Chapter 4

I lay in the healing center for three days.

It wasn't until the third night that a healer finally hurried in to tend my wounds.

She came in with Caine, Celina, and Celina's father—Gregor, Alpha of the River pack.

“Celina is the most precious thing I have.” Gregor's face was like iron. “She comes to your Silver Moon Pack and gets attacked on day one. I want an explanation.”

“I've already given the order. Every rogue who broke in will be executed,” Caine said.

“Not enough.” Gregor's gaze settled on me.

“Alpha Caine. Has it not occurred to you to ask how those rogues got into Silver Moon at all?” There was real malice in his voice.

A bad feeling rose in me.

Two River warriors stood behind Gregor, one of them holding a tablet.

“The proof is all here.” He slammed it down on the long table. “Your most trusted secretary was working with the rogues who hit us last night.”

“What?” Caine's expression changed.

He stared at the screen, disbelieving.

Transfer records. Encrypted chat logs. Timestamped to three hours before the ambush.

My heart plunged.

“This is fake—” I tried to speak.

“The account is yours,” Gregor cut me off, his voice cold as ice. “The passwords are yours. Even the device fingerprint on the messages is yours. How do you explain that, Caine?”

“An Alpha keeping a mistress is normal enough,” Gregor said lightly. “But I won't tolerate a mistress who threatens my daughter's life.”

“Exile her.” Gregor took a step closer, his voice slowing, turning coaxing.

“And I'll sign over three of the Eastern packs to Silver Moon, effective immediately. My daughter's safety is worth that price.”

The room fell dead silent.

I looked at Caine.

His brow was furrowed, his eyes full of conflict.

“Sophia wouldn't—”

Caine started to refuse, and Gregor cut him off again.

“If this woman isn't dealt with before the ceremony, the alliance is off. One woman, or your future as ruler of the East. Choose.”

Caine closed his eyes.

I watched the struggle drain slowly out of his face, watched it go colder and colder.

And my heart went colder with it.

Against his ambition, I was nothing.

“Dray,” Caine said, his voice like frost. “Exile her from the pack.”

At the order, Gregor and Celina smiled, satisfied.

“I knew you loved me best.” Celina rose on her toes and kissed Caine's cheek, sweet as sugar.

The smile stung my eyes raw.

Dray and his men dragged me out past the border, and the wounds split open again in the dragging, blood soaking my clothes.

Beyond the boundary line, the moonlight was bone-pale.

Celina was already waiting, two River warriors at her side.

A victorious smile sat on her face.

“Don't even think about going up against me. Next to me, you're nothing.”

She lifted a hand. The warriors lunged, fangs aimed at my throat.

The will to survive drowned out everything else.

I gritted my teeth, dragged my whole battered body upright, and shifted.

The agony of the old wounds tearing open exploded through me. I grunted against it.

The first warrior wolf came at me. I swung aside, sank my teeth into the side of its neck, and crushed its windpipe with everything I had.

The second hit me from behind, claws ripping into the old wound at my back. I snarled, turned, and clamped down on its throat until it went still.

The reek of blood hung in the air.

I turned toward Celina.

She backed up in terror, tripped, went down, her eyes full of fear.

I lunged, fangs a breath from her throat—

A crushing, suffocating Alpha aura slammed down out of nowhere.

Caine had come.

He gave me no time to react.

In the next instant he'd shifted into a massive black wolf, faster than I could track, and threw me off Celina with a single snap.

I hit the ground hard, the wound at my back splitting wide, blood reddening the grass under me.

Caine landed, his huge wolf form planted between me and Celina, guarding her trembling body.

He let out a low growl at me, his aura bearing down harder, until I could barely breathe.

He shifted back, and his voice carried a chill I'd never heard from him.

“Get out of Silver Moon Pack.” His eyes held no warmth at all. “Come near her again, and I'll kill you myself.”

I stared at him.

The man I'd guarded with my life for ten years.

I didn't say another word.

I pushed myself up on my broken back and limped out past the border, every step a fresh spike of pain.

Behind me, Caine bent and lifted Celina into his arms. She wound herself around his neck, buried her face in his shoulder, and wept.

He shielded her and turned, walking off in the opposite direction without once looking back.

Maybe ten minutes past the border line, the night roared with the sound of rotors.

A black helicopter set down a short distance away.

The hatch opened, and a column of heavily armed elites filed out in formation.

The one in front dropped to a knee and bowed his head to me.

“Princess.” His voice was steady, deferential. “The King has sent us to bring you home.”