Chapter 3

Rhea

For one crystalline moment I hung suspended between earth and sky, between life and death.

I hit the ground and rolled, human reflexes allowing me to tuck and absorb some of the impact, but not enough. Pain exploded through my left wrist as bone snapped, white-hot agony that made me scream even as I forced myself to keep moving, to crawl forward on my good hand and knees because stopping meant capture.

Above me, I heard the guards skid to a halt at the cliff's edge, arguing about whether to follow.

And then I heard something else—a sound that made me sob with relief.

A howl. Deep and resonant and absolutely furious.

Alex had arrived.

The silver-gray wolf that exploded out of the forest was enormous, easily twice the size of a normal wolf, with a lightning-bolt white marking on his forehead that marked him as Winterbourne royalty. He didn't slow down or assess the situation—just launched himself at the nearest Ironfang guard with a snarl that shook the trees, his jaws closing around the other wolf's throat with the finality of an executioner's blade.

The guard died before he could even yelp, and Alex dropped the body without ceremony, his blue eyes blazing gold with Alpha fury as he turned to face the remaining hunters. The message was clear: Come closer and join your friend.

They backed away, whining, their earlier confidence evaporating.

A second wolf—smaller, leaner, with reddish-brown fur—streaked past the standoff and came directly to where I lay crumpled against the rocks. Caspian shifted to human form and immediately stripped off his jacket, wrapping it around my body, which was barely covered by the remnants of her dress.

It's okay, he said through the mind-link. We've got you. You're safe now.

Alex shifted back to human form, and when he looked at me his blue eyes were still ringed with gold, his wolf too close to the surface to fully retreat. He was shirtless, his muscular frame radiating barely controlled violence, and when his gaze traveled over my injuries—the bite mark on my neck, my broken wrist, the claw marks on my shoulder—I watched his expression shift from concern to horror to a fury so profound it made the air crackle.

"Who did this?" His voice came out barely above a whisper, but the Alpha command underlying the words made even Caspian flinch. "Rhea. Who. Did. This."

I couldn't speak. Instead I lifted my good hand and pointed back toward Ironfang, toward the palace that had become my prison, toward the prince who'd worn a charming mask while planning my destruction.

Alex's gaze followed my gesture and landed on my neck, on the incomplete marking bite. Understanding dawned in his eyes, followed immediately by a rage so absolute that the bones in his body began to crack and shift, his wolf trying to force its way back out.

"Alex, NO!" Caspian grabbed his arm. "You go back there now and you start a war! We have to get Rhea out of here first!"

"I'm going to kill him," Alex snarled, his voice distorting as his canines extended. "I'm going to rip out his throat and feed it to him while he's still alive—"

"Brother." The word came out as barely a whisper, but it cut through his rage like a blade. I reached up with my good hand and caught his wrist. "Please. Don't go back. Take me away from here. I need... I need to get stronger."

He looked down at me, and I saw the exact moment his murderous fury collided with his protective instincts. His eyes cleared slightly, the gold fading back to pure blue, and he covered my hand with his own, his touch gentle despite the violence still radiating from every line of his body.

"Anything," he said hoarsely. "I'll give you anything, Rhea. Just tell me what you need."

I swallowed hard, tasting blood, and forced the words out past my damaged throat. "Take me to Zenith University. I want to be strong enough that no one can ever hurt me again. Strong enough that I'll never be anyone's victim. Strong enough to prove that women can be warriors too."

Alex was quiet for a long moment, his gaze moving between my face and the direction of Ironfang, clearly weighing options and consequences. Finally, he nodded once, sharp and decisive.

"Alright. We'll do it. But first we need to get you medical treatment before that mark kills you, and we need to move before Tyrant's guards work up the courage to come after us again."

He slid one arm under my knees and the other behind my shoulders, lifting me as carefully as if I were made of spun glass. I bit back a whimper as the movement jostled my injuries, and he immediately adjusted his grip, his expression anguished.

"I've got you," he murmured, and started walking toward where they'd left their vehicle. "I promise, Rhea. No one will ever hurt you like this again. Not while I'm alive to stop them."

Caspian fell into step beside us, one hand resting on the medical kit at his belt. "We need to treat that mark first. If it's not properly sealed or removed within forty-eight hours, the magical corruption could spread to her whole system."

"I know," Alex said grimly. "We'll use my blood. Same bloodline should counteract Tyrant's claim."

"Will it work?" I asked, my voice small.

"It has to," Alex replied with absolute certainty. "Because the alternative is you being bound to that monster forever, and I'd burn Ironfang to the ground before I let that happen."

We emerged from the forest onto a dirt road where a sleek black vehicle waited, its engine still running. Caspian opened the back door and Alex carefully deposited me onto the leather seats, immediately reaching for the medical supplies.

"This is going to hurt," Caspian warned as he knelt beside the open door, unwrapping the makeshift bandage around my neck. "The mark is trying to complete itself. Forcing it to abort mid-process is... not pleasant."

"Just do it," I gritted out. "I've survived worse tonight."

Alex bit into his own wrist without ceremony, his canines punching through skin and vein with practiced efficiency, and pressed the bleeding wound directly against Tyrant's incomplete mark. I screamed—couldn't help it—as two different Alpha bloodlines collided in my flesh, fighting for dominance, burning like acid and ice simultaneously.

"Hold her down," Caspian ordered, and Alex's free hand pinned my shoulders to the seat while I thrashed and sobbed, every nerve ending on fire as the magical corruption was forcibly purged from my system.

It felt like hours but was probably only minutes before the burning finally began to fade, replaced by a deep, bone-weary exhaustion. Alex pulled his wrist away and I saw that the mark on my neck had stopped oozing, the edges already beginning to knit together with accelerated werewolf healing.

"It's done," Caspian said quietly, bandaging the area with professional efficiency. "The mark is sealed. It won't complete now, and Tyrant's claim is broken."

I closed my eyes, relief flooding through me so intensely I started shaking again. "Thank you. Both of you."

"Don't," Alex interrupted, his voice rough. "Don't think about what might have happened. You're here. You're alive. And I swear on the Moon Goddess herself, Rhea, I will make sure you get everything you need to become the warrior you want to be."

The hum of the engine and the warmth of Alex's body against mine pulled me toward unconsciousness, but his voice cut through the fog one last time.

"Sleep now, little sister," he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "When you wake up, we start building the lie that's going to set you free."

I would become stronger. At Zenith University.