Vanc

he Great Hall. The eyes of the pack followed me, a mixture of scorn and morbi

. It was adjacent to the Alpha's own, a constant, painful reminder of the proximity we shared in space but not in spirit. Kae

. "By order of the Alpha," he stated, his voice flat, "before your... d

were alight with a malicious glee I had seen festering for years. One of them, I realized with a jolt, was Lyra T

. She held up a simple blue one, a favorite of mine, before drop

oice dripping with venom. "What's a lowly O

out, to snarl and fight back, but I knew it was pointless. It would only give them

"The suite and all its furnishings are pack property. All clothing

m my neck. It was a gift Kaelen had given me on my first birthday in the pack, the Blackwood wolf emb

nothing. They emptied my drawers, confiscated my books, even took the

the clothes I wore and put on a rough, scratchy burlap tun

my wrist. On the simple, dark, and unadorned bracelet I alwa

of trash?" she aske

ice low and steady, pulling m

dismissive. "Leave it. It's not pack p

bracelet was my mother's. It was the Matron's Mark, the symbol of leadership for the Mooncrest

reak. A matter of pack discipline. But as he saw Lyra Thorne step on my dress, a low, guttural growl rumbled in his ch

wrongness a physical itch under his skin. He told himself it was Lyra's disrespect for

The suite was no longer mine. I had nowhere to go. The warriors led me down, do

mitory. The air was thick with the smell of sweat, dampness, and

one who though

ha finally got

ead, trying to block out the world. My shoulder began to bleed again, a dull, wet warmth seeping through the roug

I had now. This, and a newly forged promise I made to myself. Every humiliation, every

lpha. She has been moved to the Omega quarters."

't bring him the satisfaction he'd expected. Instead, that unsettling, irritating feeling intensified. He had

s... it was