Chapter 4 Feast of Ash

Four days until the marking ceremony.

A wooden plaque hung on Lia's cabin door at dusk, the words carved deep: *The pack gathers tonight. Derek Damsi's mate will attend.*

Mark appeared with a bundle of rough cloth. "For tonight," he said, not meeting her eyes. "I'll come get you at moonrise."

Lia unwrapped it after he left. Her stomach dropped.

Servant's dress. Undyed linen, coarse and cheap. Not even the midnight blue from before-this was deliberately degrading.

The Elders' message was clear: Derek's claim changes nothing. You're still beneath us.

Lia's hands clenched in the fabric. That cold rage flickered back to life.

They wanted to humiliate her? Fine. She'd endure it. Learn from it. And remember every slight when the time came.

---

The Great Hall blazed with firelight and chaos. Long tables groaned under roasted meat, mead flowing freely. The pack celebrated a successful hunt-three elk, enough meat to last weeks.

Lia stood at the threshold in her servant's dress, Derek's cloak the only thing of value she wore. Every eye turned. Whispers erupted.

"...the half-blood..."

"...even Derek's mate gets servant's cloth..."

Lia lifted her chin and walked in.

The pack parted. Not respect-morbid curiosity. They wanted to see where Derek would seat his claimed mate.

The head table sat raised. Elders in the center. Derek stood to the right, arms crossed, face carved from stone. His eyes swept the room but never landed on her. Never acknowledged her at all.

To his left, Aileen Graham held court in blue silk that probably cost more than everything Lia had ever owned. Jason sat beside her, hand possessive on her waist.

Mark appeared at Lia's elbow, guiding her forward. But not to the head table.

To a corner. Near the kitchens. Where servants ate.

The pack's laughter started low, building to a roar.

Lia sat. The bench bit into her thighs through thin fabric, splinters catching skin. The plate before her reeked-gristle, fat, cartilage. Parts even dogs wouldn't touch. While the pack feasted on prime cuts, she got literal garbage.

Around her, the feast continued. Loud. Raucous. She forced herself to sit still, keep her face neutral even as humiliation burned.

From the head table, she caught fragments of conversation. Derek's voice, low and controlled, discussing border patrols with an Elder. Aileen's laugh, bright and sharp. Jason agreeing with something Morna said, his voice carrying that edge of ambition she remembered from their years together.

They'd all moved on. Found their places. Their purposes.

And she sat in the corner with scraps.

Then Aileen stood.

She moved with deliberate grace, wine cup in hand, silk swishing. The crowd quieted, sensing entertainment.

Aileen approached Lia's table. Her smile was poison-sweet.

"Oh, Lia," she cooed, loud enough for half the hall. "You look so... comfortable here. It suits you, don't you think?"

Lia said nothing. Kept her eyes forward.

"I mean, we wouldn't want you out of place." Aileen circled like a predator. "Bloodlines matter. And yours is so..." She wrinkled her nose. "Diluted."

Laughter rippled through nearby tables.

"Though I suppose Derek sees some use in you." Aileen's voice dropped to a stage whisper. "Even if it's just as a blood bag. Tell me, does it hurt? When they cut you open? Or have you gotten used to it?"

The silver warmth in Lia's chest pulsed hot. Her nails bit into her palms.

"Nothing to say?" Aileen leaned closer, perfume cloying. "I suppose that's wise. We wouldn't want the mongrel to-oh!"

She stumbled. Her wine cup tipped.

Red liquid splashed across Lia's chest, soaking through rough linen to the skin beneath. Cold. Humiliating. The wine spread across the fabric, dark as blood.

"Oops," Aileen gasped, mock horror on her face. "How clumsy. Did I ruin your lovely dress?" Her eyes glittered. "Oh wait, it's servant cloth. I'm sure they have more."

The hall erupted. Some laughed outright. Others whispered. All watched, waiting for the half-blood to break.

Lia stood slowly. Wine dripped down her front, pooling at her feet. The liquid had soaked through to her skin, cold against her collarbone, running down between her breasts.

She met Aileen's gaze directly.

"You didn't push me," Lia said quietly. "So I'll ask once: was that an accident?"

Aileen's smile sharpened. "Does it matter? You're not going to do anything. You're not pack. You're barely-"

The temperature in the hall dropped.

Lia felt it before she saw it-a shift in the air, a pressure building like a storm about to break.

Derek was moving.

Not walking. Not even running. One moment he was at the head table. The next he was there, massive frame cutting between them, and Lia hadn't seen him cross the space.

His face was still controlled. Stone. But something had changed in his eyes. Something dark gathering at the edges.

"Step back," he said to Aileen. His voice was quiet. Measured. But wrong somehow. Like the calm before thunder.

Aileen's confidence wavered, but she held her ground. "Derek, I was just-it was an accident-"

"Step. Back." Each word came out harder than the last.

Derek's hands hung at his sides, but Lia saw them now. Trembling. Not fear-restraint. His fingers kept curling inward, and she caught the flash of claws extending, retracting, extending again. Like his body was fighting a war with itself.

His scent had changed too. That wild edge she'd noticed before was sharpening, intensifying, until it cut through the smell of roasted meat and mead and wood smoke. Several nearby wolves shifted nervously, instinctively responding to a predator in their midst.

But Derek still hadn't looked at Lia. His gaze was fixed on Aileen, and there was something building in those glacial blue eyes. Something golden trying to surface.

"Derek," Elder Morna's voice carried from the head table, sharp with warning. "Control yourself."

He didn't acknowledge her. Didn't move. Just stood there, every muscle coiled, breathing carefully through his nose.

Then Aileen made a mistake.

She stepped toward Lia. Not away. Toward.

"Really, all this fuss over spilled wine-"

Derek's head snapped around with inhuman speed.

His nostrils flared. Once. Twice. Drawing in deep breaths of air, and Lia realized what he was smelling.

The wine. Soaked through her dress. Against her skin. Her scent mixing with the alcohol, the heat of her body releasing it into the air in waves.

She saw the exact moment it hit him.

His pupils dilated so fast it looked like darkness swallowing his eyes from the inside out. His chest heaved. Every tendon in his neck stood out in sharp relief.

And gold bled into the blue. Not a flicker. A flood.

"Everyone," Derek said, his voice different now-rough, strained, barely controlled-"needs to move away from her. Now."

But Aileen didn't understand. Thought this was about her, about protecting her from punishment. She actually smiled, touching Derek's arm. "See? You agree it was just-"

Derek's hand shot out and gripped her wrist. Not hard enough to break-but hard enough to make her cry out in shock.

"Not from her," he growled, and the sound wasn't quite human anymore. "From me."

He released Aileen and she stumbled back, fear finally breaking through her arrogance.

Derek's whole body was rigid now, shaking with the effort of standing still. His hands had curled into fists so tight that blood welled up between his knuckles where claws had pierced through his own palms. It dripped onto the floor, dark droplets spreading across wood.

And his eyes-fully gold now, burning with inhuman intensity-were locked on Lia.

Not on her face. On her throat. On the pulse point jumping frantically beneath her skin. On the wine-soaked fabric clinging to her chest, rising and falling with each rapid breath.

His lips pulled back. Canines extended. Longer than they should be. Sharp enough to tear.

The growl that rumbled from his chest made the nearest wolves scramble back, chairs scraping, panic rising.

"Mark," Derek forced out, the word distorted, half-human. He was still staring at Lia, and she could see the struggle in those gold eyes. Recognition warring with something else. Something hungry and desperate and barely leashed. "Get. Her. Out."

"Derek-" Morna stood, voice sharp with command. "Remember yourself!"

"NOW!" The word erupted from Derek, more roar than speech, and the windows rattled.

Mark was already moving, gripping Lia's elbow, hauling her toward the door. But Lia couldn't look away from Derek.

He stood frozen in the center of the hall, blood pooling at his feet from his pierced palms. His chest heaved with harsh breaths. Every muscle locked in place, and she understood-he was forcing himself to stay still. Fighting every instinct screaming at him to move.

To come after her.

His eyes tracked her movement across the hall with the focus of a predator watching prey escape. Gold. Burning. Wild.

And beneath the wildness, something that looked like terror. Like he was watching himself lose control and couldn't stop it.

"Everyone out!" Morna commanded, real fear in her voice now. "Clear the hall immediately!"

The pack didn't need telling twice. They fled, chairs scraping, panicked voices rising.

Mark dragged Lia through the door and didn't stop until they were deep in the forest, the sounds of chaos fading behind them.

"What the hell just happened?" Lia gasped, her heart hammering. "Why did he-"

"The wine," Mark said, breathing hard. "On your skin. Your scent mixed with it, and he-" He stopped, running a hand through his hair. "I've never seen him that close to losing it completely."

A howl split the night. Agonized. Enraged. Utterly inhuman.

From the direction of the hall.

Mark's face went white-not just pale, but bloodless, like he was seeing something he'd hoped never to see again. His hands trembled.

"Stay here," he ordered, voice tight with barely controlled fear. "Don't move. Don't go back to the cabin. Not until I know he's-"

He didn't finish. Just ran back toward the sound.

Lia stood alone in the dark, wine-soaked and shaking. That warmth in her chest was going haywire, pulsing in rhythm with her hammering heart.

She could still see Derek's eyes. Gold. Desperate. Fixed on her like she was the only thing in the world that mattered.

Like she was prey.

Or salvation.

Or both.

Time crawled. Eventually Mark returned, breathing hard, his shirt torn.

"He's... contained. Barely." His voice was hollow. "Morna and three other Elders talked him down. He's in his quarters now. Alone. Locked in."

"What happened after I left?"

Mark met her eyes, and she saw real fear there. "He tried to follow you. Jason got in his way." He swallowed. "Derek broke his arm without even looking at him. Just... shoved him aside like he was nothing. Then he saw Aileen standing there and something in him just... snapped."

"Did he hurt her?"

"He would have." Mark's voice was grim. "He had her by the throat, lifted clean off the ground. His claws were out. She was screaming. It took four of us to pull him off. And even then..." He shook his head. "He wasn't seeing us. Wasn't seeing anything. Just that gold in his eyes and this sound he was making. Not quite a growl. Not quite..."

"What?"

"Not quite sane," Mark finished quietly. "Then he just... ran. Out into the forest. We found him two miles out, tearing into trees. His hands were shredded. Blood everywhere. But he wasn't stopping."

Lia's stomach turned. "Is he-"

"He'll heal physically. But Lia, this is bad. The Elders saw everything. They're meeting right now, deciding if he's still fit to lead."

"They'd really remove him?"

"After tonight?" Mark's laugh was bitter. "They're terrified. Derek nearly killed two pack members in front of everyone. And all because someone spilled wine on you."

Not just the wine, Lia thought. The scent. Her scent mixing with it. Calling to whatever beast lived inside Derek's skin.

"Go back to the cabin," Mark said. "Lock the door. Don't open it for anyone but me. Not even-" He stopped himself.

"Not even Derek," Lia finished.

Mark nodded, his expression miserable.

---

Hours later, Lia woke to sounds outside.

Violent. Rhythmic. Wrong.

She moved to the window.

Derek stood at the clearing's edge, moonlight turning everything silver. His back was to her, shoulders heaving with each breath. As she watched, he raised both hands-wrapped in crude, blood-soaked bandages-and slammed them into an oak tree.

Again. Again. Again.

Fresh blood seeped through the bandages with each impact. The tree bark splintered. Wood groaned. But he didn't stop.

Mark appeared from the shadows, keeping his distance.

"Derek," he called quietly. "Brother. You need to stop. You're going to-"

"I know what I'm going to do," Derek's voice was raw, barely recognizable. "That's the problem."

He hit the tree again. The bandages on his right hand came loose, falling away. His knuckles were destroyed-skin torn, bone visible in places.

"It's starting again," Mark said, and his voice broke. "Just like before. Just like Father."

Before? Father?

Lia pressed closer to the window, breath fogging the glass.

Derek finally stopped, pressing his forehead against the ruined bark. His whole body shook. One hand moved to his chest, pressing hard, fingers clawing at his own skin through his shirt.

"Four more days. Just four more days.

Then the bond will force it to stop. The beast will be contained. It has to be."

He slammed his fist into the tree.

"Then this ends. This... need. This madness."

He wasn't sure if he meant the beast's need. Or his own.

He turned, and in the moonlight Lia saw his face clearly.

Tears tracked through blood and dirt. His eyes were still gold-hadn't returned to blue. And his expression was shattered, broken in a way that made her chest ache.

He looked toward her cabin. For a moment, their eyes met across the distance.

"I'm sorry," she saw him mouth. "I'm so sorry."

Then he walked into the darkness.

Mark remained, staring after him. His face was grief-stricken.

"He's not going to survive this," Mark said to the empty air. To himself. To no one. "Even if he makes it to the ceremony. Even if the bond works. He's not going to survive what he's becoming."

He turned and walked away, leaving Lia alone at the window.

Four days until the marking ceremony.

Four days until Derek either found salvation or destruction in the bond.

And Lia was beginning to realize she might be both.