Chapter 3

Elana POV

My room-or what was left of it-felt less like a sanctuary and more like a cage.

Everywhere I looked, I saw ghosts of a future that never happened. The empty space on the wall where our photo used to hang stared back at me like a missing eye, a void that refused to be filled.

I needed to move. I needed to feel something other than this suffocating betrayal.

I changed into my training gear: black leggings and a tight compression tank. I tied my hair back tight against my scalp.

It was midnight. The moon was high and full, casting a cold, silver light over the Obsidian Pack's training grounds.

Usually, this place was filled with Warriors sparring, the sound of flesh hitting flesh and the grunts of exertion. Now, it was dead silent.

I ran.

I didn't have a wolf form to shift into, so I pushed my human body to its absolute limit. My lungs burned. My legs pumped like pistons. I ran the perimeter track until sweat soaked my back and stung my eyes.

It wasn't enough.

I approached the obstacle course. Specifically, the "Alpha's Ascent."

It was a forty-foot climbing wall rigged with ropes and pulleys, designed to test agility and upper body strength.

Emilio and I used to race up this. I was faster than him, even without wolf strength. He hated that.

I grabbed the thick hemp rope and began to climb.

*Hand over hand. Pull. Breathe.*

Ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty feet.

The wind whipped my hair across my face. I felt a fleeting moment of peace. Up here, I was just a body in motion. I wasn't the failed Luna. I wasn't the unshifted freak.

I reached for the final ledge.

*SNAP.*

There was no warning. No groan of overstressed fibers. Just a sudden, violent release of tension.

The rope in my hands went slack.

Gravity took over.

I fell backward. The air rushed past my ears, a roaring vacuum.

I hit the ground hard.

*CRACK.*

Pain exploded in my right leg. It was a white-hot agony that blinded me for a second, stealing the breath from my lungs. A scream tore from my throat, echoing across the empty field.

I lay there, gasping, staring up at the uncaring moon.

My leg was twisted at a sickening angle. Bone. Definitely broken bone.

I reached for the *Mind-Link*. I needed help.

*"Emilio..."* I projected, the pain making my mental voice tremble.

Silence.

Then, I heard him. But he wasn't talking to me. He had left his channel open again.

*"...is the tea hot enough, my love?"* Emilio's voice was tender, a tone he hadn't used with me in years.

*"It's perfect,"* Hayden cooed. *"Oh, look, Leo is kicking in his sleep."*

*"My strong boy,"* Emilio murmured.

He didn't hear me. Or he didn't care.

I gritted my teeth, tears of pain and rage leaking from my eyes. I wouldn't beg. Not to him.

I looked at the rope dangling above me.

The end wasn't frayed. It was cut. Cleanly.

A chill that had nothing to do with the night air swept over me.

This wasn't an accident.

I dragged myself up. Every inch of movement sent lightning bolts of agony through my leg. I grabbed a fallen branch to use as a crutch.

I limped back to the pack house, alone.

*

An hour later, I was in the infirmary. The pack doctor, a kind Beta named Dr. Aris, set my leg.

"It's a bad break, Elana," he said, frowning as he studied the X-ray. "You're lucky it wasn't your neck."

Emilio showed up ten minutes later. He smelled of Hayden's vanilla and sleep.

"I heard you fell," he said, standing in the doorway. He didn't come to the bedside. "You should be more careful. The equipment is old."

"The rope was cut, Emilio," I said, staring at the ceiling to avoid looking at his face.

"Don't be dramatic," he scoffed. "It's wear and tear. You're just... fragile. Because you haven't shifted."

He placed a small jar of ointment on the table. "Here. Herbs. Hayden made them."

I wanted to throw it at his head.

"Rest up," he said. "Oh, and Elana? Since you can't climb stairs for a while, I've had your things moved to the guest quarters in the east wing. It's... quieter there."

The east wing. The servant's quarters.

He was kicking me out of the Alpha suite.

He left before I could answer.

Later that night, the pain kept me awake. My hearing, though not wolf-enhanced, was sharp.

I heard voices in the hallway.

"Did she see anything?" It was Emilio's voice. Low.

"No, Alpha. She thinks it broke." A deeper voice. Silas, Emilio's head Beta. The man responsible for equipment maintenance.

"Good," Emilio said. His tone was terrifyingly casual. "She's becoming a nuisance with these audits. A broken leg will keep her distracted. Let her know she is not invincible."

"And if she had died?" Silas asked.

"Then we would have had a tragic funeral," Emilio replied. "And I would be free to Mark Hayden sooner."

My heart stopped.

It wasn't just neglect. It was a hit.

My Alpha, the man I had devoted my life to, had just sanctioned my murder.

The realization didn't bring fear. It brought clarity.

I was in a den of vipers.

I reached for my phone. I couldn't trust the *Mind-Link* anymore.

I opened a secure messaging app.

To: Ayla Guy

Message: You were right. About everything. I need you.

Ayla was a Beta female from the Alpine Pack-the pack I had turned down for Emilio. We had kept in touch. She hated Emilio.

The reply came instantly.

From: Ayla Guy

Message: I'm already packing. I'm coming to the Auction next week. Hang in there, Elana. We're going to burn them down.

I looked at my broken leg. I looked at the jar of "healing" herbs Hayden had made.

I unscrewed the jar and sniffed.

Beneath the mint and lavender, a sharp, acrid undertone hit my nose.

Wolfsbane.

Diluted, but present. It wouldn't kill me, but it would slow my healing to a crawl and cause chronic pain.

She tried to poison me. He tried to kill me.

I capped the jar tight.

"You want to test my will?" I whispered to the darkness. "Fine. Let's see who breaks first."