Chapter 5

Alex POV:

The night air was biting, but the Lake of Judgment was liquid ice.

"Jump," Gavyn ordered.

We stood at the edge of the stone pier. The party guests watched-some with pity, most with amusement.

"Gavyn, please," I shivered. "The water... it's freezing. And my leg..."

"The necklace, Alex," he said, unmoved. "Don't come up until you have it."

The guards shoved me.

I hit the water.

The cold was a physical blow. The lake was infused with Wolfsbane to prevent prisoners from swimming away. Even though I was "latent," the poison burned.

I kicked downward. My leg throbbed. Thump. Burn. Thump. Burn.

I surfaced, gasping. "I don't see it!"

"Dive again!" Iliana shouted. "It's my legacy!"

I went down again. And again.

My limbs grew heavy. The cold seeped into my core, dulling the inner fire.

On the fourth dive, my fingers brushed metal. The chain.

I grabbed it and kicked toward the surface, vision tunneling. I dragged myself onto the rocky shore, coughing up water, and held up the necklace.

"Here."

Gavyn snatched it. No towel. No hand.

He fastened it around Iliana's neck.

"Beautiful," he murmured.

"Look at her," Kenneth laughed. "She looks like a wet rat."

"A drowned rat," Kaylin corrected.

The crowd chuckled.

Darkness crept in. Shock took over. I collapsed on the stones.

The last thing I heard was champagne corks popping.

I woke up in the pack hospital's general ward.

"Oh, you're awake," a nurse said, chewing gum. "Hypothermia almost took you."

"Where is Gavyn?"

"With the Luna. She was very traumatized by your outburst. He's comforting her."

It had been two days. No one had checked on me.

My phone buzzed.

Gavyn: You have caused enough embarrassment. When discharged, come to the main house. You will apologize to Iliana on your knees. Then you will begin obedience training.

Obedience training. Breaking the mind.

I stared at the screen.

Something inside me snapped. Not a bone, but a chain.

I ripped the IV out. Blood sprayed. I didn't care.

I dressed in my damp clothes and walked out. No one stopped me. To them, I was a ghost.

A black sedan waited at the curb-a human taxi I'd called with my last savings.

"Where to?"

"The Underground Club," I said. "Downtown."

Neutral territory.

As the car pulled away, I looked back at the pack lands.

I reject you, Gavyn.

I touched my chest. My heart beat slower, stronger.

And in the reflection of the window, for a split second, my eyes weren't brown.

They were silver.