But there was never any question who she preferred.
"Olivia, fix your posture. You shift like a rogue."
"Olivia, control your wolf. Your lack of discipline is embarrassing."
"Olivia, why can't you be more like Mia? Her wolf is so graceful."
Nothing I did was ever good enough. I took shifting classes but I was too clumsy.
Mia's wolf was sleek and perfect, and my mother made sure I knew mine didn't measure up.
By eighteen, I had learned to stay quiet, to suppress my wolf, and to not expect love.
That's when I met James. He was charming, successful, an alpha wolf. And he looked at me like I mattered.
"Your wolf is beautiful," he had said, watching me shift under the full moon.
My wolf and I fell in love with him fast and hard.
When he proposed after six months, I said yes immediately.
My mother had pulled me aside the night before the ceremony. "Alpha James Grant is using you. But you're too stupid to see it. You are not up to his level"
I hadn't listened.
I had bonded with him, spent eight years trying to be the perfect mate.
And the whole time, Mia had been there, sleeping with my mate behind my back, and I had never suspected a thing.