"Sorry, Damian, didn't mean for this stray to ruin your day. We'll drag her out of here!" one of the wolves snarled, lunging forward.

Before I could react, he clamped jaws on my forearm, fangs grazing bone, and shook me like a ragdoll.

"You gutter-scum thief! Snatched our cash like a rabid dog and thought you could scurry off? I'll tear your throat out before you blink!" he bellowed, veins bulging in his neck like writhing serpents.​

I shrieked-a sound halfway between a wounded animal and a dying bird-as my legs buckled beneath me. The ground rushed up like a vengeful fist, slamming into my ribs with a sickening crunch that made stars explode behind my eyes.

"Let me go! That's my money!" I shouted, voice cracking.

"Pfft! You, with cash like that? Don't make me laugh!" he spat.

I tried to fight back, but he grabbed the back of my neck, pressing down hard.

It was like flipping a switch-my body froze, trembling uncontrollably, my face drained of color.

That grip, that pressure. it was the same feeling I got right before the shocks in the mental hospital.

My body had learned to fear it, conditioned to shut down.

The wolf, satisfied I'd gone still, started dragging me away, cursing under his breath.

The thought of going back to that place-those silver-lined walls, the endless howls muffled behind iron doors-sent a howl of desperation clawing up my throat, tears boiling over like molten lead down my cheeks.

"Enough!" Damian's voice cut through the air, sharp and cold as a winter storm.

His icy gaze swept over the wolf, who stiffened under it.

Damian fished a check from his pocket and flicked it at my feet like it was trash. "Cash it and vanish. Don't make me hose you off Wolfe turf like the mongrel you are."

The wolf dropped me like I was trash, scrambling to pick up the check before hightailing it out of there.

Before I could catch my breath, Damian's grip closed around my wrist, yanking me into the pack office building.

My chest screamed with pain, my head spinning as he shoved me against a wall.

His presence loomed over me, dangerous and suffocating.

"Emily," he growled, his voice dripping with venom.

"All these years, and you're living like some mangy stray?"

My heart felt like it'd been stabbed, the pain sharp and immediate.

"This. Is. Your. Reckoning."

Those hate-filled eyes burned into me, and for a moment, I wanted to scream the truth, to let it all spill out.

But I couldn't. I'd promised Kathleen I'd keep her secret, let her leave this world pure.

Three years ago, Kathleen and I were kidnapped.

She shielded me, and they dragged her away.

When I saw her again, her legs were broken, her face ruined. I set the place on fire, carried her on my back, ready to escape. But at the last moment, she grabbed my hand, tears streaming down her scarred face.

"Emily, get out. Live well." she'd whispered.

"I want to stay clean in the eyes of my mate, my brother."

She pushed me out and let the flames take her.

Kathleen wanted to stay pure.

Damian, the pack's golden wolf, deserved to stay pure too. I'd been through the filth of that place, marked by it.

I wasn't fit to be his mate anymore. One of us being tainted was enough.

So when Damian found me, eyes red with grief, clutching me and begging, "Emily, where's Kathleen? Why didn't she make it out?"

I forced a smile, tears flooding my face.

"She's dead. They said only one of us could live. I chose me, so she had to go."

I'll never forget the look in his eyes-shock, rage, despair all at once.

Damian's hands clamped onto my shoulders, his grip so tight it felt like he'd crush my bones.

"Emily, tell me the truth! Tell me it's a lie!" he'd roared.

But I gave him nothing.

Just silence.

The Wolfe pack wanted me dead.

Damian locked himself away for three days and nights, then handed me a one-way ticket out of the pack's lands.

His voice was raw with hate as he said, "Never show your face to me again."

He asked his rich pup friend to make sure I left.

What he didn't know was that his friend, to "avenge" him, locked me in a mental hospital for Three years.

The pain in my wrist was sharp, like a spike driven through it.

I looked up at Damian, his eyes wild like a cornered beast, and forced a bright, bitter smile. "This is my reckoning? Kathleen's gone, and I'm still standing, aren't I?"

His face darkened.

He lunged, his hand clamping around my throat, squeezing so hard I couldn't breathe.

My face paled, my body betraying me with choked, whimpering gasps.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, unstoppable.

Just when I thought Damian would choke the life out of me, he let go.

I collapsed like a gutted fish, coughing so hard my ribs screamed.

Through the blur of tears, I saw him crouch down, his voice cold as a blade.

"Wolfe territory doesn't tolerate strays who outstay their welcome. I'll make sure you regret ever lifting your head here."

He reached for me again, but his hand froze midair, hesitating.

Then, in a flash, he grabbed my collar and yanked.

The fabric tore with a sharp rip, and his voice exploded.

"What the hell is this!?"

Beneath the fresh red marks from his grip, a deep, black-purple welt coiled around my throat, swollen and threatening.

I swallowed the metallic taste of blood, my trembling hand flying to cover it.

That scar was a gift from the mental hospital, carved into me over years of torment.

They called it "choke therapy."

Day after day, they'd cinch a leather belt around my throat, twist it till my vision blurred, and growl, "Scream it, Emily. You're a filthy lycan filth who taints every inch of Wolfe land with your stench!You will never worth Damien."

For the first two years, I refused to say the last part, even if it killed me.

By the third year, I was numb, reciting it like a broken record: "Emily. is a filthy lycan filth who taints every inch of Wolfe land with your stench!You will never worth Damien"

Damian's hand brushed the scar, and my trembling got worse, my body betraying me.

Tears fell, but I was still smiling, a twisted, broken thing.

"You know how it is other packs," I said, my voice steady despite the shaking. "They're into some wild stuff. Way more thrilling than anything with you."

His eyes blazed with fury.

He grabbed me, dragging me into a lounge and throwing me onto a bed.

I shivered, forcing words out. "You think this is fair to Brielle?"

He laughed, cold and cruel. "You think you're worth her worry? She's carrying my pup. You're just a tool to burn off steam."

The words hit me like a sledgehammer.

I shut my eyes, my heart ripping apart, and stopped fighting.

No lingering touches that felt like devotion, no whispers that might've been kind-only the weight of him, deliberate and hungry, proving he meant every word, moving in a rhythm that blurred pain .

"Is this how they choked you?"

It wasn't until dawn that he pulled away, not sparing me a glance.

"Clean this up," he said, voice like ice.

"Tonight, you're serving drinks."

He slammed the door behind him.

I came to later, my body trembling as I knelt on the floor, picking up the mess of torn fabric and bloodstains.

I crawled to the bathroom, clothes in rags-only the top I'd clawed to keep stayed whole.​

That one piece, I'd fought for tooth and nail. Only made Damian rage harder, his punishment bloodier.​

I peeled off the tattered fabric slow, deliberate. What I'd hidden, guarded with my life? Now laid bare.

My arms, shoulders, and back were a canvas of scars, words carved into my skin like a twisted tattoo.

When I first got thrown into that mental hospital, I prayed Damian would come for me.

Every time they tortured me, I clung to the pain, scratching his name-and mine-into my flesh with my nails to keep going.

One year, three years, Three. my name faded away, scratched out, until it was just Damian, Damian, Damian.

I stopped hoping we'd ever meet again.

His name became my lifeline, the only thing keeping me alive.

But now, that lifeline had crumbled, and I was too broken to piece it back together.

Under the shower's spray, I broke down, sobbing until my voice gave out.

That night, my body still aching, they dragged me out to serve drinks.

Laughter and mockery buzzed around me like flies.

I just kept pouring liquor down my throat, glass after glass.

Meanwhile, Brielle was tucked safely in Damian's arms, his voice soft and careful as he tended to her.

He barked orders at me-fetch this, deliver that.

My steps faltered, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through.

By the end of the night, after seeing everyone off, I collapsed by a flowerbed, vomiting until the world spun.

Damian stood nearby, his face twisted with disgust, and tossed a wad of cash at me.

"Pick it up. Clean yourself off," he said.

I pressed down my trembling hand, gathering the bills-my payment-without a word.

I couldn't go back to that place. It was too filthy. I had to vanish clean, not a single bone left behind.

Damian and Brielle's binding ceremony was coming up fast, and he dumped all the prep work on me.

"Brielle's eye's on that auction ring. Tear the place down if you have to-get it."​

"Venue's not her vibe. Burn it. She wants a private island, sundown."​

"Brielle's obsessed with black orchids. Raid every greenhouse-smother the place in them. Food, drinks? Only what she craves. Screw the rest."

I ran myself ragged every day, jumping to meet their endless demands.

At night, I was Damian's tool to vent his rage.

Mornings, I could barely drag myself out of bed.

I put together their entire binding ceremony, but when the day came, it wasn't me standing on that stage.

Brielle, arm in arm with Damian, soaked up every gaze in the room.

The crowd's praise filled my ears, but I was tucked away in a corner, untouched by the light. Exhausted from the grind, my eyes drifted shut.

I dreamed of my own binding ceremony with Damian.

His eyes, deep and full of love, pulled me in like a tide.

He slid a ring onto my finger, slow and deliberate.

"You're mine now," he'd said, voice warm.

"Unless I'm dead, we're bound forever."

The crowd's blessings echoed around us-wishing us a lifetime together, an eternity of love. In the dream, I should've been smiling, but my face was wet with tears.

Moments like that, standing side by side, were gone for good.

When I woke, Brielle was sitting across from me.

"Emily, it's been a while," she said, swirling a wine glass, her eyes looking down on me like I was dirt. "I don't get it. You're sitting here, crying like a pup, but back then, why'd you do it?"

I scrambled to wipe away the tears from my dream, my hands shaking.

Her gaze brought it all back-the bullying, the nightmares that never left.

"You didn't see this coming, did you?" she went on, her voice icy.

"Damian stood up for you back then, but now? He's in love with me. How could he ever want someone as weak and boring as you?"

I kept my head down, my left hand clamping my trembling right.

"I won't. get in your way," I rasped.

She scoffed.

"Not here to crawl back to him? Then why show up?"

Before I could answer, she tilted her cup, sloshing scalding coffee down her silk dress. Her features contorted into a wail, and she shrieked, "Emily!"