Cayla POV:

Life as a slave was a slow death.

Cherrelle had put a collar on me. Leather, lined with silver studs. A suppressor collar.

I scrubbed floors until my hands bled.

Then the news came.

"Avalanche on the North Face!" Jeremy was screaming into his radio. "We lost signal with the Alpha!"

My heart stopped.

Grafton had gone to find the Moon Snow Lotus—a mythical flower he thought would cure Cherrelle's "poisoned blood."

I didn't think.

I ran to the garage. The guards were too busy panicking to notice the slave girl stealing a snowmobile.

The mountain was a white hell.

I drove until the sled stalled, then I walked. The cold should have killed me. But Selene, my wolf, burned through the silver collar, keeping my heart pumping.

I found him buried under a shelf of ice.

"Grafton!"

I dug him out with my bare hands. He was blue. Hypothermia.

I dragged him into a cave.

I couldn't shift. So I stripped us both down. Skin to skin.

I pressed my body against his. The Electric Touch of the Mate Bond sparked, faint but there.

"Live," I whispered. "You have to live, you idiot."

I poured my White Wolf vitality into him.

Hours passed.

When the rescue chopper arrived, Grafton was warm.

I was a husk.

Grafton POV:

I woke up in the hospital.

"He's awake!" Cherrelle chirped.

Brooks stood there, holding a tablet.

"You were buried for six hours," Brooks said. "Drone footage shows Cayla Bass found you. She kept you warm with her body heat."

I stared at the screen. The thermal image showed a small figure shielding a larger one.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Infirmary. Severe frostbite."

"She's trying to manipulate you!" Cherrelle screeched. "She probably caused the avalanche with her witch powers!"

For the first time, Cherrelle's voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"Bring her here," I ordered.

When they wheeled Cayla in, she looked like death.

"You saved me," I said.

She looked at the floor. "Duty of a pack member."

"You aren't a pack member," I reminded her, defensiveness rising. "You're a slave."

She flinched. "Then it was the duty of a slave."

I wanted to thank her. But my pride was a wall.

"This doesn't change what you did to Cherrelle," I snapped.

Cayla looked up. Her eyes were dead.

"I expect nothing from you, Alpha. Absolutely nothing."

Cayla POV:

My hands were still bandaged when the text came.

Be ready at 7 PM. Wear the white dress.

The charity gala.

Cherrelle stood on stage, holding a microphone.

"Tonight, a special item! The traitor who tried to poison me!"

She pointed at me.

"We are auctioning her labor for one night! Proceeds go to the orphanage!"

The crowd laughed.

I stood under the blinding lights.

"Twenty thousand!"

A man stepped out of the shadows. Mr. Vane. A Rogue merchant with a scar down his face and a reputation for breaking things.

"Sold!"

Vane grabbed my arm. He leaned close. "I smell something sweet under that fear."

I looked at Grafton. Please, I begged silently.

Grafton swirled his whiskey. He looked conflicted, but he didn't move. He let it happen.

Vane dragged me to the hotel. Room 304.

He threw me onto the bed.

"Now," he grunted. "Let's see what the Alpha threw away."

Panic flooded me.

"Don't touch me."

Vane laughed.

He lunged.

I grabbed the heavy brass lamp.

CRACK.

Bone crunched. Vane collapsed.

I ran.

I made it to my old apartment.

Ten minutes later, the door flew off its hinges.

Grafton stood there, eyes glowing red.

"You killed him," he roared. "You killed a guest under Pack protection!"

"He tried to rape me!" I screamed.

"He was a buyer!" Grafton shouted. "Do you have any idea the political storm you just started? The Rogue Council will demand blood!"

"Is that all I am?" I asked, tears spilling. "A political liability?"

"You are a headache," he spat. "Vane was garbage, but he was protected garbage. Tomorrow, you apologize to his clan. And then you attend my engagement party."

"Engagement?"

"I'm making Cherrelle Luna. Tomorrow night."

He walked out.

That was the moment the last ember of hope died.

Cayla POV:

I didn't go to the apology. I went to the cemetery.

I bought the plot next to Justen.

Then I drove to the Blackwood Bridge.

Below, the river churned, black and hungry.

I took out my phone.

I'm going to be with the man I actually love. Goodbye, Alpha.

I hit send and threw the phone onto the pavement.

I climbed the railing.

I reached deep inside and found the bond. That thick, golden rope connecting me to Grafton.

"Grafton Mcleod," I spoke to the wind.

Grafton POV:

The ballroom was suffocating.

My phone buzzed.

I'm going to be with the man I actually love. Goodbye, Alpha.

Justen? But he was dead.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in my soul. Ancient. Final.

"I, Cayla Bass, reject you, Grafton Mcleod, as my Alpha and my Mate."

The world shattered.

A pain like a serrated blade ripped through my chest.

"ARGH!"

I dropped to my knees, coughing blood onto the marble floor.

The bond snapped.

"No..." I gasped.

"Find her!" I roared. "Find her now!"

Cayla POV:

The snap was agony.

But then... silence.

"I'm free," I whispered.

I leaned forward.

Gravity took me.

The water hit like concrete.

As I sank, I saw a giant White Wolf glowing in the depths.

Sleep, child. Sleep and forget.