Chapter-1

'Thud, Thud, Thud,' The sound of a heavy metal clinking on the ground echoed in the silent atmosphere as everyone witnessed the scaffold in front of them.

Sometimes only a second is enough to change the fate of a person, a venue, and the surroundings.

That's what happened in the grand stadium hall.

The grand stadium hall of Veronica Michelle was beautifully decorated with all kinds of beautiful roses and lilies for the wedding of the second son of the alpha king, Edward Spinster, and the beautiful daughter of the Alpha of the Jade pack, Anastasia. But now it was looking dead, filled with fear and silence.

The flowers and decorations were still there, and it still looked like the most beautiful wedding venue, but it was the stage designed for the wedding, which has now turned into a scaffold that changed everything.

The people who had come to attend the wedding and were smiling earlier were now kneeling with their heads down as they looked at the angry form of none other than Edward Spinster.

The father of the bride, the alpha of the Jade pack, who was supposed to bring his daughter to the aisle, was kneeling in front of the prince with his hands cuffed, his head hanging low, and his lips pressed into a thin line as he contained his anger.

It was a heinous sight.

"I am sure everyone here knows what is happening here. Why is this person over here who was supposed to become my father-in-law, handcuffed and arrested like this, right?" The cold and domineering voice echoed in the environment.

Edward looked at the crowd kneeling in front of him with a mere scoff before continuing.

"Well, won't you like to tell them about your cunning tricks yourself, Alpha Cody?" He said as he placed his sword right below the alpha's chin.

"This person over here did not only try to play cunning tricks with me, the second son of the alpha king, but he tried to murder me on my wedding day. Now, isn't this an unforgivable sin that you've committed?" Edward said.

Though he was insulting Alpha Cody, his gaze was constantly surfing over the crowd to look for the particular girl who was supposed to be his bride today.

Who would've known that the famous wedding of the second prince and the daughter of the Jade pack would turn into this trial day?

The place where the prince was supposed to marry was turned into a scaffold where her father would be punished in front of everyone. Could this be any less humiliating for the family? But Edward couldn't care less.

"Now, we all want to hear about his sins before we give him our final judgment, right?" Edward said as he looked at Alpha Cody, who looked back at him angrily, not saying anything nonetheless as he gritted his teeth.

As Jake, Edward’s subordinate, started listing the tricks Alpha Cody tried to play on him, not to mention his tricks to kill him along with the charges that would apply to him, Edward looked at the crowd arrogantly, trying his best to find out the girl.

He was sure he would be able to find out where Anastasia was if everything happened so publicly, but it looked like she was good at hiding.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the crowd, Anastasia, the daughter of Alpha Cody, who was the bride of the prince, hid and kept her head as low as possible.

The guards were roaming the crowd like wildfire and searching for her. To hide from the eyes of all the guards, she disguised herself as an old woman. It was all thanks to her best friend, who came with the last-minute plan to help disguise her. Even the hideous makeup on her face with wrinkles covering her skin was done by her best friend, who was also her main servant.

Anastasia had borrowed the clothes from her friend’s grandmother at the last moment before running out of the venue, but who would've thought that it would come to this? Before she could leave, Edward made his move, and everyone was suspended from going anywhere.

There on the stage, her father was being humiliated like this in front of everyone, but rather than helping him, she was hiding like a coward.

Today was supposed to be her wedding day, and it would've gone great if she hadn't found out that their wedding was nothing but a facade. It was a facade to attack the Jade pack. It was all a trick. A trick to get to them. And now that she thinks about it, she can't help but feel her blood boiling at the mere thought.

Two hours ago, she was going to the prince's room to see him. She wanted to give her greetings to him and thank him for allowing her father to collude with them and agreeing to marry her. However, she hadn’t thought she would rather be getting the shock of her life. She heard them talking and had stopped outside the gate when she heard words like attack and destroy. He was ordering his men to send the soldiers to attack the pack right before the wedding.

The mere thought of her to-be husband being so vicious as to attack her pack was repulsing.

As she bowed her head, she felt her body trembling with pent-up remorse as she felt helpless. Every inch of her body was filled with hatred for the prince, and the worst part was she could do nothing about it.

'If only I hadn't been so incapable and had found out about this earlier, then nothing like this would've happened,' She thought as a rogue tear fell down her eyes.

Not only was his plan to humiliate her father, but now he was thinking about arresting her too.

Every cell of her brain was telling her to get up and take revenge, but even a fool would know it would be useless. She was utterly helpless right now. She was the last hope for her family.

If she stood right now, the guards would immediately arrest her, and everything would go down the drain.

It was humiliating to see her father bowing down to Edward, the same person who was thinking about attacking them, in front of everyone as his subordinate talked about the sins her father committed. It was so humiliating that she felt like dying.

'No, I can't let this happen. No matter what happens, I'll have to live, and for that to happen, I'll have to maintain my facade and get away from here. That's what my father would want for me,' Anastasia told herself before shaking her head as she bit her lips to keep more tears from falling and ruining her makeup.

"Miss Anastasia!" She suddenly heard someone shout, and her body trembled a bit as she bit her lips in fear that someone had discovered her, but she didn't lift her head.

'I won't lose hope till the very end. Maybe it's just a trick to catch my attention,' She thought before nodding to herself as she tried to hide behind the silhouette of a man larger than her, creating a perfect shield for her from the front.

As she was busy with her thoughts again, she suddenly heard a loud thud and the screams of women around echoed in the air, making her whole form tremble with dread.

The women were screaming with fear in their eyes as they looked at the scene in front of them while the men were trying their best to keep quiet, trembling themselves.

‘Just what the hell happened for everyone to go haywire like this?’ She thought.

Seeing the mess around her, Anastasia took the opportunity and lifted her head a bit to see what was happening. However, the scene in front of her made her face drain of all the blood as she looked at the body of the person in front of her with a pale look.

No. This is not what it looks like, right? She thought with her eyes as wide as saucers.

Author's Note- Hello everyone. I hope you are doing well. This is another story that is entering a contest. I hope I can get your support like always. Love you all.