Chapter 3

Three days later, I married into the Shadow Pack.

Some bet we'd tear each other apart on our wedding night. Others guessed I wouldn't survive three days.

Honestly, I found the wedding far more entertaining than that gala at Silver Moon ever was.

Shadow Pack tradition required the Alpha and Luna to complete a "bloodline binding" ritual together in the moonlit pool on their wedding night.

Sounded sacred. In practice, it just meant soaking in a big tub together.

I stood at the edge of the pool, watching steam curl off the water, and glanced over at him.

"You're actually going through with the tradition?"

Cyrus had already shrugged off his robe, revealing a lean, muscled torso.

"If we skip it, the elders outside won't disperse."

"Fine."

Besides, I wanted to see what was really going on with that leg of his.

The water was hot, laced with the scent of herbs.

I shed my outer clothes, left on a thin undergarment, and stepped down the pool's stairs.

Cyrus was already leaning against the edge, his ruined leg submerged, looking no different from the other one.

I swam straight to him, reached out under the water, and nudged his shin with my foot.

"Feel that?"

"Yeah."

"So it's not completely severed." I pulled my foot back. "Poison?"

"Mm."

"Who?"

He didn't answer right away. Just looked at me.

"Plenty of people wanted me dead."

Not that he didn't know. He just didn't want to say it yet.

I didn't push. I'd find out eventually anyway.

I swam closer and pressed my hand against his knee, the skin beneath the water smooth and unnaturally warm.

I closed my eyes. The ice-blue in my left eye flickered awake.

Silver poison. Driven in deep, almost soaked into the bone.

I opened my eyes and looked at him.

"Turns out you're more hated than I am."

He didn't respond to that, just watched my hand slowly lift off his knee.

"Can you fix it?"

"Yes." I said. "But it'll hurt."

"I don't mind pain."

I smiled. "Good."

Over the following days, I alternated poison and healing to slowly clear the silver toxin from his body.

A few times the pain nearly broke his control, that suppressed wolf-power threatening to burst loose—all I had to do was hold him. Whatever strange bond existed between us, the moment we touched, the storm inside him would settle instantly.

He wasn't idle either.

The Shadow Pack's intelligence network ran deeper than I'd expected. Within days, everyone involved in throwing me into the Mistwood had been thoroughly dug up.

Not long after, the Vance family's dirty laundry landed directly on the Royal Tribunal's desk.

Embezzling territory from other packs, secret dealings with rogues—enough charges to bury them.

The family that once stood so high in Silver Moon collapsed overnight.

My so-called mother coughed blood and took to her bed from sheer rage.

Selena ran to the palace gates begging to see the Luna Queen, knelt there an entire day until she fainted, and no one ever came out to see her.

I heard all this while giving Cyrus his treatment.

He glanced at me sideways. "Your doing?"

"More or less." I twirled the silver needle in my hand, unbothered. "First they threw me away. Then they tried to use me."

"I figured they should know exactly what that costs."

Cyrus scoffed. "Too soft."

I laughed. "An Alpha with quite the appetite."

"Learned it from you." We traded a look and both smiled.

Half a month later, the intelligence finally came together.

Years ago, the Alpha King had grown wary of Cyrus's mounting military glory, afraid he'd challenge for the throne at any moment. So he used that filthy silver poison to cripple his leg.

Handing me to him was the Alpha King's second safety net.

If Cyrus ever turned rebellious, I—a blade soaked in poison—could be used to kill him.

And if I ever lost control, the Alpha King could use it as an excuse to wipe out the entire Shadow Pack under the banner of "purging the abnormal."

A clever plan.

Too bad he missed the one fatal detail.

We weren't just alike.

We were fated. True Mates.

I leaned against the window, staring at the moon outside, and couldn't help muttering.

"The Alpha King's heart is darker than any poison I've ever brewed."

Cyrus stood behind me, his voice flat.

"Which means it's time to send him to hell."

I turned to look at him. "You want his throne?"

He didn't answer right away. Those grey eyes darkened.

"I want to live. Completely free."

I stepped closer and straightened his collar, my fingers brushing his collarbone, my smile turning both alluring and merciless.

"Alright. I'll help you."

A month later, word spread through the palace that the Alpha King had fallen suddenly ill—paralyzed, unable to move from his bed.

The royal physicians took turns examining him. None of them could identify the illness.

Out of options, the Luna Queen finally swallowed her pride and summoned me to the palace.

I went.

The Alpha King lay in bed, his face ashen, his breathing so shallow it seemed ready to stop at any moment.

The instant he saw me walk in, his eyes filled with terror—and a fury he couldn't suppress.

I walked to the bedside and pressed two fingers to his wrist, feigning a proper examination.

The moment my skin touched his, I felt his pulse spike violently.

I withdrew my hand and turned.

The Luna Queen pressed anxiously. "Well? What is it?"

I smiled, gentle as anything.

"It's not an illness, Luna Queen."

"It's poison."

Every guard in the hall went white.

The Alpha King's eyes went wide, a strangled sound of rage rolling in his throat—but not a single word came out.

I dismissed everyone from the room.

The moment the doors closed, I leaned down close to his ear.

The deep violet in my right eye glowed faintly in the dim light.

"King."

"When you poisoned Cyrus all those years ago, I don't imagine you pictured this."

"Don't worry. This won't kill you."

I want you to see it. The wolf you crippled is about to claw his way onto your throne.