Chapter 1 Marked to Be Broken

Sienna woke up to blood on the sheets.

The hotel room was silent, but her ears rang with panic. Her head throbbed. Her skin burned. She was cold and hot at once. Her mouth tasted like metal. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

She sat up, slowly, trembling and froze. A man was lying beside her. Not just any man but the Alpha King of Northcrest.

Naked and sleeping, completely at ease. His big chest was moving in and out steadily. His rib cage was scarred from down the side way. His head was averted a little from her and he had a fixed face.

Sienna looked down at herself. Her white anniversary dress was on the floor, torn. Her thighs bore marks she didn't remember earning. Her wrists were bruised, lightly, but real.

She wasn't a virgin anymore. She has been married to her mate, Zane for over a year now and he had never for once made love to her. Someone made love to her last night and it was not her husband who did it. It was a stranger, someone she had never met before.

She felt sick, and then grabbed the bedsheet and covered it around herself and crawled off the bed like a bed that was on fire. She needed air. She needed to scream. She needed to remember.

What happened? And then, like ice water to the face, memory returned-

---

Earlier that night.

Zane, her husband, had sent her a message: "Wear the white dress. Room 808. Don't be late."

It was their first wedding anniversary. A full year of being married to a man who hadn't so much as kissed her properly. He was cold, distant and controlling. But tonight felt different.

He even added: "Be ready for a real celebration."

Sienna had smiled like a fool, spent four hours getting ready, done her hair twice, and picked the silver heels he once said made her look "like someone who belonged to an Alpha."

She believed this night would change everything. She believed he'd finally see her as more than a contract wife.

She was wrong.

---

She had arrived at Room 808, nervous and breathless. There, in his black shirt unbuttoned, was Zane waiting. It was not possible to read his face. Cold as always but focused.

"You're late," he said, taking the clutch from her hand.

"Only ten minutes," she laughed awkwardly. "I-"

"Drink this."

A glass of red wine was already poured. She hesitated.

Zane's gaze hardened. "It's just wine, Sienna. Don't ruin tonight too."

She drank it. Midway through the glass, her sight became hazy. The room spun. Her body felt hot. Too hot.

"I-I don't feel very well," she said, attempting to grasp the table's edge.

Zane smiled faintly. Then he stood, picked up his phone, and walked to the door.

"I'm going to the restroom. Don't go anywhere."

That was the last thing she remembered.

Until now.

---

Memory fades away....

Back in the hotel bed. Sienna's fingers dug into the wall as she tried to stand. Her legs trembled beneath her. What had Zane done? Why would he drug her? Why the Alpha King? What game was this?

She turned toward the man again. He stirred and opened his eyes. They were keen, and silver and as cold as snow.

Once he blinked, and then his eyes concentrated on her as though she were the prey to a predatory awakening. "what are you still doing here," he said quietly, in a voice that was low and rough. "I thought you would have been away by sunrise."

Sienna's lips trembled. "Why... Why are you here? I didn't- I don't even know your name."

He sat up, not bothering to cover himself. "You said my name enough times last night."

"That's impossible. I don't know you-"

"Then maybe you weren't calling me. Maybe you were calling him."

The door suddenly slammed open. It was Zane, and behind him was Renna. His younger sister.

The woman Ryder was supposed to mark today. The woman who had always looked at Sienna like something she stepped on.

"Sienna," Zane said slowly, with a smile so sharp it could cut bone. "I see you've met your real mate."

Sienna's face was drained of color. "No. This isn't what you think Zane, this isn't what it looks like-"

"Oh, it's exactly what it looks like," Renna snapped, her arms crossed, eyes glittering. "You're pathetic. You couldn't keep your own husband, so you climbed into the bed of my future mate? In my marking suite?!"

"What?" Sienna's voice cracked.

Ryder, the Alpha King, stood slowly behind her, silent, watching.

Renna stepped forward. "You thought this was a love story? No, sweetheart. This was a setup. You're the sacrifice. The shame. The lesson. And when the council hears what you did? You'll be ruined."

Zane tossed a file onto the bed. "Oh and by the way? You signed the divorce papers last week, remember? They just went through."

"I never signed-" Sienna's voice faltered.

"You did." Zane grinned. "In your drugged haze. Your name, your signature, and your inheritance transferred to me."

Renna picked up the sheet, waved it mockingly. "Look, Sienna. Your last name isn't even yours anymore. You're nothing."

Sienna stepped back, shaking her head.

Ryder's voice cut through the air like thunder: "Enough."

All eyes turned to him.

His voice was firm. Cold. But unreadable. "I will proceed with the marking ceremony. As planned."

Sienna's knees almost gave way. "No," she whispered. "You know this isn't right. You know what they did-"

"I know what the world saw," Ryder said. "And I will not risk my crown for a woman I never chose."

The guards stepped in behind him.

Renna turned to leave. "Get dressed, Sienna. You'll still be attending the ceremony. Not as my brother's mate... but as a maid."

The door slammed behind them.

And Sienna stood alone in a hotel room filled with betrayal, bruises, and blood, knowing that the worst day of her life... was just getting started.