Chapter 2

In my last life, faced with his threats, I had only given Iris a mild warning to preserve our mate bond.

But even so, Liam still held a grudge against me.

I can still remember the disgust in his amber eyes when I lost all my power and was sent to the rival pack:

"Selene, I've had enough of your arrogance and malice."

"Your banishment is for the good of the pack, and it is no less than you deserve."

Recalling those words, my wolf snarled with pure rage.

I let out a soft laugh, my eyes glowing with a silver light in the moonlight.

"You want me to restore her? She was a gray wolf to begin with!"

I tilted my head, my voice dripping with scorn. "And who do you think you are to order me around?"

Liam recoiled as if struck, his face contorting with shock and anger.

"Selene, have you lost your mind? We're marked mates! How can you speak to me this way?"

"Your bloodline may be noble, but with such barbaric behavior and wicked methods, how will you ever earn the pack's trust? How can you be a proper mate?"

"I am the daughter of the Alpha, heiress to the most honored bloodline in the Silvermane Pack. And she," I pointed at Iris, "is nothing but a mongrel who stinks of rogue filth."

"She stole the potion and faked being a white wolf. Now that I've shown you the truth, you dare to blame me?"

Without looking at Liam, I gestured, and my guards forced him to the ground.

He glared at me, his inner wolf struggling to break free in his eyes.

I could feel the turmoil in Liam's heart; he had already considered severing our mate bond.

The excruciating pain of his rejection washed over me through the bond, but my silver wolf bloodline allowed me to endure it.

Besides, this pain was nothing in comparison to the daily torture I suffered in the dungeons in my past life.

I stepped on his shoulder, the boots of my Silvermoon armor pressing down, forcing him to bow.

Liam's body began to swell, his muscles tensing.

"Liam, being my mate is your honor. Don't forget your place."

I pulled a silver dagger from a guard's belt, its blade gleaming coldly.

"You think I'm making a scene? Fine. Then let's speak the language of pack law."

"Stealing an Alpha's sacred artifact is treason," I announced, "Today, I will shatter her wolf spirit and cast her out as a rogue. She will be exiled, forever cut off from the pack. Does anyone object?"

Silence fell over the crowd.

Faced with the crime of treason, no one dared to plead for her.

Iris's face turned white as a sheet. "No... No, I didn't... I just wanted to..."

"The evidence is irrefutable. Do you still dare to deny it?"

I raised the dagger, the tip of the blade aimed at her heart.

I could feel the potion's power still flowing within her, a desecration of its sacred aura.

Just as the dagger was about to descend, a silver arrow shot through the air.

Its tip struck the blade with perfect accuracy, and the force knocked the dagger from my hand.

The arrowhead grazed the back of my hand. The burning sting of silver instantly broke my skin, and blood dripped onto the stones below.

"Stop!"

A familiar voice thundered, laced with the authority of the future Alpha.

It was my brother, Adrian.

He strode forward, the silver bow in his hand still trembling, its arrowhead stained with my blood.

"Brother, what do you think you're doing?"

I demanded, fighting through the pain as cold sweat beaded on my brow.

Adrian came to stand before me, his voice as cold as ice:

"I should be asking you the same thing. Today is your transformation ceremony, the most important day of your life, and what are you doing? Making a scene?"

"You're a disgrace to our Alpha family!"

The wolf inside me erupted in fury.

Growing up, not even our father had dared to lay a finger on me, yet my own brother had just wounded me for a lowly rogue.

If that arrow had been off by a fraction of an inch, my hand would have been crippled.