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.

Ericka POV:

I woke up in the hospital again. My body felt heavy, like it was filled with lead. The monitor beside me beeped erratically.

The door opened, and Hailie walked in. No Caleb this time. Just her.

She walked to my bedside and leaned close. "You're hard to kill, aren't you?"

"Why..." I croaked. My throat was raw from the Wolfsbane.

"Because you're in the way," she whispered. She reached out and pressed her thumb directly onto the burn wound on my arm from the silver water.

She dug her nail in.

"AHHH!" I screamed, instinctively shoving her away. I was weak, but adrenaline gave me a moment of strength.

Hailie threw herself backward, crashing into the medical tray. "Help! She's attacking me!"

The door flew open. Caleb. Of course.

He saw Hailie on the floor, surrounded by scattered instruments, and me with my arm outstretched.

"Enough!" Caleb roared. The windows rattled.

He marched over to me, ripped the IV line out of my arm-blood spurted onto the sheets-and yanked me out of bed.

"I am done with your tantrums, Ericka. I am done with your jealousy."

"Caleb, she hurt me! Look at my arm!"

"Silence!" Use of the Alpha Command again. My jaw snapped shut.

He dragged me barefoot through the hospital corridors, out the back exit, and into the woods. He didn't stop until we reached the Ancestors' Tomb.

It was a sacred place, a circle of ancient stone markers where the past Alphas were buried. The ground was covered in sharp white gravel.

"Kneel," he commanded.

My knees hit the sharp stones. I cried out as the jagged edges sliced into my already damaged skin.

"You have disgraced this pack," Caleb said, his voice echoing in the silent graveyard. "You have dishonored your ancestors. You will stay here, on your knees, and beg for their forgiveness until the moon is high."

"Caleb, please... it's cold..." I was wearing only a thin hospital gown. The wind was biting.

"Then freeze," he said coldly. "Maybe the cold will kill the rot inside you."

He turned and left me there. Alone.

I knelt there for hours. The sun set, and the temperature dropped. My knees were a bloody mess, the gravel embedded in my flesh. I shivered so hard my teeth chattered.

I looked at the graves of the great Alphas. They seemed to judge me, too.

I tried, I told them silently. I gave my wolf to save the Beta. I loved my Alpha. I did everything right.

But it didn't matter.

When the moon finally rose, high and full, I couldn't feel my legs anymore. I dragged myself across the gravel, leaving a trail of blood, toward the edge of the cemetery where the old Groundskeeper lived.

The old man, a human who knew nothing of pack politics, looked at me with horror.

"Child! What happened?"

I pulled a crumpled wad of cash from my pocket-money I had hidden in my shoe, the only thing I had left.

"Please," I whispered, my lips blue. "I need to buy something."

"Hospital? Ambulance?"

"No," I shook my head, pressing the money into his hand. "A stone. A blank tombstone."

"What for?"

I looked back at the imposing Pack House in the distance, where lights were on, where Caleb was probably warm and with Hailie.

"For me," I said. "I need it ready by tomorrow."

Because I knew. I could feel the silver in my veins, the wolfsbane in my lungs, and the broken heart in my chest. I wasn't going to survive another week. And I refused to be buried in an unmarked grave like a rogue. I would bury myself.