MORBID

APRIL'S POV

I pushed the doors open.

The scent hit me first: white roses and champagne, elegant and almost suffocating. The hall was decorated exactly how I'd imagined it, with soft lights, trailing ivy, and candles flickering like tiny stars.

Then I saw their faces.

Almost every member of the pack had turned to watch me enter, but no one was smiling.

There were cold stares, frowns, and expressions of open disapproval.

I forced my chin up and kept walking. Today is my birthday and my wedding to Alpha Luke.

I didn't want to care about what they thought of me.

That's when the rotten whispers started.

"I can't believe a wolfless girl is going to be Luna."

"This is a disgrace. What is the Alpha thinking?"

"Someone needs to stop this," a middle-aged man hissed, his face twisted in disapproval.

"You want to challenge the Alpha?" his companion shot back. "Go ahead. Get yourself killed."

The first man fell silent, but his glare remained fixed on me.

"She can't even shift. Not like her sister."

"Cursed. That's what she is."

I clutched the wolf pendant, my nails digging into my palms, the pain grounding me.

My eyes landed on my best friend, Stephanie. She gave me an encouraging look.

I wouldn't let them see me break. After today, I'd be Luna, and they'd have no choice but to respect me.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

Alpha Luke was waiting at the altar.

He looked every inch the Alpha he was: tall and handsome, with broad shoulders filling out his dark blue suit. His brown hair was slicked back, and his expression was calm and unreadable.

He had this powerful, untouchable aura around him, and somehow, by some miracle of fate, he was mine.

"Go get him, baby girl," Stephanie whispered from her seat.

I smiled, but it felt fragile.

At the altar, May stood in a soft lavender dress, perfectly poised as my maid of honor. She was my twin. My opposite. She was everything I wasn't: strong, confident, and beautiful in a way that demanded attention.

She was everything our father valued.

And yet, tradition dictated that I was the heir. The eldest. The one who should inherit it all.

Not that it had ever felt that way.

Still, I clung to hope as I reached the altar. Maybe today, I'd finally step out of her shadow.

Then I noticed something.

The way Luke and May were looking at each other.

It wasn't the way friends looked at each other. There was something familiar in their eyes, something that made my stomach tighten.

They looked like lovers sharing a private moment.

My heart began to race, but I quickly pushed the thought aside. I was probably overthinking things. There was no reason for me to suspect anything.

Right?

"Are you ready?" the officiant asked, cutting through the fog in my mind.

"Yes." I turned to Luke, forcing myself to meet his eyes.

He stared back at me with a blank, cold expression.

"Do you, April Quinn, take Luke Blackwood as your husband and Alpha?"

The officiant looked at me, and I returned his gaze with a smile and a nod.

"Yes. Yes, I do."

He turned to Luke.

"Do you, Luke Blackwood, take April Quinn as your bride and Luna?"

Luke's jaw tightened.

He didn't answer.

A few seconds passed, and the silence began to feel unbearable. I glanced at him, waiting for him to say the words. Waiting for him to smile, take my hand, and put an end to all the doubts I had been fighting since I walked into the hall.

But instead, he said the words that shattered my world.

"No. I don't."

The hall erupted in gasps, but all I could hear was the roaring in my ears. My vision blurred, and my knees went weak.

No. No, this wasn't real. I must have misheard him.

"Luke, what do you mean?" My voice came out weak. "You're my mate."

Luke stepped back as if I'd tried to touch him with something diseased.

"Mate?" His lip curled. "I won't bind myself to weakness. I refuse to accept a wolfless Luna."

He turned to face the crowd, his voice ringing with authority.

"I, Luke Blackwood, reject April Quinn."

The words hit me hard. My chest tightened, and my breathing stopped. I couldn't breathe.

"No... you can't..." I whispered, but the words barely made it past my lips.

Then I saw Luke stretch out his hand.

But it wasn't toward me.

It was toward May.

My twin sister.

For a moment, I couldn't understand what I was seeing. I stared at his outstretched hand, then at May, who stood beside him without looking the least bit surprised.

My mind went blank.

'What the hell is going on?'

Luke's hand was stretched out to May, and my twin sister didn't hesitate.

She slipped her hand into his, her fingers curling around his as they belonged there. Then she looked at me and smiled.

He's mine now, April," she said sweetly, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "He deserves a real Luna.

May, how could you-" My voice cracked as I tried to speak.

She tilted her head, her smile widening. "How could I? Luke was always mine, dear sister."

Luke turned back to the crowd, his hand still holding May's. "April doesn't have a wolf. She's an abomination to this pack." His eyes flicked to my father. "Howard, make May your heir. She's the one who deserves it."

Tears burned down my cheeks as I spun toward my father, desperate for him to say something, anything at all to defend me.

It was feeling too much to be real. I was just betrayed by Luke and May; was I going to lose the title as heir too?

I looked at my father, Alpha Howard Quinn, but he didn't meet my eyes.

Instead, he stepped forward, took my arm, and pulled me back like I was an embarrassment he needed to hide.

Enough, April." His voice was low, sharp, and filled with shame.

Then he addressed the pack.

From this day forward, I renounce April's title as heir." His words were brutal, formal, and final. "May Quinn will take her place. She will be my heir and Luna of this pack.

Father, no!" I screamed, but my voice was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.

They cheered. They clapped. They celebrated like this was a victory.

And I realized, with sickening clarity, that to them, it was.

I stumbled backward, my legs shaking so badly I nearly fell. Stephanie caught me, her hands steadying me even as her face twisted in fury.

April-" she started, but I couldn't hear her. Couldn't hear anything except the sound of Luke's voice as the officiant pronounced him and May husband and wife.

Alpha and Luna.

And I couldn't do a damn thing about it.

The tears came in a flood, flowing down my cheek, unstoppable and humiliating. I tore myself from Stephanie's grip and ran.