The cart came to a sudden, jarring halt that threw us forward. For a moment, there was only silence, a heavy, expectant stillness that was somehow more terrifying than the relentless motion had been. Then, the sound of a heavy bar being lifted, and the door was wrenched open.

A flood of gray, unforgiving light poured in, blinding me. Cold, biting wind followed, carrying with it the scent of pine, damp stone, and something else... something metallic and vaguely unsettling, like old blood.

"Out," a harsh voice commanded.

The other two girls scrambled out of the cart, their eyes wide with terror as they took in our surroundings. I followed them, my movements more measured, and when my boots hit the gravel, I lifted my head and truly saw where they had brought us.

We were at the gates of a nightmare.

Before us loomed a colossal fortress, hewn from black, volcanic rock that seemed to drink the very light from the sky. It clung to the peak of a barren mountain like a great, brooding predator. Jagged towers clawed at the bruised, overcast heavens, and a constant, swirling mist clung to its base, obscuring whatever horrors lay below. This was Black Mountain Court, the seat of the Lycan King. It was less a castle and more of a monument to despair.

I studied it, my fear a cold knot in my stomach, but I pushed it down. I would not let this place intimidate me. It was just stone and shadow.

A group of guards, all clad in black armor that mirrored the stone of the fortress, approached us. Their leader, a tall man with a grim, scarred face, held a list. He was Finn Joric, his nameplate glinting on his chest.

He glanced at the two trembling girls, his expression one of utter disinterest, and made a mark on his list. Then his eyes fell on me. He stopped. His gaze flickered from my face down to the parchment in his hand and back again.

"Elara Thorne?" he asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice. "Daughter of Alpha Alaric of the Silver Ridge Pack?"

The way he said it made it clear how absurd the situation was. Alpha-born were precious. They were commanders, Lunas, the future of their packs. They were not sent as disposable tributes.

The other guards, and even the two girls, stared at me with newfound curiosity. My name, my bloodline, had suddenly made me an anomaly.

I met the guard captain's questioning gaze without wavering. "My name is Elara," I answered, my voice steady. "I no longer use the name Thorne."

His eyebrows shot up. He took in the ugly bruise on my cheek, my plain, travel-worn clothes, and the defiant set of my jaw. A flicker of understanding-or perhaps just cynical assumption-crossed his face.

He made a final mark on his list and let out a short, contemptuous huff. "A wolfless outcast, then. Figures." He jerked his head toward the massive gate. "Get inside."

The word 'wolfless' shifted the atmosphere instantly. The guards' curiosity curdled into a familiar, dismissive scorn. A wolfless Alpha-born wasn't a tragic mystery; she was a defective product. A piece of trash her own family had thrown out. I was doubly damned-a reject and a cripple.

It didn't matter. Their opinions were irrelevant.

I squared my shoulders and walked toward the gate. It was a monstrous thing of black iron, fashioned in the image of a snarling, demonic wolf head. With a deafening shriek of protesting metal, the gate began to open, revealing a long, torch-lit corridor that seemed to lead into the very heart of the mountain.

A gust of chilling air rushed out, carrying that faint, coppery scent of blood, stronger this time. It was the smell of a slaughterhouse. The other two girls screamed, a thin, terrified sound that was swallowed by the oppressive silence of the place.

Finn Joric shoved them forward impatiently. "Move it! The King doesn't like to be kept waiting."

I was the first one to step across the threshold, from the gray daylight into the flickering, orange gloom of the castle. My boots echoed on the cold stone floor.

The iron gate slammed shut behind us with a deafening, final boom. The sound reverberated through my bones, severing our last tie to the outside world. We were entombed.

The corridor was lined with more guards, standing as still and silent as statues. Their eyes, glinting in the torchlight, followed our every move. I could feel the weight of their gazes-predatory, assessing, hungry. I kept my chin up and my eyes fixed forward. To show fear here, to show any weakness, would be to paint a target on your back. This was a den of wolves, and they would tear apart the weakest sheep first.

Finn led us through the long, echoing hall and into a small antechamber. A middle-aged she-wolf was waiting for us there. She was dressed in a severe, high-collared gown, and her face was a mask of stern indifference. She had the air of someone who had seen countless girls like us come and go.

"Clara," Finn said, his tone respectful. "The new arrivals. Here's the list."

The woman, Clara Reed, took the parchment without a word. Her cold, dark eyes swept over my two terrified companions, dismissing them instantly. Then her gaze landed on me, and for the first time, her expression flickered. She held my gaze for a fraction longer than the others, a silent, calculating assessment.

She knew who I was. And she was already trying to figure out what kind of problem I would be.

Chapter 7

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