Chapter 4

After a suffocating silence, Wyatt marched toward me.

He dropped to one knee right in the muddy water. His movements were incredibly gentle, but his hands were shaking as he picked up the shattered pieces of the fang I had just spat out.

His voice was completely suppressed, like thunder rolling before a hurricane. "Who did this?"

I trembled in terror and whispered my lie: "I... I fell."

"Fell?!"

Blake, my hot-headed third brother, punched a concrete pillar. It cracked.

"This is absolute bullshit! You don't 'fall' and get this!"

Connor, the fifth brother, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses. Behind the lenses, his eyes were sharp as blades.

"Talk to us, Chloe. Say the word, and this Academy gets a new owner tonight. Whatever Silver Vein Pack they belong to will be wiped off the map."

But I bit my lip hard.

I couldn't say it. Richard had money and power, and Madison said they had people in the Council.

If my brothers were exposed for keeping an outsider, the Crescent Pack would be hit with the heaviest war sanctions.

I stubbornly shook my head, but massive tears betrayed me, rolling down my face.

Seconds ticked by. Suddenly, Wyatt let out a heavy sigh.

He pulled me hard into his massive, warm chest. An incredibly dominant cedarwood Alpha scent wrapped around me entirely, chasing away all the cold.

"Chloe, did you forget who we are?"

His voice was rough, declaring the absolute bottom line of the Crescent Pack.

"You are the treasure we protect with our lives. Screw the Council's laws. Anyone who makes you shed a single tear dies with their entire pack!"

Feeling the agonizing mix of heartbreak and explosive rage in my brothers' eyes.

Feeling that world-ending, absolute protection.

My mental walls completely shattered.

"Wyatt!"

I threw my arms around his neck and broke down sobbing. Crying hysterically, I spilled everything:

"It was Madison... Her dad is Richard, Beta of the Silver Vein Pack...She bullied me every day... And today she crushed the necklace you gave me..."

Wyatt laughed out of pure, unadulterated rage. His eyes were entirely consumed by a bloodthirsty killing intent.

"A bottom-feeding mining pack surviving on the edge of our lands. The absolute nerve."

"That old mutt Richard! Who the hell does he think he is, acting like a king on Crescent Pack territory?!"

"They have a death wish! Touching our heart!"

My brothers' curses echoed, carrying a murderous aura that felt like it could tear the sky apart.

Wyatt's eyes turned as cold as Siberian ice.

A deep, bone-rattling Alpha howl ripped from his throat—a supreme command to the entire pack.

"Mobilize every Enforcer in the city."

"Lock down the entire block around Elite Pack Academy within the hour."

The next morning. Backed by my brothers, I went to school like normal.

I nodded to myself and walked alone toward the gates.

Just as I expected, Madison and her minions were waiting there.

Her father, Richard, was there too. He was holding a printed "Order of Exile" he was planning to force the school to sign.

He was actually still trying to banish me.

Seeing me, Madison raised her voice, dripping with sarcasm: "Well, well. If it isn't the stray who was begging in the mud yester—"

Before she could finish, I walked right past her, my eyes completely deadpan.

Madison froze.

"Chloe!" Enraged, she stomped over in her heels and grabbed my arm.

"Did I say you could leave? Did you forget your lesson yesterday? You packless bitch!"

She raised her claws, aiming a slap right at my face.

But remembering the warmth of my brothers' embrace and their vow, I felt an unprecedented surge of confidence.

In a split second, I caught her wrist mid-air.

I stared right into her shocked eyes and said calmly, "I said, back off."

"You little bitch! You've got some nerve!"

Richard stormed over, furious. He shoved me hard!

I stumbled backward, my spine slamming heavily against the Academy's iron gates.

"You poor trash! Still haven't learned your place, have you?"

Richard waved the exile order, spitting as he pointed at my face.

"I'm going to beat you half to death today, and then send your entire stray family to rot in the wastelands—"

But the next second.

Through the thin morning fog, a blood-curdling, low growl echoed.

In Richard's violently trembling pupils, the shadows shifted. At the end of the street, on the rooftops, in the mist—hundreds of massive figures with glowing green eyes materialized out of nowhere. They completely barricaded the block.

Wyatt, flanked by my four brothers, stepped through the frost.

Hundreds of elite Crescent Pack warrior wolves let out a synchronized growl.

The crushing weight of their supreme Alpha auras hit Richard like a freight train. His bones groaned. He was forced to his knees instantly!

Wyatt looked down at him like a god looking at an insect.

"Touch the Princess of the Crescent Pack again. I dare you."