past the checkpoint and took the flagstone path toward the grand pavilion.

White lilies and winter ivy wound around every pillar. Silver silk draped from the high rafters, catching the pale afternoon sun. It was breathtaking. It was exact.

Six months ago, Adrian had sat across from me at the council table, spreading architectural parchment between our teacups.

*We will fill the colonnade with mountain lilies,* he had said, tracing my knuckles with his thumb. *Three hundred guests. The silver banners of Moonridge paired with your family crest. I want everyone to see you crowned.*

Now, the banners were there. The lilies bloomed in great stone urns.

Only the bride was counterfeit.

"Have you ever seen anything this lavish?" a voice murmured nearby.

Two high-ranking pack matrons stood by the marble fountain, sipping elderberry wine from crystal flutes.

"Never," the second woman answered, adjusting her fox-fur wrap. "Lady Elena has outdone herself. She looks magnificent today. A once-in-a-century beauty, truly."

"And to think her father returned just in time," the first added, eyes gleaming with gossip. "Alexander vanishing for twenty years, only to walk back through the gates on the night of her betrothal? It's a complete fairy tale."

I stopped beside the column, pulling the edge of my hood lower to hide the scar.

"A fairy tale," I muttered under my breath.

Bitterness coated my tongue like ash.

If Elara had buried my corpse six feet deeper, she would have lived this pristine life forever. She would have slept in Adrian's bed, worn my mother's emeralds, and ruled the pack that cast her out at birth.

Did Evelyn ever shed a tear when I vanished into the pines three months ago?

Did my mother search the woods until her hands bled? Or did Alexander whisper in her ear that the switch was made, and did she nod, accepting the spare daughter to keep the council quiet?

And Alexander—my father. Did he smile when he handed Adrian the hand of the daughter he raised in the dirt, pretending she was the one he abandoned?

The iron bells in the chapel tower struck three resonant tones.

The brass double doors of the sanctuary swung wide. Guests flooded inside, their laughter and velvet skirts brushing against the polished oak. I pressed into the crowd, sliding between two towering sentries who barely spared a glance at the veiled woman trailing behind the elders.

"Take your seats," an usher instructed, ushering wolves toward the carved pews. "The Alpha approaches the dais."

I did not sit. I moved to the shadow beneath the choir loft, keeping my spine glued to the cold stone.

"Silence!"

The voice boomed through the vaulted hall. Elder Corbin stood at the center of the raised marble altar, holding the ceremonial bonding blade aloft. The room plunged into absolute stillness.

The side door opened.

Adrian walked onto the dais.

The sight of him struck my chest. He wore the midnight-blue dress tunic of the Moonridge Alpha, silver embroidery winding along the high collar. His dark hair was brushed back, his posture rigid and commanding. But his mouth held a soft, expectant curve.

Then the heavy timber doors at the back groaned open again.

Elara stepped onto the carpet.

She wore the ivory silk gown I had sketched by candlelight during the autumn freeze. Seed pearls lined the bodice, shimmering under the chandeliers. Her dark brown hair was pinned high, revealing the smooth, unblemished curve of her throat and cheek.

My face. The face she stole while leaving mine in ribbons.

Alexander walked beside her, his hand resting proudly over hers. His broad shoulders were squared, his chin high, basking in the murmurs of approval sweeping through the chapel. Behind them walked Evelyn.

My mother was weeping.

She pressed a lace handkerchief to her trembling lips, tears catching the candlelight as they tracked down her pale cheeks. She looked so frail, so moved by the majesty of the union.

*Are those tears for your daughter, Mother?* I thought, my nails digging through my sleeves until they pierced the skin of my forearms. *Or are you weeping because the lie held together?*

Alexander guided Elara up the three marble steps.

"Alpha Adrian," Alexander announced, his deep voice carrying to the highest rafter. "I return to you the light of my house."

"She has always been my light," Adrian said.

He reached out, closing his fingers around Elara's. Elara looked up at him through her lashes, offering a shy, radiant smile that made the pack elders nod in deep approval.

She looked entirely at peace. Not a trace of the feral venom she spat into my throat three months ago.

Adrian led her to the altar, facing Elder Corbin.

"We gather under the full winter moon to seal the bloodline," Corbin intoned, unsheathing the silver bonding athame. The polished steel caught the glare of the torches. "Two souls, bound by law and wolf. Alpha Adrian of Moonridge, do you accept this she-wolf as your Luna, your mate, and your sovereign equal?"

"With my life and my territory," Adrian answered instantly.

He didn't hesitate. He didn't look twice at her wrists, or notice that her scent lacked the sharp cedar of my wolf.

Corbin turned to my twin. "And do you, Elena of the northern blood, pledge your strength to this pack until your flesh returns to the soil?"

"I do," Elara said, her voice clear, musical, and utterly false. "With all that I am."

Corbin lifted the blade to score Adrian's palm for the blood oath. Adrian held out his right hand, his eyes fixed on Elara with total devotion. Elara raised her palm to meet his, ready to press their bleeding skin together and complete the mating rite before the council.

I pushed away from the stone pillar.

"Wait."

The single word cut through the cavernous sanctuary like a whip crack.

The entire chapel went rigid.

Corbin froze, the edge of the blade hovering an inch from Adrian's skin.

Heads snapped toward the back of the aisle. The silence turned suffocating, thick with shock.

Adrian's brows slammed together in sudden fury. "Who interrupts the sacred rite?"

I walked out from the shadow of the choir loft, my boots pacing the center aisle, moving directly toward the altar. Every eye in the room tracked my veiled figure.

Alexander stepped forward defensively. "Guards! Remove this rogue!"

None of the guards moved. They stared at my frame, confused by the familiar cadence of my stride.

Up on the dais, Elara's posture shattered. The radiant Luna smile vanished from her lips. Her chest heaved, her green irises blowing wide as her gaze locked onto the fabric hiding my face. The bouquet in her left hand slipped, tumbling down the marble stairs.

Evelyn gasped from the front row, rising to her feet, clutching Alexander's arm.

I stopped ten paces from the dais, lifting my chin toward the man who swore he would love me until the end of the world.

"Adrian," I said, "Look at your bride."