CHANGE OF IDENTITY

Aurelia's point of view

The door clicked shut behind me.

I backed away from Grayson, my breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat.

“I told you no,” I hissed, voice shaking.

He stalked forward, the gleam in his eyes no longer playful. The predator had dropped the mask. His footsteps echoed against the cold stone floor as he moved toward me again.

“You think I care what you told me?” he murmured, gripping my wrist. “You’ve been teasing me for two years, little wolf. You owe me.”

“I owe you nothing,” I spat.

But he didn’t stop.

His hands moved to the collar of my blouse, and I jerked away, but he shoved me roughly against the desk. My elbow hit the edge and pain lanced through my arm.

“No one says no to me,” he growled in my ear.

I struggled beneath him, panic flooding my chest. “Let me go! Someone will hear!”

He chuckled. “That’s the idea.”

The door burst open.

The sharp clack of heels was followed by a gasp sharp enough to slice through the tension.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Grayson froze.

A woman stood in the doorway, clad in a sleek black dress that shimmered with embedded jewels. Her eyes blazed with fury. Sheila.

His wife.

“I asked a question!” she roared.

Grayson stepped back, hands up, but his eyes were already darting to me, calculating. I scrambled away from the desk, trying to adjust my blouse.

“Sheila, it’s not what it looks like.”

But she was already storming inside.

“It looked like you were about to mount a maid on your office desk,” she snapped.

“She came onto me!” he shouted. “You know how she is, always lurking. Always bending over when I pass.”

I gasped. “That’s a lie!”

“She seduced me,” he said, pointing at me like I was some diseased thing. “She’s been doing it for months.”

“Liar!”

“Enough!” Sheila barked. Her heels slammed against the floor as she marched to me. “How dare you try to climb into my husband’s bed!”

“I didn’t—!”

She slapped me.

The pain exploded across my cheek, heat blooming under my skin.

“You filthy little snake. You think you’re special? Just because you have a pretty face and bastard children?” Sheila’s voice turned cold. “Guards!”

Two warriors stormed in.

“Take her to the dungeons. Put her in solitary. She’ll answer for this in front of the whole pack.”

“No! Please! My children—”

“If you care for them,” Sheila hissed, “you’ll shut your mouth.”

They dragged me away by my arms as Grayson straightened his jacket, wiping away imaginary dirt. I didn’t miss the way he refused to meet my eyes.

Coward.

They threw me into a cell with stone walls and no light. I sat curled in a corner, my knees pulled to my chest, shivering with anger and fear. I didn’t know where they’d taken Kael and Sera.

I cried until my voice was gone.

The crowd was already gathered when they dragged me into the courtyard.

I blinked against the sunlight. My children stood at the front, their arms held tightly by guards. Kael’s eyes were red from crying. Sera clung to her brother, confused, terrified.

Lilian tried to push her way forward, screaming, “She’s innocent! You know it! Don’t do this!”

Two guards grabbed her arms and restrained her.

Sheila stood on a raised platform, hands clasped in front of her, regal and venomous.

Grayson sat beside her in silence.

Sheila’s voice rang out.

“This trial has been called for Aurelia, a kitchen maid and outsider, who attempted to seduce and shame the Alpha of the Crimson Howl Pack.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

I stepped forward. “I am not guilty.”

“You’ll speak when addressed!” Sheila barked.

A procession of servants stepped forward, each taking turns to lie.

“She always slacks off,” said one.

“She steals bread at night,” claimed another.

“She flirts with guards when no one is looking,” whispered a third with a smirk.

None of it was true.

“She’s a good worker!” Lilian screamed, struggling against the guards. “You’re all lying! You’re just afraid of her!”

Sheila’s eyes narrowed. “Restrain her further. She’s a friend of the seductress. Let her share the consequences.”

My knees buckled.

I turned to the crowd. “You know me! I work harder than any of you! I never—”

“You bore children with no name,” someone shouted.

“She’s cursed!”

“Let the Alpha’s wife pass judgment!”

Sheila raised a hand and silence fell.

“Aurelia, your presence in this pack was tolerated out of mercy. That mercy ends today. You are stripped of your name, your position, and all dignity.”

I stared in disbelief.

“You will now serve the pack not as a wolf, not as a woman, but as a slave. From this day forth, you are Slave 579.”

“No,” I whispered.

“Bring the branding rod.”

“No!”

Two warriors grabbed my arms and held me down.

My children screamed. Kael lunged forward before he was dragged back.

“Don’t hurt my mama!”

A red-hot iron rod, glowing with the number 579, was brought from the flames.

I thrashed. “Please! Don’t do this!”

Sheila’s eyes glittered with satisfaction.

The iron touched my forearm.

The pain was unimaginable.

I screamed so loud, the world tilted. My flesh sizzled. I smelled burning skin.

Kael screamed for me. Sera wailed like her soul was breaking.

And I—

I bit my lip until it bled.

When it was over, the guards let me drop to the ground like discarded meat.

Sheila stepped closer and crouched beside me. “Now you’re just what you were always meant to be. Nothing.”

She walked away.

And I lay there, half-conscious, as the number 579 burned into my skin, branding me forever as a slave.