Chapter 1

My head was killing me.

I woke up in some fancy room I'd never seen before. Crystal chandeliers, silk curtains, expensive furniture—none of this was mine. I tried to remember how I got here, but my mind was totally blank, like someone had erased my whole life.

I'm Sophia, a doctor. That's all I knew.

"Miss, you're awake!" A young maid walked in with a white wedding dress. "Your dress is ready, and Alpha Lucas is waiting."

Wedding dress? Lucas?

My stomach dropped. "Wait, what? I'm getting married?"

The maid looked confused. "Miss, today's your wedding to Alpha Lucas. You don't remember?"

Remember? I couldn't remember anything! I was supposed to marry some guy named Lucas, and I couldn't even picture his face. My hands started shaking. "Lucas is... who?"

"He's our Alpha," the maid said carefully. "Miss, you really don't remember? You had a really bad fever last night. We were all worried."

Alpha? I was marrying a werewolf pack leader? This sounded crazy. But the maid looked dead serious.

I let her help me into the wedding dress. The girl in the mirror looked scared as hell, totally lost. I'm about to marry a complete stranger, and I don't even know why.

The wedding was in the forest. Some old stone altar with flowers everywhere, smelling like roses and something wild I couldn't place. When I walked up to the altar, I finally saw him.

Lucas was tall, built, gorgeous. But his eyes... those blue eyes were ice cold, like he was looking at nobody.

Which I guess I am to him.

"You okay?" he asked. His voice was deep but flat.

I took a breath. "Lucas, how did we... meet?"

Something flashed in his eyes. "Arranged marriage. You're a good doctor, and we need one."

Need me? Not love me? My heart sank. So this was just business—business I couldn't even remember agreeing to.

The whole ceremony, Lucas seemed somewhere else. I kept seeing him touch his chest pocket, sneaking looks at something inside. When I tried to see what it was, he hid it.

The vows, rings, kiss—all of it felt fake and cold. When his lips touched mine for like two seconds, it felt like a handshake, not a kiss.

"You're my wife now," he whispered, sounding about as excited as someone reading a grocery list.

I nodded and tried to smile, but tears started falling. This wasn't how I'd imagined my wedding, though I couldn't remember what I'd imagined.

That night, I sat in the huge bedroom wearing a silk nightgown, waiting for my new husband. I heard footsteps, then a key turning.

Lucas stumbled in, drunk off his ass. He didn't turn on the lights. Moonlight came through the windows, making weird shadows on his face.

He walked over and suddenly dropped to his knees, grabbing me with shaky hands.

"Maya..." His voice cracked. "My Maya, you came back to me..."

Maya? My blood went cold. He was holding me but calling me someone else's name.

"I'm Sophia!" I pushed him away. "Who the hell is Maya?!"

Lucas froze, suddenly sober. He let go of me, his eyes turning to ice. "Forget I said that."

"No!" I grabbed his hand. "Tell me who Maya is! You loved her, didn't you?"

He stood up, looking down at me. "This is just business, Sophia. Don't make it complicated."

He turned to leave, but something fell out of his pocket. In the moonlight, I could see it was a photo—some beautiful woman with a huge smile, eyes full of love.

This was Maya.

I picked up the photo, my heart breaking. So I'll never be her. I'm just a replacement, some girl with amnesia who can't even remember her own life.

"Give me that." Lucas turned around, his voice like ice.

I looked at him, tears starting to fall. "She's dead, isn't she?"

His face went white. He grabbed the photo from me, holding it against his chest. "That's not your business."

"It is my business!" I stood up. "I'm your wife! I don't care if I can't remember anything, I don't care if this is just business—I'm your wife now!"

Lucas stared at me for a long time, his face unreadable. "You'll never be her."

Then he left, leaving me alone in that huge room.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and curled up on the bed. The amnesia, the cold wedding, and the ghost of some woman named Maya—it all hurt like hell.

I didn't know who I used to be or why I'd agreed to this marriage, but I knew my heart was breaking.

Outside, a wolf howled, long and sad, just like how I felt.

I'm Sophia, a bride who can't remember her past, a replacement for a dead woman.

And this was just the beginning.