Chapter 4

This memory was from five days ago. The night before Bianca disappeared.

She'd caught me in my room, packing.

I'd finally scraped together enough money to leave and start over somewhere far away. I couldn't survive one more day in this house.

Bianca leaned in my doorway and watched me shove clothes into a bag.

"Going somewhere?"

I didn't answer.

"You can't leave." She walked in and kicked the door shut behind her. "Not yet. I've got plans."

"I don't care about your plans."

"You should." She dropped onto my bed like we were best friends at a sleepover. "I'm going to disappear for a while. A few days. Maybe a week."

I stopped packing.

"I've been setting this up for months." She picked at her nails. "By the time I'm gone, they'll believe anything about you."

My stomach dropped.

"And right before I go, I'll mind-link Dad. Something like help me. Then I'll cut the link." She looked up and smiled. "He won't be able to find me anywhere. And he'll think you did something awful."

She drew a finger across her throat.

"They're going to tear you apart, Ivy. And when I come home, shaking and scared and so happy to be back, they'll love me more than ever."

"Why?" My voice came out raw. "Why do you hate me this much?"

"Hate you?" Bianca tilted her head. "I don't hate you. You're just in my way."

She got up and slowly circled me.

"This pack. This family. The money, the status, the power. It's mine. I've spent my whole life earning my place here. Then you show up, and suddenly everyone's whispering that maybe the real daughter should be the one to inherit."

Her smile dropped.

"You're a stray they dragged in from the human world. You don't belong here. You never will."

"I'll tell them. Every word you just said—"

"Will you?" Bianca stepped closer. "Go ahead. See who they believe."

She leaned in.

"Or maybe I'll tell them something. About the man who raised you." Her voice went soft. "The one who liked to come into your room at night."

My knees gave out. I grabbed the bedpost to stay on my feet.

"You swore," I choked out. "I've paid you every cent I had for three years—"

"And I kept my mouth shut, didn't I? As long as you were useful." She smiled. "You stopped being useful the second you started packing."

She let that sink in.

"Everything my friends dug up about how he ended up dead? I still have it." She clicked her tongue. "A wolf killing a human. You know what the High Council does about that. Imagine if the pack found out. Imagine if the humans did."

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move.

"So here's how this goes." Bianca patted my cheek. "You stay. You take whatever's coming. And when I get back, you're going to beg them to send you away."

She opened the door.

"Sweet dreams, Ivy."

The memory cracked.

Pain split my skull. The picture shattered into pieces. Bianca's smile, her voice, the ice in my chest, all of it breaking apart like glass.

"Stop!" The seer's voice was urgent. "Her mind is breaking apart—"

The pull let me go.

I slumped in the chair. Blood dripped from my nose into my lap. My head felt like it was being torn in half.

The den went silent.

My mother had a hand clamped over her mouth. Garrett stood frozen.

"She planned it." My mother's voice broke. "All of it. Running away—everything—she planned it—"

"She set Ivy up," Garrett said slowly. "She wanted us to—"

"I know what she wanted."

My father's voice cut them off.

He stood. He walked right past me without a glance.

"Bianca made mistakes. Serious ones." He stopped in front of the seer. "But she's alive. She's hiding somewhere, waiting to come home."

"Alpha." The seer's voice was strained. "The girl is at her limit. One more reading could destroy her mind. Her wolf hasn't come in—"

"I need to know where Bianca went."

"She's your daughter—"

"So is Bianca." His jaw tightened. "She's seventeen. She made mistakes. When she comes home, I'll handle it."

He still wouldn't look at me.

"Start the reading."

"Please." I could barely get the word out. Blood was still running down my face. "Don't make them see—"

He didn't turn around.

"Start."

The seer hesitated. She looked at my mother. Then at Garrett.

Nobody stopped him.

Her hands settled on my temples.

The pull dragged me under.

And there he was.

The man who raised me, standing in my bedroom doorway. His belt was already in his hand.

He was smiling.