LOGINCatherine's POV My stomach turns the second we pass the first body.A woman.She can't be older than thirty.She's lying face down in the dirt with one arm stretched forward as though she was trying to crawl toward someone before she died. Blood soaks through her dress. A few feet away from her, a little boy stares at nothing with wide empty eyes, his tiny hand still clutching a broken wooden toymI force my eyes away before I throw up.“Move.”The guard behind me shoves me hard between my shoulders.I stumble forward and barely catch myself before falling.Nobody even looks ashamed anymore.Not the guards dragging me through corpses.Not Valeria walking ahead pretending she's still in control of this nightmare.Not the pack members crying quietly from corners while trying to hide from whatever is destroying this place.The whole pack smells wrong now.Smoke.Blood.Burned flesh.Fear.Especially fear.I can practically taste it in the air.The deeper we move into the pack, the quiet
Catherine's POV I can still feel the power sitting deep inside me.It hasn't disappeared after what happened on the battlefield. It's there beneath my skin, alive and restless, moving quietly through my chest every time I breathe too hard. Sometimes it feels warm. Other times it feels dangerous. And every now and then that voice returns again, soft and tempting somewhere inside my head.Let go completely.Burn this place down.Turn everything into dust.The scary part is that I know I probably can.I close my eyes and lean my head back against the cold stone wall of the shrine. The ropes around my wrists bite deeper into my skin when I move, tied so tightly behind me that my shoulders ache from the strain.Funny.These people spent years feeding off my existence and still decided to tie me up as if I'm the monster here.Tears slide quietly down my cheeks again and I try to wipe them away before remembering my hands are tied behind me. A bitter laugh leaves my mouth at the realizatio
Clinton's POV I finally break the second I step into my room.The door shuts behind me and all the strength keeping me upright disappears with it. I sit heavily on the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, hands covering my face while the silence closes around me slowly.My father is dead.Richard is dead.And Catherine walked away from me with tears in her eyes telling me whatever existed between us was gone forever.Funny how one night can destroy an entire life.I lean forward, gripping my hair tightly while Black curls deeper into himself inside my head.Neither of us speaks.There’s nothing left to say anymore.I spent years fighting for a place in this pack only to lose everything in a single night, and somehow the part ruining me the most isn't the Alpha title or the inheritance or even my father lying dead in his study.It’s the image of Catherine leaving without turning back.The thought alone makes my throat tighten again.My phone suddenly starts ringing against the mattres
The Night I Lost EverythingClinton's POV My fist starts trembling the second the study door closes.My father's blood is still spreading slowly across the carpet between us, dark and thick, and every time my eyes drift toward him, my chest tightens all over again because there's no second chance to say the things I should have said years ago.Valeria notices my shaking hand immediately.A slow smile touches her mouth as she walks toward me without fear.“I can see it all over your face. You want to tear my heart out the same way they tore your father's apart.”The words hit me so hard my vision blurs for a second.“You speak about him as if he meant nothing to you.”My voice cracks.“He was your husband.”She folds her arms calmly. “Not anymore.”“What does that even mean?”“It means he stopped being useful to me the moment he stopped pretending to hate you.”The room goes silent.I feel the words settle slowly inside my chest, and then something inside me snaps so violently Black s
Clinton's POV The second they drag Catherine away, something inside me breaks so hard it almost drops me back to the ground.I force myself up anyway.Pain tears through my body immediately. My vision blurs for a second, and blood runs warmer down my side, soaking through what is left of my shirt, but I keep moving because I can still hear her voice in my head.You can stop pretending now.That hurt more than the wolves did.I drag myself toward the mansion, one hand pressed against the wall for support while Black paces restlessly inside my head.Valeria lied.I know.She promised she would let Catherine go if I defeated the rival pack. My father promised too. That was the deal. That was the only reason I kept fighting after my body started shutting down.And now Catherine is underground in that dungeon, waiting for execution.Black snarls viciously.We should kill every single one of them.Maybe we should.The thought settles too easily inside me.I climb the stairs slowly, boots l
Catherine's POV They drag me through a narrow hallway underground before throwing me into a dark cell that smells of urine, blood, and something rotten buried beneath both.My knees hit the floor first. Pain shoots through them instantly, but I barely react anymore. Tonight has exhausted something deep inside me, something bigger than fear.The metal door slams shut behind me with a loud echo that bounces through the dungeon.I stay there on the ground, staring at the dirty concrete beneath my hands.So this is their dungeon.I already know what it is the moment I see the cages lining the walls across from mine.The air feels heavy down here.No sunlight.No fresh air.Just darkness and suffering packed tightly into concrete walls.Funny. For creatures who keep calling humans monsters, they built this place very easily.I slowly pull myself toward the wall and sit down, folding my knees against my chest. The cold seeps through my clothes almost immediately. My body aches everywhere n
Catherine's POV I turn on my heels before I can let myself see his face again and lose whatever fragile grip I have left. My heart pounds so hard it feels uneven, like it might stutter and stop if I don’t keep moving.If only he knew.The thought follows me down the hallway, quiet but persistent,
Clinton's POV Slowly, I turn back to him. “What about her?” I try to sound calm, but my voice cracks just enough to betray me.“Is there something you’d like to tell me about her?”That suspicion I’ve been chewing on all night is right there, mirrored in his eyes, waiting for me to confirm it.I s
Catherine's POV I keep staring at my phone, hoping, praying it will ring. Why isn’t Amy calling me like she promised? I did exactly what she asked. I got a new phone, retrieved my line, and it’s already past one in the afternoon. Still nothing.The teacher’s voice yanks me back to reality, but I c
Clinton's POV I sit on the floor beside the door, staring at the Rovin in my hand.It feels heavier than it should…like it knows what’s at stake.“She’s so stubborn,” I mutter, squeezing it.A cold weight settles in my chest as I imagine her collapsing somewhere, alone, gasping for air while I sit







