The Alpha's Cruel Game

The shewolves in Shadow Pack all said I was lucky. Alpha Erwin Keller had doted on me alone for eight years.

However, the same werewolf who swore he would only ever want to be with me gave me two 'gifts' the day I brought him home to meet my mom, Katie Spencer, to discuss our marking ceremony.

The first gift was tying Katie to a chair and having his Beta rip her clothes apart right in front of me.

The second gift was deliberately opening the door and letting my dad, Felix Spencer, who had already lost his wolf spirit, run outside.

There was pouring rain outside. Felix ran to the edge of a cliff and fell over.

Katie was still tied to the chair. She watched Felix die right in front of her.

She snapped the ropes like a mad wolf and jumped off the cliff to die with Felix.

In a single night, I lost both my parents.

I kneeled in a pool of blood and asked Erwin why he did all this.

He pinched my chin and sneered. "Lara, did you really think I loved you? I came for revenge!"

It turned out that during the territorial war ten years ago, his dad died saving mine, and his mom took her own life afterward.

Erwin spent eight years carefully weaving a lie of love. It was all so I could experience what it felt like to lose my entire family.

Later, Erwin kept me trapped by his side and tortured me. I tried to kill myself 99 times. He saved me all 99 times.

He said we would torture each other until we grew old.

What he didn't know was that ten years ago, when his wolf spirit was completely destroyed and he was barely alive, I was the one who begged an Alpha from another pack to place a curse on me so that he could live.

In return, I only had eight years left to live.

Now, I was seven days away from my own impending doom!

Erwin Keller sat on a fur couch. Three young shewolves sat around him.

They were my cousin, Madison Browne, my colleague, Cynthia Tyrell, and my best friend, Mikaela Gaston.

They all had on revealing fur dresses, and they were all smiling as if eager to please him.

"Back already?" Erwin glanced up. "Perfect timing. The game just started."

I dug my fingernails into my palms.

Over the past few months, Erwin had slept with every shewolf close to me just to watch me fall apart.

Now every single one of them was hopelessly in love with him.

"In one minute." Erwin set down his wineglass. His voice was cold. "Whoever makes her cry first becomes my permanent bedmate."

The shewolves' eyes lit up. They ran toward me.

Madison was the first. She lunged forward and slashed my face with a silver blade.

The searing pain spread across my skin, and suddenly I recalled her birthday last year. Madison had held up a bottle of Moon Goddess spring water with shimmering eyes. "Lara, may the Moon Goddess bless you with everlasting happiness."

The second slash came down. Blood dripped onto the bracelet I'd given her. I had searched three days in the forbidden lands to find that wolf fang.

"Doesn't the silver's corrosion hurt? Why aren't you crying?" Madison turned around and asked in a huff.

Erwin narrowed his eyes like he was enjoying a show. "Next."

The moment he spoke, Cynthia grabbed me by my hair and dragged me into the kitchen.

My scalp ached from the force, but at that moment, I recalled the days we worked together.

When other shewolves bullied Cynthia, I stayed up all night helping her fight for justice.

Now the friend I once protected was shoving my head into a pot of boiling oil.

"Ahh!"

The scorching liquid burned my scalp. My whole body convulsed in pain. I clutched the edge of the table so hard that my nails split apart. Blood seeped out.

"Boring." Erwin glanced at the clock. "Next."

Mikaela ran over with a wooden box. My heart nearly stopped.

That box had been hidden under my bed. It contained the keepsakes my parents left behind.

"No!" I finally screamed.

But it was too late.

She laughed and smashed the photo frame onto the ground. Glass shards scattered everywhere.

Felix's cane was crushed under her heel, and Katie's comb snapped clean in half.

My tears finally hit the ground.

"I win!" Mikaela ran excitedly to Erwin. "Erwin, from now on you can only have me."

Erwin laughed. He then pinched her chin hard. "How naive. Anyone connected to Lara disgusts me. Why would I want any of you?"

He pressed a button. "Throw them all out."

The guards dragged the screaming shewolves away. I kneeled in the wreckage and trembled as I picked up the shattered remains of my parents' keepsakes.

"Erwin." I clutched the fragments and sobbed so hard I could barely breathe. "Someone like you who can't love should never be with anyone!"

"Who says I can't love?"

Erwin sneered. That was when the door opened.

A she-wolf in a white dress walked in with a suitcase. "Erwin, I brought my luggage. Which room should I stay in?"

Erwin's expression softened instantly. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "Of course you'll stay in my room."

When he looked at me again, his gaze turned cold.

"Let me introduce you. This is my future mate I truly want to mark, Alyssa Arden.

"Remember that territorial war ten years ago? When I was dying, Alyssa begged another pack's Alpha to trade an eight-year life contract for my life. That saved me and restored my wolf spirit so I could live long enough to take revenge on your family.

"You said I don't know how to love, didn't you?" Erwin pulled Alyssa closer. His gaze was locked on me.

"Now, Alyssa only has seven days left to live. I'll show you exactly how I show love to someone."

My entire body trembled.

Such cruel irony.

I gave my life to save him, yet he mistook someone else for his savior and cherished her like a treasure.

But I wouldn't explain.

What would I explain? That I was the one who saved his life?

That I only had seven days left because of him?

I'd lost my parents. He'd lost his parents too. The vengeance between us had gotten so deep that there was no possibility of us ever being together.