4

Emily

My stomach made a loud, hollow sound as I walked down the hallway. The last time I had eaten was yesterday morning—a small, stale piece of crust that barely counted as food.

Hearing voices from the dining room, I slowed my steps.

Clara and my father were seated at the table. The rich, warm scent of roasting meat and melted butter hit me, and my mouth instantly watered before my mind could stop it.

“Where are you coming from?” Clara asked the second I stepped into view.

“I was cleaning Miss Anna’s room,” I said, keeping my eyes glued to the floorboards.

“Why are you so slow?” Clara scoffed, not even bothering to look up from her plate. “Always taking forever.”

“I’m not—”

“Shut your mouth!” Her voice snapped like a whip across the room. “Don’t you dare talk back to me. If I say you’re slow, you’re slow.”

Before I could swallow the lump in my throat, Anna walked in and took her seat right beside my father.

The moment he saw her, my father’s entire face changed. He smiled. It was that wide, warm, unguarded smile that I had grown up believing belonged only to me. He reached out and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was the exact same gesture he used to do for me when I was still his daughter.

“My princess,” he said softly. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did, Father,” Anna said, offering him a sweet, perfect smile.

Something freezing cold wrapped around my chest. He had called me that once. His princess. I had believed it completely. I had built my entire identity around the fact that I was loved and chosen by him. But looking at them now, I realized it had all been a lie. Not a single moment of it had been real.

“Why are you still standing there?” Anna turned her head toward me, her sweet expression curdling into disgust. “Have you finished your duties?”

“No, miss.”

“Then get out. You smell.”

The empty hunger inside me shifted from an ache to sharp, twisting agony right beneath my ribs. I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m hungry,” I said.

The entire table went dead silent.

I hadn’t planned on saying it. The words just ripped out of me because my body had run out of patience.

My father looked up, his movements agonizingly slow. His eyes traveled across my face, down my shrinking frame, taking in the dirty clothes and my wounded hands. But what I saw in his expression wasn’t horror, guilt, or a single shred of lingering love.

It was pure disgust.

“There is no food for you,” he said. He didn’t even raise his voice, which somehow made it worse. “Get out.”

“Please, Father—”

“Leave this room,” he warned, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low growl, “or I will make sure you leave it in pieces.”

I turned and fled.

I sat outside by the washing line, the harsh wind chapping my skin as I scrubbed the remaining laundry. My sliced fingers throbbed with every movement, bleeding into the soapy water, but I forced myself to work. I blocked out the smell of their food and the sound of their easy, happy conversation drifting through the open dining room window.

After they finished, I crept back inside to clear the table. I washed every dish, dried them, and stacked them neatly in the cupboards, keeping everything exactly how my mother used to insist. It was the only part of her left in this house.

When I was finally done, I sat down on the floor of the cold back corridor, letting myself slump against the wall for just a moment of peace.

Then, I heard footsteps.

I knew exactly who it was before he even turned the corner. Josh.

Josh was the Alpha’s third son, but to the rest of the pack, he was just a shameful mistake—the result of a drunken night with a maid that the Alpha refused to acknowledge. He had no status, no protection, and no family name. The pack reminded him of his worthlessness every single day, and Josh had learned to move through the world like a ghost, taking up as little space as possible.

He was also the only person left alive who didn’t make me feel like a burden.

“Why are you here?” I asked quickly, my eyes darting down the hallway behind him.

“I came to see you.”

I grabbed his sleeve, dragging him further into the shadows at the far end of the corridor. “You can’t keep coming here, Josh. It’s too dangerous.”

“I know.” He looked down at me, his eyes soft. “But I missed you.”

He opened his arms, and I didn’t hesitate. I stepped into them, letting him bury his face in my hair. He held me tightly, like I was still someone worth holding. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to forget exactly where I was.

After a moment, he pulled back and reached for my hands. The second his fingers brushed against my fresh cuts, a sharp hiss escaped my teeth. He looked down at the bloody gashes, and his expression went dark with rage.

“She did this,” he muttered, his jaw shaking. “I’ll kill her—”

“Josh, stop.” I slammed both hands flat against his chest. “Please. If you touch her, she’ll tell her father, and he’ll go straight to the Alpha. You know what your father will do to you.”

Tears welled up in his eyes. “I’m sorry I can’t protect you. I’m useless. I’m so damn useless, Emily.”

“Stop,” I whispered, placing a hand gently against his cheek. “You are the only reason I haven’t completely lost my mind. Stop apologizing for things you can’t control.”

He leaned into my palm, but before either of us could say anything else, my stomach betrayed me with a loud, rumbling growl. We both froze. Then, Josh let out a breathy, surprised laugh, and a tiny, long-lost smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a small, warm loaf of bread. “Eat this.”

“No, that’s yours,” I said, pushing his hand away.

“I’m not hungry.”

Right on cue, his own stomach growled just as loudly as mine had.

I stared at him, and he looked down at the bread, blushing. I took it from his hands, tore it right down the middle, and we sat side-by-side in the dirt, sharing the meal. As he wrapped his arm back around my shoulders, I felt a faint spark of the old Emily—the girl who actually had a name, a future, and a wolf.

We were still sitting there when the shadows at the end of the corridor shifted.

Neither of us heard her approaching until she was standing right over us.

Anna.

She stood with her arms crossed, her expensive silk dress shimmering in the dim light. She didn’t look angry at all. She looked incredibly satisfied. And her eyes didn’t even land on me first.

They went straight to Josh.

“How touching,” she purred.

I expected Josh to stand up. I expected him to pull me behind him, to be the brave boy who had just been crying over my bleeding fingers.

Instead, he dropped his half of the bread into the dirt.

He scrambled away from me so fast it felt like my skin had burned him. He wouldn’t even look in my direction. His eyes were wide, terrified, and fixed entirely on Anna.

“It’s not what it looks like, Anna,” Josh whispered, his voice trembling. He didn’t sound anything like the boy who had just been holding me. He sounded like a dog begging its master not to beat it. “I was just telling her to get back to work. She was slacking off.”

All the air left my lungs. The betrayal hit me harder than any physical blow.

Anna stepped forward, her high heels clicking loudly against the stone floor. She reached out, dragging a single, manicured finger down Josh’s bare arm, stopping at his wrist.

Josh didn’t pull away. He shivered under her touch, but he stayed perfectly still, submitting to her.

“Is that right, Josh?” Anna asked, her voice sickeningly sweet. “Because it looked to me like you were holding a slave. And we both know what happens to people who touch things that belong to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Josh choked out, staring miserably at the floor, his face completely pale. “It won’t happen again. I promise, Anna.”

Anna finally looked at me. The rage I usually saw in her face was gone, replaced by a cold, triumphant smirk. She had known. She had been holding his leash for a very long time, just waiting for the perfect moment to snap it and show me who he really belonged to.

“Get to your cell, Emily,” she said calmly. “And Josh... follow me. We have things to discuss. In private.”

Without giving me a single backward glance, and without looking at the bread we had just shared, Josh turned and followed her. He walked exactly one step behind her, like a trained servant following a queen.

I stayed there alone in the dirt, listening to the fading sound of their footsteps.

The bread was still lying there, face down in the dirt where he had dropped it.

When they gave me the wolfsbane, it hadn’t just suppressed my wolf and ruined my eyesight. It had made me completely blind to reality. I had looked at Josh every day for months—believing his tears, trusting his gentle hands, and seeing love.

I had not seen this.