CHAPTER 60

ASHINA’S POV

The party had clearly started long before I arrived—laughter echoed through the cavernous hall, goblets clinked, meat was already half-devoured, and several wolves in half-shifted forms were sprawled around the room in drunken stupors or primal embraces under the moonlight.

The stench of blood and roasted flesh hung thick in the air, mixed with the tang of fermented root wine.

Yet, as I was ushered to the grand table beside Alpha Knight, he had the audacity to gesture with his goblet, his eyes gleaming with a cruel sense of theatre, and say with a smug grin, “Let the party begin.”

My jaw clenched.

Begin? As if this debauched display of savagery hadn’t already been in full swing without me. As if I hadn’t been summoned like a pawn, forced to dress up like some painted prize just so he could parade me before his pack.

And worse, he dared to say it with that patronising tone, as though he was doing me a favour—so that he could finally answer my “precious” question.

I narr