Chapter 4

The full moon was supposed to be the pack's most sacred night of celebration.

In the center of Blood Moon Pack's territory, the plaza blazed with light. Callum and Elvira were holding a grand engagement gala.

I had just dragged myself up off the warehouse floor, after hours pinned to the dirt by the Enforcers.

Several ribs were broken. Every breath felt like a blade twisting through my lungs. None of it mattered.

I had to find Ryan.

Cold moonlight fell over the edge of the Forbidden Woods. I followed the smell of blood, every step like walking on knives.

When I finally found him, deep in the thorn brush—

Ryan lay in the frozen dirt, a gaping hole torn through his chest. His heart had been ripped out while he was still alive.

In his hand, he clutched a scrap of bloodstained silk—torn from the dress Elvira had worn that day.

I dropped to my knees and touched his face.

Cold.

The boy who always smiled and said, "Don't worry, sis, when I grow up I'll protect you," would never open his eyes again.

I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come, as if they'd frozen solid inside me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, gathering his impossibly light body into my arms. "I didn't protect you."

I laid him back down gently and took off my jacket to cover his face.

"Wait for me. I'll be right back."

In the distance, music drifted from the pack's central plaza—Callum and Elvira, toasting to their engagement.

Celebrating while my brother's body hadn't even gone cold.

I rose slowly and drew the silver dagger from my boot. Moonlight glinted off the blade, cold and sharp.

I used to believe that if I was obedient enough, strong enough, they would eventually see my worth.

Now I understood.

To these people, Ryan and I had never been "people" at all.

We were trash to be trampled and discarded at will.

Then let them see exactly what trash pushed too far could do.

I don't remember the walk to the plaza. Moonlight lit my path, every step landing in a mix of blood and mud.

When I appeared at the banquet hall doors, soaked in blood, silver dagger in hand, the music died instantly.

Every wolf in the room stared at me like I was a monster.

Under the crystal chandeliers, Callum stood in a sharp black suit, sharing a laugh with Elvira over wine. She wore a pristine white gown, elegant as a swan.

The moment he saw me, Callum's face went pale.

"Selina! Have you lost your mind? Who let you in here?" he roared.

I ignored him.

My eyes locked on Elvira. Her white dress was spotless, but beneath her usual scent of fir and roses, there was a faint trace of my brother's blood.

"You killed him," I said, my voice hoarse, walking toward her step by step.

Whispers rippled through the hall. Some looked shocked, others frowned. No one stepped forward.

"What are you talking about? I have no idea!" Elvira ducked behind Callum, her performance flawless—fear, hurt, innocence, tears welling on cue.

"Callum, she has silver, she's trying to kill me! I've never hurt anyone, why is she accusing me of this?"

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

"Is she out of her mind?"

"A wolfless nobody threatening a pureblood with silver?"

"The Alpha's already been more than generous with her..."

Callum stepped between us, shielding Elvira. The full weight of his Alpha presence pressed down on me.

That same power used to make me feel safe. Now it felt like a thousand-pound chain crushing the air from my chest.

I didn't back down.

"Put the knife down, Selina." Callum's voice was low, commanding. "Ryan's death was an accident. He wandered into the Forbidden Woods and ran into a rogue. Don't make a scene."

"An accident?"

I raised the bloodstained scrap of silk and slammed it against his face.

"Ryan tore this off her before he died!" My voice cracked into a scream. "His heart was ripped out, Callum! He was fifteen! He died with this in his fist!"

The fabric fell to the floor, the bloodstains stark under the chandelier light.

Silence swept the hall.

A few of the older wolves' expressions hardened, their eyes turning toward Elvira with something like suspicion.

Elvira's face flickered, but she recovered fast, gazing up at Callum with tearful eyes.

"Callum, I did go to the warehouse today—I wanted to talk them out of causing more trouble. Maybe that's when he caught my dress by accident." Her voice trembled. "But I swear I never hurt him. How could I do something like that?"

She sounded so sincere, clutching his arm as if seeking shelter.

"I know she's always resented me, but she can't accuse me of this out of jealousy..." Tears spilled down her cheeks, catching the light.

"Enough!" Callum cut me off before I could speak.

He looked at the bloody fabric, something flickering in his eyes, then hardened again, cold as steel.

"Elvira is your future Luna. You'd frame her over a scrap of cloth?"

His voice turned colder.

"Even if Ryan is dead, that's just his rotten luck. This isn't the place to lose your mind."

Rotten luck.

Those three words drove into my chest like a blade.

The crowd murmured its agreement.

"Wolfless ones never last long anyway..."

"Probably her own negligence..."

"And she has the nerve to make a scene here..."

I looked around at the wolves I once thought of as my own kind.

Their cold stares, their smug little smirks—masks, ugly and hollow underneath.

No one cared about the truth. No one cared that a fifteen-year-old boy was dead.

Because he was wolfless. Because he didn't count.

So this was the world I'd fought so hard to belong to.

I started laughing. Laughing until the tears finally came.

"Good. Very good."

I looked at Callum, at that face, so utterly false underneath.

I used to believe he was everything to me—that his coldness was temporary, that if I stayed strong enough, he'd eventually turn and see me.

Now I understood.

He never loved me at all.

The mark on my neck had only ever been a leash.

"Callum, did you think I came here tonight to beg you for justice?"

My voice was quiet, but the room went utterly silent.

Every eye turned to me.

Elvira stumbled back a step, thinking I meant to lunge at her.

Callum's brow furrowed, his Alpha presence bearing down on me again. "Selina, put the knife down. I won't say it again—"

I didn't let him finish.

I gripped the silver dagger. In front of every stunned face in that hall, I didn't turn it on Elvira. I didn't turn it on Callum.

I reached back and drove it—without hesitation—into the mating mark at the base of my own neck.

A sickening sound cut through the air.

The world went silent.

All that remained was the hiss of silver eating into wolf flesh.

Blood streamed down my neck. Pain like a white-hot needle tore through every nerve, but I clenched my jaw and didn't make a sound.

"Elvira! No—!"

Callum's scream ripped through the hall.

The backlash of a forcibly broken bond hit him like a hammer. He collapsed to his knees, coughing up blood, fingers clawing at the floor.

Gasps erupted around the room.

A few moved to rush at me, but I raised the dagger and they froze.

I pulled the blade free.

More blood poured down, staining my collar.

I looked down at Callum—the man I once looked up to, now curled up like a dog at my feet.

Pain surged through me, my vision blurring, but my mind had never felt clearer.

"From this moment on," I said, each word cold as ice, "the bond is severed. I don't owe you anything anymore, Callum."

I turned to Elvira, her face bloodless with shock, and to the wolves staring at me in silence.

"You owe my brother his life," I said softly, but every word landed like a blade. "I'm going to collect that debt, piece by piece, and the Silver Moon Council's gallows will be where I do it."

Elvira opened her mouth, but I had already turned away.

Blood dripped from my clothes onto the marble. Behind me, bloody footprints marked my path to the door. No one dared stop me.

Moonlight fell over me, cold and bright.

I walked into the darkness and left that hollow world behind for good.

The moment I crossed the threshold, the silver's poison spread from my neck through my whole body.

My vision blurred. A ringing filled my ears. My legs turned to lead, every step draining what strength I had left.

Just before the darkness swallowed me, I saw a blurred shape.

Someone was calling my name.

Then everything went black.