Ericka POV:

The Old Pack House was a crumbling relic on the edge of the territory, used only for storage and prisoners. They threw me into the attic. It smelled of mold and abandonment-much like how I felt.

My body was screaming. Not just from the rough handling, but from something deeper. Without my wolf spirit to heal me, my immune system was failing. And there was a burning ache in my bones that never went away.

"Comfortable, princess?"

I looked up from the dusty mattress. Hailie stood in the doorway, the door unlocked. She didn't need locks; I was too weak to run.

"Why are you doing this?" I wheezed.

"Because I deserve to be Luna," she said simply, inspecting her manicured nails. "And you? You're just a vessel that served its purpose. A Wolfless waste of space."

"Caleb will find out," I said, though my voice lacked conviction.

"Caleb sees what I want him to see," she laughed. "Get up. The Alpha requires your presence."

"My presence?"

"Tonight is the victory banquet for the recent border skirmish. Caleb thinks it's fitting that the traitor serves the heroes."

The banquet hall was filled with laughter and the clinking of glasses. The smell of roasted meat made my empty stomach cramp. I was dressed in a ragged gray uniform, forced to carry trays of champagne.

Every time I walked past a table, someone would trip me or spill a drink on me.

"Watch it, traitor," a warrior sneered.

I kept my head down, biting my lip to keep from crying. Then, the room went silent.

Caleb stood at the head table. He looked magnificent in his black suit, a king among wolves. My heart ached with a longing I couldn't control.

"Tonight," Caleb announced, his voice carrying effortlessly, "we celebrate not just our safety, but our future."

He reached out and pulled Hailie to his side. She beamed, radiating smug satisfaction.

"Though the Moon Goddess plays cruel jokes," Caleb said, his eyes flicking briefly, coldly, to where I stood in the shadows, "we make our own destiny. I have chosen my mate. Hailie Silva will be your Luna."

The pack erupted in cheers.

My tray slipped from my fingers. Crash.

The sound of shattering glass cut through the applause. The bond in my chest gave a violent lurch, like a physical string being yanked.

"Clean it up!" Caleb barked, not even looking at me.

I fell to my knees, picking up the shards. A sharp piece of glass cut my palm. I didn't feel the pain of the cut. I felt a rising tide of nausea.

My chest convulsed. I couldn't breathe.

Cough.

I covered my mouth, but the force of it bent me double. When I pulled my hand away, it was covered in black blood.

The room went quiet again.

Dr. Evans, the pack doctor, rushed over. He grabbed my wrist, his face paling as he looked at the black substance.

"Alpha," Evans called out, his voice trembling. "This isn't normal. This is... this looks like Silver Poisoning. Her essence is fading rapidly."

Silver poisoning was rare, usually reserved for wolves exposed to massive amounts of the metal. For a Wolfless human, it meant my body was rejecting its own magical heritage because it lacked the spirit to sustain it.

Caleb walked over, looking down at me with disgust.

"Silver poisoning?" He scoffed. "She's been in a coma for five years. Who would poison her? This is just another trick. She's trying to gain sympathy."

"But Alpha, her pulse-"

"Enough!" Caleb silenced the doctor. He kicked a bottle of painkillers toward me. It skidded across the floor and hit my knee.

"Take those and get out of my sight," Caleb ordered. "Stop bleeding on my floor, Ericka. You're ruining the celebration."

I clutched the bottle, looking up at him through a haze of tears. There was no concern in his eyes. Only contempt.

He really wanted me dead.

Ericka POV:

I was dragged back to the attic, but they didn't leave me there. Two omega maids, loyal to Hailie, hauled me toward the communal bathrooms.

"Hailie says you smell like a Rogue," one of them sneered. "Says we need to disinfect you before you're locked up again."

"Please," I begged, my legs dragging on the floor. "I'm sick. I need a doctor."

"Shut up, traitor."

They shoved me into the tiled room. A tub was filled with ice-cold water. But it wasn't just water. The liquid had a shimmering, metallic sheen to it.

My blood ran cold. Liquid Silver.

Silver is fatal to wolves. It burns our skin like acid. Even though I had lost my wolf spirit, my biology was still that of a werewolf. My DNA reacted to silver just the same.

"Get in," the maid ordered.

"No! It will kill me!" I screamed, trying to scramble backward.

They didn't listen. They grabbed my arms and forced me into the tub.

"AHHHH!"

The scream tore from my throat as the water touched my skin. It felt like a thousand hot irons branding me at once. The silver seeped into my pores, attacking the already crumbling remnants of my vitality.

I thrashed, splashing the toxic water everywhere, but they held me down.

"Stop! Please! It burns!"

The door opened. Through the steam and my tears, I saw Caleb standing there.

For a second-just a split second-I saw horror in his eyes as he took in my blistering red skin. He took a step forward, his hand reaching out as if to pull me from the torture.

"Alpha," Fitz's voice came from behind him. My brother stepped into view. "Don't fall for it. It's theatrical makeup. She put dye in the water to make it look like silver, and now she's screaming to make you feel guilty. It's classic Rogue manipulation."

Caleb stopped. He flared his nostrils, but the heavy metallic scent of the silver was masked by the lavender bath salts the maids had dumped in. His expression hardened instantly. The mask of the ruthless Alpha slid back into place.

"She is filthy," Caleb said, his voice void of emotion, refusing to look closely at the burns forming on my arms. "Make sure she is scrubbed clean. I don't want the scent of betrayal lingering in my pack house."

He turned on his heel and walked away.

"Caleb!" I screamed his name, but it turned into a gurgle as one of the maids pushed my head under the water.

Darkness swarmed my vision. The burning sensation went from my skin to my bones. He saw me suffering. He saw me dying. And he walked away.

They pulled me up just before I drowned, gasping and retching. My skin was red and blistering, steam rising from my body not from heat, but from the chemical reaction.

"Clean enough," the maid spat.

They dragged me back to my room and threw me onto the mattress. I lay there, shivering uncontrollably, the silver poison working its way deeper into my heart.

I realized then that the bond I felt, the love I had held onto for five years, was a lie. To him, I wasn't a mate. I wasn't even a person. I was just dirt that needed to be washed away.

Ericka POV:

The next morning, I knew I had to sever the emotional tie. If I didn't, the pain of the rejection would kill me before the silver did.

I crawled to the corner of the attic where I kept an old shoebox. Inside were photos of us-me, Fitz, and Caleb-from when we were children. Before the accident. Before I gave my wolf to Fitz. Before Caleb became Alpha.

We were smiling. Caleb had his arm around me.

I took a lighter I had found in the kitchen trash. With trembling hands, I set the edge of the photo on fire.

"Goodbye," I whispered, watching Caleb's smiling face turn to ash.

"What are you doing?"

Hailie's shrill voice made me jump. She stood at the door, her eyes widening as she saw the small flame. A wicked idea seemed to cross her face.

She kicked a pile of old newspapers near the rug toward me. Then, she kicked the burning photo onto them.

The dry paper caught fire instantly. The flames licked up the curtains.

"Fire! Fire!" Hailie screamed, but she didn't run. She stood there, smiling. Then her eyes glazed over-she was mind-linking. Alpha! Help! Ericka is trying to burn the house down! She's trying to kill me!

"No!" I tried to stomp out the fire, but I was too weak.

Moments later, Caleb burst into the room. He didn't ask questions. He didn't look at the evidence. He saw Hailie cowering in the corner (fake tears streaming down her face) and me standing near the flames.

"You insane bitch!" Caleb roared.

He grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall. The back of my head cracked against the plaster.

"You try to murder your future Luna?" he snarled. "Because you're jealous?"

"She... she started it..." I gasped, clawing at his hand.

"Liar!"

He dragged me out of the smoke-filled room, down the stairs, and into the basement. He threw me into the pack's sauna room.

"Since you like heat so much," Caleb hissed, "let's see how you handle this."

He turned the dial all the way up. But he didn't stop there. He grabbed a bundle of dried herbs from a shelf-Wolfsbane-and threw it onto the heater rocks.

"Enjoy your penance."

He slammed the heavy wooden door and locked it.

The heat rose instantly. But it wasn't just the temperature. As the Wolfsbane burned, it released a thick, purple-tinged vapor.

Wolfsbane is a neurotoxin to werewolves. It paralyzes the lungs.

I curled into a ball on the wooden bench, coughing violently. The air felt like broken glass in my throat. My vision blurred. I couldn't breathe. My chest heaved, but no oxygen came.

Caleb... please... I tried to mind-link him, but the connection was dead silence. He had blocked me.

I lay there for what felt like hours. The heat was blistering, drying out my skin, while the poison shut down my nervous system. I was suffocating on dry land.

Just as the black edges of death began to close in, the door opened.

Splash.

A bucket of ice water hit me.

The thermal shock was agonizing. My body convulsed, and I went into immediate shock.

Hailie stood there, empty bucket in hand, looking disappointed that I was still moving.

"Oops," she giggled. "Caleb said to cool you down."

I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I just lay on the wet floor, twitching, praying for the Moon Goddess to just take me.