Chapter 8

The person Vivienne brought wasn't a trauma shaman at all.

He was a dark shaman—permanently banished from the pack.

Vivienne had paid him a fortune.

For the next seven days, I was trapped in an absolute nightmare.

"Cast the soul-erosion hex." The dark shaman showed no mercy.

My wolf was torn apart by force. The agony made me scream without end.

"Inject a trace amount of wolfsbane extract." The dark shaman continued his orders.

The toxin suppressed all my self-healing ability.

The method was viciously precise—and it left no visible wounds on my skin.

I blacked out from the pain, only to be ripped back into consciousness by a new wave of agony.

Over and over. For seven straight days.

A week later, Cain finally opened the door of that dark room to collect me.

I'd wasted away beyond recognition. My eye sockets were hollow.

I stood there motionless, my limbs rigid, unresponsive.

Cain saw the state I was in and his brow knotted tightly.

"How did Wren lose so much weight?" He turned and demanded answers.

Vivienne popped her head out from behind him immediately.

"That's just how psychological treatment works." She smiled brightly.

"The shaman's program must have been a bit intense. It's a completely normal reaction."

Cain stared at my deathly pale face, his mouth opening.

"Did you actually—" He was about to ask something when his phone blared to life.

"Alpha, there are still many security details to confirm for Miss Vivienne's promotion ceremony tonight," said the voice on the other end.

During the week I'd spent in that room wishing for death, Cain had made a decision.

He'd forcibly promoted Vivienne to the pack's highest-ranked healer.

Countless pack members had protested fiercely in the meetings. Because Vivienne had killed someone with wolfsbane.

But Cain used his Alpha authority to silence every voice.

"You must attend tonight." Cain hung up and spoke to me in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Only with the Luna personally present to give her blessing will Vivienne's position be legitimate."

"Only then will the pack members truly accept her."

I looked at his matter-of-fact expression and offered no resistance.

"Fine. I'll go." I answered calmly.

I knew I'd been waiting for exactly this moment.

The staged-death plan that Cain's father Alaric had devised for me was fully in place.

Iris and Ethan had been secretly transferred out of Blackwood territory the night before.

Tonight's ceremony was the final step to my freedom.

The grand event was held at the edge of a cliff on the border of the territory.

I stood quietly in a corner, watching Vivienne on the elevated platform in her platinum healer's robe—the symbol of the highest honor.

Cain stood tall beside her, his face radiating undisguised pride.

"I present to the pack our most exceptional healer—Vivienne!" Cain announced into the microphone.

The hall erupted in applause.

My face showed nothing.

I walked up to the platform, one step at a time, and stood before them both.

Every eye in the room turned to me.

I took the microphone and looked into Vivienne's triumphant eyes.

"Congratulations, Healer Vivienne. I wish you a brilliant future." I said it loudly, for everyone to hear.

Then, without sparing Cain a glance, I turned and walked off the platform.

Cain watched my retreating back from the stage.

He was quite satisfied with my compliance. He gave a small, approving nod.

I left the banquet hall alone and stepped onto the terrace at the cliff's edge to get some air.

The click of high heels followed me out. Vivienne was right behind me.

Vivienne leaned casually against the low stone railing at the cliff's edge, her smugness no longer contained.

"Seven days in that room and you still haven't lost your mind?" She looked at me with disdain.

"I already told the dark shaman to increase the wolfsbane dosage. You really are hard to kill."

She moved closer.

"How did those poison needles feel going into your veins? The sensation of agony shredding every nerve—was it as exquisite as it sounds?"

She leaned in close to my ear, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Your mother goes through the same thing every week. Except she's a vegetable, so even when the pain is unbearable, she can't so much as scream."

I ignored her provocation completely.

I pulled out my phone and sent Alaric one final confirmation.

"Now. Execute the plan."

The moment it sent, I tucked the phone back into my dress pocket.

I lifted my head and looked calmly at Vivienne's twisted face.

"Vivienne, you don't actually think you've won, do you?" I said it slowly, every word deliberate.

Vivienne's smile froze.

"All this time, your scheming, your ruthless attacks on me." I looked at her coldly.

"But has Cain once suggested severing the Mate Bond?"

"Has he ever—even once—wanted to leave me for good?"

Vivienne bit down hard on her lower lip. Her eyes were starting to dart.

I paused deliberately and let out a mocking laugh.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you something important."

"Do you know what Cain says about you in private?"

Vivienne's breathing quickened.

"He says he's only grateful because you helped him when you were children. He says he just feels sorry for you." I took a step closer.

"He says once you've settled down emotionally, he'll have someone escort you out of Blackwood territory immediately."

"His heart was never with you."

Vivienne's face drained of color, inch by inch.

"In his eyes, you're just someone he owes a debt to. A nuisance he can send away whenever he wants. Nothing more."

"Shut up!" Vivienne screamed, her composure shattered.

"Do you know what a Fated Mate is?" I fired back without flinching.

"It means no matter how hard you scheme, no matter how many times you frame me—"

"His bond with me was sealed by the Moon Goddess herself!"

"You will never—not in this lifetime—take my place!"

"I am his one and only Luna. Forever."

Vivienne's eyes turned bloodshot, her lips trembling violently.

I watched her expression as it crumbled toward the breaking point. The moment had come.

"As long as I'm alive, you will never have him." I delivered the killing blow.

"Then die!" Vivienne snapped completely.

She lunged at me like a rabid animal, her hands clamping around my throat.

Her raw strength drove me backward, slamming me against the low stone railing at the cliff's edge.

The rough stone dug into my lower back.

More than half my body was already hanging over the void.

Below—nothing but the fathomless black sea.

But I didn't struggle.

I just stared straight into her unhinged face, and spoke three words, taunting.

"You wouldn't dare."

Vivienne let out a deranged scream.

Her hands shoved forward with all her might.

My body flipped over the low stone railing.

Weightlessness.

I plunged into the endless night.