Chapter 2
Evelyn's POV
Three years, and the Alpha still looked at me like I was a parasite to be crushed underfoot.
Alpha Valen pulled Caelia against his chest. "Are you alright, Caelia? Are your eyes hurt?"
"Valen... I'm fine," Caelia murmured, clinging to him. "Don't blame Evelyn. Maybe she didn't mean to push me..."
"Didn't mean to?!" Freya shrieked. "Alpha! Everyone saw it! She did it on purpose! She's jealous that Caelia is about to become the new Luna!"
The surrounding high-ranking wolves released waves of pressure:
"Vicious, spent-wolf bitch! How dare she attack our candidate!"
"She belongs in the rogue pit for trying to hurt Caelia!"
"Even without her wolf, she's still a monster."
Valen helped Caelia stand before turning to face me. His crimson wolf eyes burned through me, and his Supreme Alpha aura slammed down onto my shoulders, making my joints pop under the weight.
"Three years, Evelyn," he growled, stepping closer. "And your cruel, malicious nature hasn't changed a bit."
"I didn't push her!" I forced out, staring into his eyes. "She lost her own—"
"Shut up!" Valen barked. "I saw it with my own eyes."
The pack handler rushed over, wiping sweat from his forehead as he bowed to Valen. "Alpha! I am so sorry! I didn't supervise the staff properly!" He turned and barked at me, "You useless omega! How dare you offend our future Luna?!"
"Handler," Valen said, "is this how we run banquet service in the Pack House? Hiring a convicted criminal to serve high-blood guests?"
The handler's face turned pale. "Forgive me, Alpha! She hid her branded mark and snuck in! I'll have the guards throw her out immediately!"
"No! Please!" Desperation seized me. "Please give me a chance! I need the pay!"
"A chance?" A cold smirk touched Valen's lips. "A venomous traitor who sold her soul doesn't deserve a chance in the Blackwood Pack."
I looked around at the sneering, disgusted faces. My heart sank.
If I lost this job, I'd never raise the 100 Moon Sovereigns required by the pack nursery.
"Valen, I'm begging you..." My voice trembled under his aura. "I need tonight's coins. I have a daughter to feed..."
"Don't you dare bring that stray up in front of me!" Valen's wolf eyes flared with fury. "A whore like you doesn't deserve to be a mother to any pup!"
He was talking about Nyra—his own flesh and blood, who shared his Supreme Alpha lineage.
Yet he called her a stray and declared I was unfit to be a mother.
"Handler, throw her into the snow outside the main gates," Valen ordered.
"Wait!"
My knees buckled, and I crashed onto the hard marble floor.
The noisy hall fell dead silent.
"I'll do anything!" I knelt on the floor, my fingers digging into the gaps between the tiles. "Just give me tonight's coins... let me stay and work..."
Valen looked down at me from above, dark pleasure flashing in his eyes.
"Anything?"
"Yes... anything."
"Then prove to the true bloodline you hurt how badly you need these coins." The corner of his mouth curved into a sharp angle. "Perform a Forced Submission like the low-ranking rogue you are."
"What?" I looked up, stunned.
For a proud wolf, kneeling like a stray and kissing an enemy's boots was the ultimate humiliation, stripping away every ounce of dignity.
"Crawl over and kiss Caelia's boots," he said, his voice echoing across the hall. "Crawl to the grand pillar over there, and crawl back."
Gasps echoed through the room, followed by cruel laughter.
I stared at the marble pillar dozens of yards away, my hands pressed flat against the floor.
Then I thought of Nyra, shivering and crying in that damp cellar, and the impossible 100 gold coins... I closed my eyes and bit my lip until it bled.
"Good," Valen said. "Start."
Stripped of all pride, I dropped my palms and knees to the floor and began to crawl. The rough marble tore through my thin linen pants, sending sharp pain through my knees, but I didn't stop.
Around me, high-ranking wolves threw taunts, some pouring leftover wine over my head:
"Look at the former White Wolf, crawling like a stray dog!"
"That's where a traitor belongs!"
"She's actually kissing the boots!"
I clamped my teeth together and dragged myself forward inch by inch. Warm blood left two dark streaks across the polished floor.
When I reached the grand pillar, I turned my body around to crawl back.
"Wait," Valen's voice broke through the noise again.
Drenched in wine and cold sweat, I raised my head, unsure of how else he planned to crush me.
He gestured to the pack guards beside him. A guard stepped forward, holding several heavy pouches, and walked up the spiral stone stairs to the second floor.
"Since you crave Moon Sovereigns so much," Valen said, "I'll grant your wish."
"Crawl up there and pick them all up."
Clatter—
Over a hundred golden Moon Sovereigns rained down from the balcony, scattering across the steep, narrow marble stairs.
Every single coin had been laced with a heavy dusting of corrosive pure silver powder.
The sharp edges of the steps, combined with the silver, would destroy my knees.
Yet I had no choice.
Gritting my teeth, I crawled toward the staircase. With every step I climbed, the sharp marble edges gouged into the open wounds on my knees. The moment the silver powder touched my blood, it hissed, burning my flesh.
One coin, two coins, three coins...
I knelt in the pool of blood and silver dust, using my bleeding fingers to scoop every scattered coin into my coat.
"That is your worth, Evelyn," Valen looked down at me. "Remember this lesson."
Finally, every last coin was jammed into my chest pocket.
Half-kneeling on the stairs, I clutched the coins tight against my chest, feeling the raw burn of the silver against my skin.
"Thank you... Alpha Valen... for your mercy," I forced out through bloody teeth.
Valen gave me one last icy look before wrapping his arm around Caelia's waist and turning away.
"Let's go, Valen..." Caelia's soft voice faded as the crowd followed them out.
I was left alone, kneeling in a pool of blood on the marble stairs while the remaining wolves snickered in the distance.
Half an hour later, the hall emptied.
My legs went completely numb from the deep silver burns. Holding onto the blood-stained railing, I dragged myself step by step toward the washbasin in the back corridor.
Despite the crushing humiliation, my fingers touched the heavy coins in my pocket.
I counted them with trembling hands—twenty Moon Sovereigns!
Combined with my savings, I was one step closer to getting my daughter out.
For Nyra, I could endure anything.
The thought of holding her small body in my arms again filled my heart with strength.
I pulled off a piece of cloth to wipe the burned flesh around my knees when a message hawk swooped down onto the window sill. It carried a frantic message from the old witch doctor at the lower nursery:
"Evelyn Vance! Get down to the lower nursery right now! Your stray... her Moon-Wasting Syndrome has fully flared up. She's running out of breath!"
