Chains of Gratitude

"Just one week before my marking ceremony with Lucien, I discovered his heart already belonged to someone else.His secretary, Anika, walked out of his office with a smirk that was a little too knowing. Her blouse was askew, her usually neat hair a tangled mess, and only the faintest trace of her crimson lipstick remained. My heart seized in my chest, and my fingers went cold on the doorknob.Two years ago, she had been a timid girl fresh from the countryside. All that pretense of innocence had vanished, replaced by a brazen ambition written across her face. Her relentless eagerness around Lucien had always grated on my nerves, and I had asked him more than once."Lucien, can't you replace her?"His smile would always fade. "Anika saved my life," he'd say. "I can't be so heartless."Now, that single triumphant smirk was all it took for me to understand. What others once envied in me had already been trampled beneath her heels.My phone vibrated. It was a new proposal from the event planner.[The marking ceremony plan is nearly perfect. Can we finalize it?]I refused to be consumed by sorrow. I wiped a tear from my cheek and made one last adjustment to the document.——Replaced the bride's name withAnikaI didn't want a false love, or a fake Alpha Lucien.Let them have the marking ceremony. Let Anika stand at his side as his Luna, his chosen mate.In seven days, I would be gone with my pup."