The Alpha Became A Beggar After Putting Me To Cell

I broke three ribs getting out of that hellhole of cell.

The first thing I did when I stumbled into freedom? Signed a agreement for body research.

The guy behind the desk looked at me with pity swimming in his eyes.

"Emily, we're obligated to tell you this is a special body research.

"Your body will be used to test a new silver nitrate corrosive agent-specifically brewed to dissolve lycanthropic cells. By dawn, not even a sliver of your wolf bones will remain."

I pressed a palm to my aching ribs, the cracked bones-still hot with leftover lycanthropic fire-making each syllable drag like claws on stone. I forced a smile, twisted as a snarl. "Couldn't dream up a finer fate."

I didn't have much time left anyway. Might as well do something for the great pack.

My medical chart howled the truth in jagged, blood-red letters: Lycan Atrophy Syndrome.

Most wolves know it as LAS, the rotting curse

. I drew the short straw-complications ignited a silver-induced lung infection.

A month, tops, is what the pack healers grunted.​

The guy's eyes softened, pupils slitting slightly like he smelled my fading wolf scent. "Thank you for feeding the pack's silver research. This coin's a paltry offering. Take it."

My claws twitched uncontrollably as I reached for the coins.

I planned to drop every cent at the pup shelter, slip past the pack's burial stones one last time to nuzzle Kathleen's grave, then let the rot take me.​

I staggered out, and three wolves materialized from the tree shadows, hackles raised.​

"There's the runt!" one snarled, fangs glinting.​

"Thought you could slink away? We'll jam silver rods in your veins 'til you whimper like a cub!" another snapped.​

My fur prickled under my skin, chest heaving with wolfish panic.

The silver shock collars they'd used flashed in my head-my body folded in on itself, twitching, as I crashed into the enforcers' den.

I was moving too fast, too desperate.

I slammed right into someone, my coins scattering across the floor like dead leaves. The chest I crashed into was solid as stone, leaving me dizzy.

Amid the chaos of snarls and yelps, a familiar, frost-bitten scent hit me.​

Then his voice sliced through the noise. "Emily."​

My wolf blood slowing to a crawl in my veins.

Six years since I'd last seen him, and Damian Wolfe looked even more like the untouchable alpha he'd become. His sharp, elegant features were colder now, his eyes carrying that same distant chill.

But the way he looked at me?

That was new.

Pure disgust, laced with hate.

My heart twisted so hard I thought it'd snap.

Tears scalded my eyes, steam curling off them as my wolf heat spiked.

"Damian," I breathed, the word a whimper.​

The wolves at my heels skidded to a halt, their hackles flattening-alpha pheromones hitting them like a physical blow.​

Damian's stare pinned me, his scent sharpened to a warning.

"Who granted you leave to pollute pack lands?"​

I bowed