Arden, a she-wolf, loses her twin brother Asher, the pack's heir. Facing ruin, her father forces her to wed brutal Alpha Magnus Blackpelt, whose eight wives and five concubines all met terrible fates, to seal a saving alliance. Arden begs to refuse but is slapped, realizing she is merely a political bargaining chip.Noticing she bears an uncanny resemblance to Asher, she holds his full scholarship letter to Shadow Peak Alpha Academy, a school training future Alpha rulers. That night, she cuts her hair, binds her chest, uses scent suppressants and practices a deeper male voice. At dawn, she sneaks away disguised as Asher, escaping the doomed marriage. Though she fears constant danger of being unmasked at the academy, Arden finally gains freedom, ready to embrace an uncertain new identity far from her cruel arranged wedding.