Chapter 2

"Take Ryan away?" Callum's voice came from behind me, cold and cruel.

My feet froze mid-step. My chest tightened like a fist had closed around it.

He walked toward me, slow and deliberate, his golden eyes gleaming with control.

"Selina, have you forgotten? Ryan's condition can only be suppressed in the Moon Pool during Blood Moon. Take him away, and you're signing his death warrant."

The memory hit me—Ryan's last episode. Curled on the floor, his bones twisting under his skin, screaming loud enough to break your heart.

His nails had dug into the floorboards, blood pooling across the room.

Painkillers didn't even touch that kind of agony. Only the Moon Pool's energy could stop his body from tearing itself apart.

Callum knew exactly where to hit.

"Are you threatening me?" I spun to face him.

He tilted his head, adjusted his cuff, his expression softening into something almost tender. He reached for my face. I pulled back before he could touch me.

He dropped his hand, unfazed, his voice gentling. "Selina, you're misreading this. It's not a threat. It's just how things are." He paused. "Stay, and Ryan keeps his access to the Moon Pool. I'll cover every medical bill. I'll even fly in Silver Fang's best healers. Nothing has to change. See?"

"Nothing has to change?" I laughed, and it came out bitter. "You want me to watch you bond with another woman, then beg like a charity case just to keep my brother alive? What the hell do you think I am, Callum?"

"Don't turn this into something ugly." He frowned. "I'm an Alpha. I have a responsibility to this pack—"

"Enough. Spare me the 'for the pack' excuse."

Heels clicked down the hallway.

Elvira rounded the corner in a champagne gown, golden curls falling over her shoulders, her scent—cedar and roses—thick with Alpha dominance.

She crossed to Callum and wrapped her fingers around his arm, a small, deliberate claim, her thumb brushing his sleeve.

Then she looked at me, all wounded innocence.

"Selina, I know this is hard for you. But the pack's survival isn't a game. Callum needs me. Blood Moon needs this alliance with Silver Fang." Her voice was sweet, too sweet, her mouth curving with quiet satisfaction.

"I never wanted you gone. Just know your place, and we can all get along fine. Why should women make each other's lives harder?"

Her smile widened on the word place.

My stomach turned. This woman stood in front of me, holding onto my mate, talking down to me like she was doing me a favor—and expecting gratitude for it.

"Don't call me sister." I held her gaze, my voice flat. "I don't associate with women who sleep with someone else's mate."

Elvira's face went white.

"You want him? Take him." My mouth curled. "Just don't perform for me. This isn't about the pack. It's about what you want. Don't dress it up as something noble."

That broke her composure. She let her Alpha pressure loose—the air went heavy, pressing down, trying to force me to my knees.

She expected me to crumble like every other wolfless nobody. Beg. Grovel.

But she'd forgotten something. The mate bond I still carried with Callum—shameful as it was now—made me immune to other Alphas' pressure.

It rolled off me like nothing.

I stood there, unmoved, watching her with open contempt.

"Selina! That's enough!" Callum pulled Elvira against him—the same way he used to shield me.

Once, on the border, rogue wolves had come at us and he'd stepped in front of me just like that. He told me then that as long as he was breathing, nothing would touch me.

Now that same arm was wrapped around someone else.

I watched them together, and something in my chest cracked open. I bit down and refused to let a single tear fall.

"Elvira's being more than gracious with you, and you insult her like this?" Callum's voice cracked like a whip. "Apologize. Now."

"Not a chance."

He stared at me, chest rising and falling hard, like he was holding something back by force. The hallway went dead quiet.

I thought he'd hold onto some line he wouldn't cross. Five years together. He used to promise me that whatever happened, he'd never let Ryan or me suffer.

Then he opened his mouth.

"Fine. You want to play it that way?" He pointed at me, his voice ice. "As of now, Ryan loses all access to the Moon Pool. Until you learn some respect for your future Luna."

Everything went silent.

My ears rang. My vision blurred. My knees threatened to give out.

I forced myself to stay standing, one thought looping in my head—the full moon was three days away.

Without the Moon Pool, Ryan's bones would break apart while he screamed.

He'd bite through his own tongue. He'd slam his head against the wall trying to make it stop.

Callum knew all of that. Every bit of it.

"Callum—" My voice broke.

"You did this to yourself, Selina." He looked at me without a flicker of doubt, then turned and walked off with Elvira on his arm. He didn't look back once.

Elvira did. Just enough to flash me a smug little smile.

She'd won.

That's when Tessa came around the stairwell, one hand pressed to her cheek, my handprint still bright red across her face.

No fear in her eyes. Just spite.

"This is what happens when you don't know your place, Selina." Her voice dripped with contempt. "A wolfless nothing, talking back to an Alpha. Without Callum, you and your useless brother would've died in some gutter years ago."

I breathed in slow, my nails cutting into my palms.

I couldn't fall apart. Not now.

I wasn't going to beg Callum. If I dropped to my knees once, they'd spend the rest of my life grinding me into the ground.

I'd rather die than live like that.

I turned and ran for the medical wing. I'd get Ryan and leave — even if it meant buying black market suppressants at whatever price.

I wasn't going to let them use my brother against me.

But when I pushed the door open, I stopped dead.

Ryan's bed was empty.

The sheets were folded neat. His old stuffed wolf still sat on the pillow. His half-finished medicine stood untouched on the nightstand.

He was gone.

"Where's Ryan?" I grabbed the nearest nurse, my voice shaking. "Where is he?"

She wouldn't meet my eyes. Guilt all over her face. She didn't say a word.

"Tell me!"

"Tessa came in a few minutes ago. Said it was the Alpha's order — they moved him to the warehouse on the back mountain. Said it was better suited for... for wolfless people. That the medical wing shouldn't waste its resources..."

The back mountain warehouse. I'd seen it once.

Cold, damp, moss climbing the walls, roof falling apart, close enough to the border that rogues still wandered through.

They'd dumped a sick twelve-year-old boy there.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't go against the Alpha's orders."

I let go of her and stepped back.

I'd bitten through my lip without noticing. Blood filled my mouth.

Tessa. Elvira. Callum.

Twelve years. Five years together. None of it meant anything against what they wanted.

I wasn't going to beg. I was going to get my brother, and then I was going to make every one of them pay.

I turned and ran for the back mountain.

Night had swallowed the sky whole. The wind cut like a blade across my face. It didn't matter.

Next to what was tearing through my chest, it was nothing at all.