Chapter 3
The silence in my mind was deafening.
"Damien!" I screamed through our bond, my mental voice raw with desperation. "Please!"
Nothing. Not even the echo of an answer.
Then I felt it—a cold, psychic wall slamming down between us. The bond that had connected us for seven years suddenly became one-way glass. I could still see through it, still feel the faint pulse of his presence, but my voice couldn't reach him anymore.
"He's blocking you," a young wolf behind me snarled, his eyes glowing with predatory hunger. "Your precious Alpha doesn't want to hear you beg."
I stumbled backward, my lungs burning from exertion. The forest spun around me as I tried to process what was happening. Damien had never blocked our bond before. Even during his worst moments, even when he was angry or ashamed, he'd never shut me out completely.
Then I heard it—his voice, calm and authoritative, coming through the general pack link.
"Hold position at the border. Do not enter No Man's Land. It's a false alarm."
My blood turned to ice.
"Repeat, this is Alpha Damien Grant. Do not engage. This is a false alarm."
The warriors surrounding me exchanged glances, their expressions shifting from predatory focus to confusion.
"But Alpha," one of them started, "we heard her call for help—"
"Are you questioning my command?" Damien's voice cracked like a whip through the link.
Silence fell over the forest. Even the rogues seemed surprised by this unexpected development.
"No, Alpha," the warrior finally responded.
I backed away, my heart shattering into a thousand pieces. "He's leaving me to die."
Kael's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Your Alpha knows what's best for his pack. And right now, that means sacrificing a worthless, wolfless mate to protect his business interests."
Business interests. The Silver Dust. The crates marked with Blackwood Industries' symbol.
"It was all a lie," I whispered, backing toward the edge of the ravine I hadn't noticed in the darkness. "Everything was a lie."
---
The rogues closed in, their circles tightening around me. I could see the ravine behind me now—a sheer drop of at least thirty feet, rocks jutting out like teeth at the bottom.
"Cornered little bird," Kael murmured, stalking forward. "Your Alpha abandoned you. Your pack has forgotten you. What will you do now?"
I reached into my boot, fingers closing around the silver dagger I'd kept hidden there. It wasn't much—but it was something.
"What will I do?" I repeated, my voice steadier than I expected. "I'll show you what a wolfless wonder can accomplish."
I lunged forward, the dagger flashing in the moonlight. My first strike caught a young rogue by surprise, slicing across his eye. He howled in pain, clutching his face as silver burned into his flesh.
"Blind him!" another shouted. "She knows our anatomy!"
Of course I did. I'd studied it for years, preparing strategies for warriors who could shift. I knew every weakness, every pressure point.
I ducked under a swipe from my left, driving my knee into another attacker's groin. He doubled over with a grunt. But there were too many of them—at least eight surrounding me now, with more coming.
Kael's hand shot out, grabbing my wrist with crushing force. "Enough games."
The dagger clattered to the ground as pain shot up my arm. Before I could recover, his fist connected with my stomach. I doubled over, gasping for air.
"You should have stayed home," he growled, yanking me up by my hair. "Playing spy with real wolves."
Another blow caught my ribs. Something cracked. I tasted blood.
"Your Alpha is a coward," Kael hissed, his face inches from mine. "Did you really think he'd risk his precious alliance for you?"
He threw me to the ground, and two others grabbed my arms, dragging me toward the ravine's edge.
"Damien sends his regards," Kael said, nodding to his men.
I felt myself being lifted, then thrown. The world spun as I plummeted toward the rocks below.
---
Pain.
Everything was pain.
I lay at the bottom of the ravine, my body broken in places I didn't know could break. Above me, I could hear the rogues moving away, convinced I was dead.
The full moon bathed me in silver light, and I wondered if this was how it would end. Not as a hero, not even as a martyr—just as a forgotten casualty of Damien's ambition.
"Estella."
The voice was inside me, ancient and powerful. It resonated through every cell of my body.
"Who—" I tried to speak, but only managed a wet cough.
"I am Seraphina." The voice was regal, feminine, and utterly foreign. "Your wolf."
My wolf? After all these years?
"But I can't—I've never been able to—"
"Because you never needed to until now." Seraphina's presence filled me, warm and fierce. "We do not die for cowards. We rise for vengeance."
Heat erupted in my marrow, spreading outward like wildfire. My bones began to crack and reshape, not in the usual agony of a first shift, but in a rush of power that felt like coming home.
"Yes," Seraphina growled as my spine arched off the ground. "Let them see what they tried to destroy."
My scream echoed across the ravine—primal, ancient, and filled with a promise of retribution that would shake the foundations of the Silverclaw Pack.
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