Chapter 4

Seraphina POV

The marble floor of the corridor blurred beneath my dragging feet. Jax and Corbin, the two Gammas, hauled me forward with terrifying ease. My screams tore at my throat, but the fortress remained dead and silent. Kaelen Knight had condemned me.

They dragged me out into the freezing night air, toward a massive expanse of dense forest enclosed by towering black iron fences. The Wolf Run. The heavy metal gates groaned open.

Jax shoved me hard, sending me sprawling into the damp, freezing mud.

"The King's judgment stands," Corbin announced, his voice devoid of pity. "Survive until sunrise."

The heavy gates slammed shut behind me, the lock clicking with a sickening finality. Almost immediately, a chorus of deep, hungry howls erupted from the depths of the woods. The air was thick with the scent of wet earth, rotting leaves, and the aggressive, territorial musk of Dire Wolves.

Pure, blinding panic seized me. I scrambled to my feet and ran. Branches whipped my face, and jagged roots tore at my thin dress. I had no Inner Wolf to guide me, no enhanced speed to outrun the predators. I was just a piece of meat in a cage.

My lungs burned as I stumbled through the darkness until my hands hit rough, splintered wood. An abandoned patrol shack. I threw myself inside, slamming the flimsy door shut and curling into a tight ball in the corner. The shack reeked of mold and animal droppings, but it was a barrier. I clamped my hands over my mouth, sobbing silently as the heavy thud of massive paws circled the shack.

Hours bled into an agonizing eternity. The howling eventually faded into a tense silence, but the cold seeped into my bones.

Then, a voice cut through the thin wooden walls.

"The King offers you a choice, Luna."

I flinched. It was Caleb, the Beta. His voice was low, perfectly calm, and utterly terrifying.

"A car is waiting at the main gate," Caleb continued. "Return to Stonehaven Pack, and you will be spared. Refuse, and the patrol will be given free rein until sunrise."

Return to Stonehaven. Return to Alaric and Genevieve's beatings. Return to watch Naomi, the only mother I ever knew, be cast out to die in the woods because I failed.

A desperate, reckless courage flared in my chest, burning away the paralyzing fear. I couldn't go back. I wouldn't.

I pressed my back against the rotting wall and forced my trembling voice out into the dark. "Tell your King... I am Luna Knight. I'm not going anywhere."

Silence answered me. Caleb was gone. I spent the rest of the night shivering in the dirt, waiting for the wolves to tear the door down.

But they never came.

When the first gray light of dawn crept through the broken window, the shack door creaked open.

I scrambled backward, my heart hammering against my ribs. But it wasn't a wolf.

Kaelen Knight sat in a sleek, custom-built wheelchair in the doorway. The morning light cast long shadows that sharpened the cruel lines of his face. **The scent of pine and steel flooded the shack-a visceral reminder of the hands that had choked me, the body that had moved with Lycan speed. *The cripple's mask was back in place.***

I forced myself to stand, mud cracking on my skin. "I survived," I rasped, locking eyes with the predator playing invalid. "Acknowledge me as your Luna."

A cold smirk twisted his lips as he scanned my filth. "Then submit body and soul. Accept my Mark." He leaned back, the wheelchair groaning under his weight-**a calculated lie, like every word from his mouth.** "You'll do all the work, of course. Broken Lycans can't perform."

The hypocrisy burned. *After last night's display of strength, this charade was an insult.** But Naomi's face flashed before me-her survival hinged on enduring this.

"I accept," I whispered, tasting ash.

His jaw tightened. "Despicable." He spun the chair with violent precision. As he jolted over the threshold, his sweatpants pulled taut against his thigh-**revealing corded muscle flexing with predatory grace. *No atrophy. No weakness. Just another flaw in his performance.***

I didn't freeze. My blood didn't run cold. Instead, bitter clarity crystallized: *This man wields deception like a blade. And now I know where to grip the hilt.

"We'll see about that," he threw over his shoulder, vanishing into the dawn.