Chapter 3

I knelt in the mud, fingers trembling, trying to gather my mother's ashes. Rain mixed with the powder and slipped through my hands—like the last warmth in my life dissolving into nothing.

"Elara." Dominic's voice behind me. "I'm sorry it came to this."

I didn't turn around. Each speck I collected pierced my palms like needles.

"Seraphina is just impulsive. She can't handle being criticized—"

"Enough." I interrupted softly. "Please leave."

He reached to help me up. His touch made me nauseous. I jerked away, fingertips white. "Don't."

Clutching what remained of the urn, I turned and left the cemetery. Rain blurred my vision but clarified everything inside me.

My phone vibrated—the pack infirmary's number.

"Ms. Blackwood, come immediately! Your father's condition is critical—"

The words hit me like a sledgehammer.

When I burst into the room, I saw only a body beneath a white sheet.

"No…" I staggered against the doorframe. "Who did this?"

The attending healer avoided my gaze. "Ms. Ashford, as a packhouse board member, deemed continuing treatment a waste of medical resources…"

The head nurse pulled me aside, voice barely audible: "She came this morning with enforcers. We tried to stop her, but…"

I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms. Seraphina's arrogant face from the funeral flashed before me. Fury nearly tore through my chest.

I drove to what was supposed to be our mated home. Before I reached the door, music and laughter bled through the walls.

"If her daddy hadn't caught silver for Dominic, he'd never have claimed her!"

"I'll never let him mark anyone but me!"

"Dead mother, dead father—let's see if the little Luna-to-be even shows her face at the ceremony now!"

I kicked the door open. The music died.

Seraphina turned, drink in hand, grinning. "Oh? Isn't this Elara, freshly orphaned?"

Laughter erupted. I crossed the room and slapped her so hard the crack echoed off stone.

She screamed, grabbed a wine bottle, smashed it against the table. Glass scattered. She snatched the sharpest shard and lunged.

"You bitch! No one has ever dared hit me!"

The glass opened a line down my arm. Blood soaked my sleeve instantly.

"Hold her down!" she shrieked at the enforcers.

Several large wolves in human form pinned me to the floor.

"So your parents are dead?" Her heel ground into the back of my hand. "I lost mine too. Why are you so special?"

The pain nearly blacked me out, but I locked my jaw and stayed silent.

She crouched low, whisper venomous: "I killed your parents, and I can kill you too. How much is a lowlife wolf's life worth anyway?"

The music resumed. Seraphina and her friends kicked and punched me. Glass cut my skin again and again, the blood exciting her more.

"You'll pay for this," I said, staring at her.

"Pay?" She laughed. "Lock her up! Let her see what real payment looks like!"

I was dragged roughly into the soundproof room, mouth taped shut. Through the crack beneath the door, I watched Dominic return.

He noticed the mark on Seraphina's cheek and frowned. "What happened?"

She glanced toward my prison, lips curving. "Nothing. Just got careless playing around."

"You always cause trouble." He tapped her nose—that tender, doting gesture. "Send your friends home. Elara will be upset if she sees this mess."

After the others left, Seraphina pressed herself against him, hands roaming his body.

"Dominic, stay with me tonight," she cooed. "I want to be alone with you."

The door opened. He pushed her against the wall. I heard the breath leave him.

I freed my phone. Pressed record.

"Little wolf, you shouldn't tempt me like this…" His voice was thick with desire. "You know what we are—"

"But I love you. I've loved you for so long. I'd be yours forever, just yours…"

Rustling fabric. Suppressed moans that pierced my heart like blades.

So these eight years of devotion were nothing but a fig leaf covering this filthy secret.

Afterward, I heard Seraphina purr: "I pulled that old man's oxygen tube."

I held my breath, waiting.

"Your troublemaking nature…" Helpless indulgence in his voice. "Fine. I'll handle it."

No anger. No blame. Only protection.

She laughed triumphantly and pulled him back again.

Silent tears kept falling. In this betrayal dressed as love, I'd lost my parents, my pup, and eight years of my life.

When the lights came on, Seraphina appeared before me in lingerie, love bites livid on her throat.

"Did you hear everything?" She looked down at me with contempt. "In his eyes, your parents' lives are just my little mistakes."

I didn't respond. Just looked at her.

She turned away, bored.

In the darkness, I gripped my still-recording phone and whispered:

"I'll make you pay. By every law—pack and human."