😍Click to continue reading<The Messenger>🔞
“I’ve chosen your alternative as my Gamma,” he announced — the decision he would regret for the rest of his life. “Why? Because I’m a girl?” Iva asked, her voice trembling but growing stronger. “You don’t even have a proper wolf. Small. Weak.” Nick laughed in her face. “In two weeks, you’ll be sent to the North for a mating ceremony with the wild packs. That’s your last use.” The North. Women there had no voice — only used for breeding, labor, and survival. Iva couldn’t breathe. “Are you mad?!” she burst out. Nick’s eyes darkened. “Don’t you dare raise your voice at me. Know your place.” “Because we are fated mates!” The words burst from her before she could stop them. Nick laughed coldly. “How exactly would you know that?” “Because,” she said, her voice trembling but clear, “I am the new Messenger.” The rarest wolf who could sense true fated bonds — the one every pack desperately wanted. Nick shot to his feet. “Bullshht! You’re NOT MY MATE. Get out. I don’t want to see you in two weeks!” Two weeks later, at the pack border, Iva stood tall. “I, Iva Rhys, accept Nick Blackthorn's rejection and sever all ties with him, with the Silvercrest Pack.” The moment the words left her lips, Nick collapsed at graduation, clutching his chest in agony. “Nick!” the Alpha roared. “Get the doctor!” The doctor’s face went pale. “What he’s experiencing… is the severing of a mate bond.” --- I The Girl Who Woke Before Dawn Iva woke to the sharp, merciless ring of her alarm at four in the morning, the sound drilling through the quiet darkness of her room, and for a brief, foolish second she wished she could slam the pillow over her head and pretend she wasn’t the Gamma’s daughter, pretend she wasn’t expected to be the first one training, pretend she wasn’t the constant disappointment her father treated like an unavoidable burden. “Come on, Iva, move,” she told herself as she swung her legs out of bed, blinking against the cold air that nipped at her bare arms. “It’s not like lying here
