Chapter 5

Juliet POV

I knelt in the dim Pack Shrine, the cool gold of my needles grounding me. Over an hour had passed. The agonizing burn of the Silver in my back was a constant, suffocating fire, but my mind remained razor-sharp.

"Kneel straight, you wolfless trash," a voice sneered from behind me.

Before I could brace myself, a heavy boot slammed into my injured spine. White-hot pain exploded behind my eyes. It was Dori, Edwina's Omega servant, trying to earn favor by tormenting a bleeding girl.

My operative instincts bypassed my physical exhaustion. I spun, dropping low, and swept her legs out from under her. Dori hit the hard wooden floor with a shocked gasp. In a fraction of a second, I was on top of her, my bloody knee driving ruthlessly into her elbow joint.

"Alpha Harold will-" she choked out, her eyes wide with sudden terror.

I pressed my knee down harder, leaning in until my face was inches from hers. My eyes were dead, devoid of any hesitation. Dori whimpered. Her weak, cowardly Inner Wolf shrank back, instinctively terrified of the lethal, cold-blooded intent radiating from a supposed wolfless Omega.

At 3 PM, the heavy Shrine doors creaked open.

Carmen walked in, followed by a stern woman in a pristine, dark uniform-Gail, the Luna Queen's head official. Seeing the Royal escort, Carmen immediately rushed toward me, her face twisting into a mask of fake, maternal heartbreak.

"Oh, Juliet, look at you," Carmen cooed, reaching out to adjust my torn collar.

Under the fabric, her manicured nails dug viciously into my raw Silver wound. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming as the metal toxicity flared.

"You will die on Royal grounds today," Carmen whispered, her voice barely a breath, masked by her nauseating, cheap perfume.

I didn't flinch. I channeled the searing, soul-tearing pain directly into my right arm, raised my hand, and delivered a brutal, bone-rattling slap across her face.

*Smack.*

The sound echoed sharply through the Shrine. Carmen crashed to the floor, clutching her rapidly swelling cheek in absolute disbelief.

"If I die, I'm dragging you to hell first," I said coldly, looking down at her.

Standing by the door, Gail's eyes widened. A flicker of profound shock broke her stoic facade. She clearly hadn't expected a battered, wolfless girl to possess such a terrifying, unyielding aura.

By sunset, the black bulletproof SUV came to a halt outside the towering iron gates of the Royal Pack. The white marble path stretched endlessly toward the inner palace, lined with heavily armed Warriors.

"The Luna Queen demands a Penance Walk," Gail announced, her voice echoing in the crisp evening air. "Kneel every three steps. Bow your head to the stone every nine."

It was a blatant, humiliating display of power. I stepped out of the vehicle, my legs trembling from severe blood loss.

*One, two, three. Kneel.*

The hard stone bit into my shattered knees.

*Nine. Bow.*

My forehead struck the pristine marble, leaving a smear of fresh blood. The pain was blinding, but my White Wolf's faint, dormant healing energy pulsed just enough to keep me conscious. I brushed the leather roll in my pocket, my mind calculating every variable. *Prince Bryce, you better be in that palace. You are my only way out of this slaughterhouse.*

By the time I reached the Luna Queen's palace, darkness had fully fallen.

"Wait here," Gail ordered coldly.

I was left kneeling on the freezing marble porch. Half an hour dragged by. The night wind bit into my open wounds, but I kept my spine rigid, refusing to shiver.

Through the heavy oak doors, a terrifying, intoxicating scent bled into the cold air. Violent thunderstorms and dark cedar. Lycan King Ezekiel. Just breathing it in made my dormant wolf stir with an ancient, inexplicable reverence. The sheer weight of his presence inside that room was suffocating.

Finally, the heavy doors creaked open. Gail stepped out, her eyes lingering on my blood-soaked, battered form with something akin to quiet disbelief.

"The Queen will see you now," she said.

I forced my numb legs to stand, squared my bleeding shoulders, and stepped over the threshold.