Chapter 1Six years after our bond was severed, I ran into Xavier at the pack enforcer hall.
He was there as a decorated pack commander, guest speaker for some big enforcer training.
I was there to pick up a death certificate.
While he made the rounds handing out little bags of Jordan almonds - mating favors - our eyes met across the lobby.
Neither of us spoke.
I turned to leave.
That's when I heard it - quiet, barely a breath:
"Daphne... do you still hate me?"
I shook my head.
When he went from being my guardian to some celebrated pack hero - deep-cover mission, medals, the whole rise -
and I went from heiress to nobody, living under a false scent like I was on the run -
yeah. I hated him then.
But hate only exists where love did first.
Six years later, I don't love him anymore.
So no. I don't hate him either.
...
A young tracker kept circling the room, oblivious:
"Come on, everybody - grab some! Let's all share in Commander Thorn's good fortune!"
Xavier blocked the hand reaching toward me. Caught up to me in a few quick strides.
His voice came out rushed:
"Wait - what are you even here for? I can help - "
I held up the paperwork. Cut him off:
"Already done."
And kept walking.
Funny thing is, we'd crossed paths here twice before.
This was the second time.
The first? When my father got sentenced.
Xavier grabbed my sleeve. Forced me to stop.
"Are you... doing okay?"
Such a nothing question.
I glanced down at the shiny mating band on his ring finger. Gave him an equally empty answer:
"I'm fine."
He flinched like I'd snapped my jaws at him. Let go.
Emilio's car was idling out front.
I glanced back one last time:
"My mate's waiting."
His voice cracked, a raw edge to it:
"...Okay. See you."
I hope I never do.
The car pulled away. He stayed where he was.
Until his tall frame finally disappeared from the rearview.
"So... are we gonna talk about how you just used me as a fake mate back there?"
Emilio shot me a look, grinning wide.
"That enforcer was this close to following you home. But wait - why does he look so familiar?"
I smoothed the wrinkled paper in my lap. Kept my voice even:
"Xavier Thorn."
Emilio's head whipped toward me.
"Xavier Thorn? The Xavier Thorn? Special Crimes analyst, the guy on all those pack law panels, the legend they literally teach at the enforcer academy? That one?"
His reaction was a bit much. I reminded him:
"Yes. Him. Watch the road."
But Emilio kept going:
"No wonder he's already wearing commander insignia at his age. I remember now - he went deep undercover for like a decade, took down this massive rogue pack. That's what made him famous. The alpha's last name was... Hathaway? No, wait - "
"Blizzard."
"Right! Blizzard. That's not a super common name..."
He trailed off. Then it clicked.
I answered the question he didn't ask. Voice flat:
"Yeah. That was my father."
The wolf Xavier Thorn personally put away.
Alpha of the Blizzard pack - the biggest crime syndicate in the territory.
Emilio rubbed the back of his neck, looking like he wanted to phase and disappear into the seat.
"Shit. Sorry, Daphne. I wasn't thinking - "
"It's okay."
And I meant it. Talking about it now didn't sting the way it used to.
It felt more like recounting someone else's life.
The car went quiet. Just the hum of the engine and the city sliding past.
Emilio's eyes dropped to the folder in my lap. He cleared his throat.
"So... what were you doing there anyway?"
I traced my thumb over the word stamped across the top: DECEASED.
"Closing out my father's records."
He died two weeks ago.
Collapsed in his cell one night, coughing up blood. They found stage four stomach cancer. Got him out on compassionate release. He didn't even last three months.
On his deathbed, the last thing he said was:
"I'm guilty. Thorn didn't do anything wrong. But he lied to you. And for that, I wanted him dead."
Father never blamed me.
Not even when he turned down every single visitation request I made over six years.
I knew why. It wasn't because he thought I'd betrayed him.
He just didn't want me spending the rest of my life as a crime alpha's daughter.
Thinking about him now - I couldn't help it.
The grief came back sharp and heavy, like something lodged in my chest.
I needed to redirect. So I asked Emilio the question he'd clearly been holding back:
"You want to hear the whole story?"
I was the daughter of the most powerful pack alpha in the state.
He was the enforcer division's golden wolf.
Our worlds should never have collided.
But they did.
And this is how it all fell apart.
Chapter 2
I was sixteen when a rival pack's hunters snatched me off the street.
Got away that night and ended up in the worst part of the city - trash everywhere, rats in the alleys, streetlights barely working.
A drunk stumbled into my path. Grabbed my arm.
That's when someone stepped between us. Pulled me back.
Xavier Thorn. Eighteen years old.
Wearing a black t-shirt so faded it was nearly gray. Lean arms, corded muscle.
When the guy smashed a bottle across his back, Xavier didn't even growl.
I didn't know it was all staged.
Thought I was living some kind of fairy tale. Damsel in distress, knight with claws.
So when Father showed up, I said:
"You wanted to hire me a guardian? I want him."
Guardian was just the cover.
Xavier had nothing back then. No pack, no future. Just desperation and a strong spine.
I needed an excuse to keep him close.
Father scented something in him too. Said the pup had fire. That he'd rise.
He wasn't wrong.
Xavier studied like his life depended on it. Two years later, he got into the same territory university as me.
The day his acceptance letter came, his eyes went gold and wet:
"Daphne, I owe you everything. You and your father. My whole existence."
"If I could... I'd never leave your side."
Every morning, Xavier woke at dawn.
Took an hour-long ride just to queue at this little bakery -
so I'd have a warm pastry waiting on my desk before my first class.
He'd burn his entire stipend on a brooch I'd mentioned liking once.
Meanwhile, he wore the same threadbare sweater for three seasons.
His pack was a survival kit: pain blockers, wound sealants, a weather shield, cycle supplies - everything I'd forget.
He was so good to me that even Father couldn't find a flaw.
The year we graduated, Xavier asked to join the family operation.
Father hesitated. Told him he didn't owe us anything.
Xavier dropped to his knees:
"I know I'm not worthy of her. But I love Daphne."
"I just want to be good enough to stay."
What I didn't know then was that Father was already drowning - caught in something he couldn't escape.
All I remember is them talking in the study for hours.
When they came out, Father took my hand and placed it in Xavier's palm.
"Thorn. You keep my daughter safe. Keep her happy. Keep her scent clean."
At twenty-five, I walked across the stage with my master's seal.
By then, Xavier had clawed his way up to one of the top enforcers in my father's circle.
The higher he climbed, the stranger he got.
One night I was sketching at my desk. He just stood there, watching me, ears twitching.
Then, barely audible:
"Sometimes I think about leaving all this behind. Just taking you and running."
When I asked what he meant, his pupils went dark. He wouldn't say another word.
Emilio cut in:
"Wait - so you think he actually fell for you? Like for real? Maybe he wanted to bail on the whole undercover gig?"
I shook my head.
"Maybe. Doesn't matter now."
Whatever guilt kept him pacing at night, whatever hesitation made his wolf restless - it didn't stop him from finishing the job.
When I was twenty-six, Xavier knelt and offered his throat.
We did the bonding at the council chamber first. Quiet, just us.
Then we planned the real ceremony. The big one.
It was massive. White ceremonial robes, two hundred pack members, a full choral howl, the works.
And I stood there in front of everyone and watched him pull out his enforcer insignia.
Watched him restrain my father right there at the altar.
Emilio looked sick:
"At your bonding? Are you serious? You must've - I mean, did you go for his throat?"
I shook my head again.
"Never got the chance."
"He left with my pack sister."
Emilio blinked.
"Your - wait, who was she?"
"The female wearing his mating band now."
Chapter 3
His bonding photos hit our territory university pack chat a few days ago.
The female was exactly who I thought it'd be: Ivy Morrigan.
My denmate all through undergrad. My pack sister.
She came from nothing - some nowhere territory, barely scraping by. Plain features, thick-framed lenses, always with her nose in a scroll.
Worked her claws off. Proud. Defensive about where she scented from.
When our pack elder mocked her accent - said she "howled like a stray" - her ears burned red, but she never backed down.
I was the one who approached her first.
Asked her to join the speaking circle Xavier and I were running.
Maybe it was the shared background. The same kind of drive.
They hit it off.
Or maybe they just fit.
The cheap campus grub I couldn't stomach? They both devoured it.
I wore color. They both stuck to black - practical, low-scent.
When we split for assignments, they'd somehow always pick the same option without coordinating.
But everything between them went through me. They kept their distance. Never crossed the line.
So I never suspected a thing.
After I graduated, Ivy was struggling to find a den.
She reached out for help. So I got her into my father's operation. Asked Xavier to keep his eyes on her.
No more three-wolf study sessions. This time I wasn't there as a buffer.
That's when they started.
Why Ivy?
Probably because with her, he didn't have to pretend anymore. Could finally drop the mask.
I was completely in the dark.
Until my bonding day - when Ivy threw herself into Xavier's arms, crying:
"You did it. Ten years undercover. You can finally stop hiding."
Ten years.
That's how long it took me to meet the real Xavier Thorn.
He just stood there. Expression flat. Watching me from across the hall like I was a rogue being processed.
I had a thousand questions.
What happens to Father now? When did you two start?
And... when exactly did the lying begin?
He didn't let me ask.
Walked over with Ivy trailing behind. Scent cold:
"He won't be detained during the investigation. Pack him some things. Bring them to the holding den."
His pupils caught on my smeared scent-mark for half a second.
I threw my ceremonial flowers at his face.
Then grabbed a glass and launched it at him.
It splashed all over Ivy's pale robe.
She looked up at him, trembling:
"Don't soften up now, Zach. You loving her was just the cover. You didn't actually buy into your own story... right?"
That snapped him back.
He grabbed another glass. Poured it over my head.
"There. We're even. That's for Ivy."
"When you pull yourself together, we'll talk."
Then he walked out. Ivy's hand in his.
I didn't sleep for days.
The operation was raided. Everything seized. Den accounts, territories, all of it.
I dodged news crews, hired pack attorneys, tried to piece together what was real.
Bottom line? There was no fixing this.
That's when it finally hit me.
My father was a rogue alpha. An actual one.
Twenty-six years of everything I thought I knew - gone.
Wolves are complicated. Nobody's purely feral.
He did awful things. But he also loved me fiercely. Gave away fortunes. Tried to do some good.
And nobody's purely good either.
Like Xavier.
The press called him a hero. "Shadow Fang." "The Wolf Who Brought Down Blizzard."
But I walked into our honeymoon den and found him with his tongue down Ivy's throat.
I didn't have any fight left.
I just went down like a shot wolf.
"Then what?!" Emilio practically yelled. "What the hell happened next?"
"After that?" I stared out the window. "I don't remember. My wolf almost gave up, I think."
