Snakes Over Wolves Chapter 03
I just stared at the raw, bleeding flesh of my palm, and a laugh slipped out of me.
Cameron tensed. A fleeting look of real panic crossed his face before he caught himself.
“What are you laughing at?” he demanded.
I was laughing at my own stupidity. I was laughing because I’d let myself get severely injured time and time again, all just to beg for scraps of shallow affection from my parents and Cameron.
Every single time Anika played the victim, they took her word as absolute truth. It didn’t matter that I was their actual daughter, or that Cameron and I had been engaged since childhood.
Anika had framed me so many times that everyone was convinced I was malicious—some spiteful person who abused her own sister and stole her achievements.
I clenched my fists, letting my nails dig into my burned palms. I looked up at Cameron, tears stinging my eyes, and said, “I didn’t do anything wrong. I won’t apologize.”
Cameron blinked in surprise, visibly agitated by my stubborn refusal.
“Cam…” Anika whimpered softly. “My hand really hurts.”
Without a second thought, Cameron turned his back on me and pulled her into his arms.
Worried she might be cold, he went straight to the car, pulled out a fox-fur cloak, and wrapped it snugly around her shoulders.
Seeing that cloak pierced me to my core. It was made from my tails.
Eight of them, severed right off my own body.
In the past, Anika used to deliberately put her own life in danger just to pin the blame on me.
As a nine-tailed werefox, every tail represented an extra life, and Cameron had forced me to hack off eight of mine just to save her.
But even giving up my life wasn’t enough. The day Anika won an award—using a potion I had created, no less—she’d casually complained about feeling cold. So, to celebrate her big win, Cameron took my eight severed tails and had them sewn into that exact cloak.
Anika caught me staring at it. She gave the fur a smug little stroke before shrinking back into Cameron’s embrace, crying about her pain all over again.
Any lingering sympathy in Cameron’s eyes vanished, replaced entirely by cold disgust. “Unless you get on your knees and apologize to Annie, you are never marrying into the Hocknell family,” he stated flatly. “We’ll see how long you can keep up this stubbornness.”
I gave him a mocking smile. He was in for a rude awakening.
In exactly two days, I’d be marrying the prince of the Weresnake Tribe in his precious Annie’s place.
Just then, out of nowhere, a runaway car came hurtling toward us.
The werewolves were renowned for their strength and speed. Cameron instantly shifted into his half-beast form, shielded Anika, and sprinted out of the way.
But in his frantic rush, he knocked me to the ground, leaving me stranded right in the path of the oncoming vehicle. A sharp, hot pain shot up my leg; I had clearly sprained it.
Knowing it was over and the car was going to hit me, I squeezed my eyes shut in despair.
At the absolute last second, someone caught me and held me completely secure.
A man wearing a leather mask had swept me up into his arms. He moved incredibly fast—easily outpacing Cameron.
I opened my eyes and met his dark green gaze. His eyes looked exactly like the emeralds on a pair of cufflinks.
He set me down safely on a street bench and vanished into thin air before I could utter a single word.
Reaching into my pocket, I found a small box of burn ointment that definitely hadn’t been there before.
At the far end of the street, Cameron was comforting Anika, holding her with obvious affection.
A humorless smile pulled at the corners of my mouth. I reached into my bag, pulled out the mating ring I’d originally planned to give back to him, and dropped it straight down a storm drain.
Two days later, I stood there wearing a custom wedding gown sent over by the Weresnake Tribe. Feeling completely dazed, I stared at a room packed with incredibly lavish gifts.
My parents walked up to me, looking hesitant. They actually asked if I’d spare Anika the public embarrassment of admitting she stole the potion, suggesting I pass the whole thing off as a simple misunderstanding to protect her reputation.
Any lingering hope that they might actually care about me vanished.
I’d had to provide my own wedding gifts.
I used to make endless excuses for them, telling myself they’d just forgotten.
But while they somehow forgot to get me anything, they had no problem remembering to beg for their favorite daughter.
“No,” I said, my voice rock-steady. “If she doesn’t confess, I’m calling off the wedding. We’ll see how the Weresnake Tribe reacts to that.”
“You—”
A sudden burst of shouting from the downstairs hall cut them off.
I headed down and found Cameron lounging confidently in the main chair. He was holding the branding iron I’d seen before.
“Vanessa, you’ve got thirty minutes before the system matches you with a rogue werebeast,” he announced. “If you bow to Annie eighteen hundred times before the clock runs out, I’ll reluctantly give you this slave mark.”
He finally noticed the wedding dress and stopped, his brow furrowing deeply.
“Why are you wearing that? Are you seriously trying to steal the spotlight from Annie while becoming a slave?”
I just stared at him, totally deadpan. “Cameron, I’m mating with someone else today. You and Annie aren’t invited.”
“I suggest you stop fighting this,” he shot back. “Two minutes have already passed. Now you need to bow thirty-six hundred times to become my slave. You should appreciate this opportunity.
“If you refuse, I’ll gladly have someone force you to do it.”
He snapped his fingers, and a few of his men stepped up. Right there in the open room, they reached out, grabbing at my clothes to force me to my knees.
“No,” I said, stumbling back. “Cameron, I already told you—I’m mating with someone else today.”
As I struggled to rip myself out of their grip, a soft laugh sounded from behind me. A tall man strolled slowly to my side.
“Who dares lay a hand on my bride?”