CHAPTER 5

ELSPETH CROWHURST POV

"You rejected my pack tokens this morning just so you could track my transport and strike it?" Alistair Wrenford asked, his voice low and laced with cold disdain as he stepped out onto the wet street.

Elspeth Crowhurst stared at the male towering over her. He stood well over six feet, wrapped in a dark silk tunic that accentuated his broad shoulders and commanding presence. Even in the dim light of the streetlamps, his sharp jawline and icy gaze made him look like a dark legend made flesh. But the utter arrogance radiating from him set her blood on fire.

"I tracked you?" Elspeth shouted, taking a defiant step toward him despite her soaked, ruined gown. "Are you insane? I was sitting on a bench trying to figure out where I am going to sleep tonight! I didn't ask your carriage keeper to drive through a puddle and soak me to the bone! I don't know who you think you are, but the world doesn't revolve around you!"

She turned on her heel, her chest heaving as hot tears of frustration threatened to spill. She had lost her home, her bond, her standing, and her dignity all in a single day. She couldn't handle one more arrogant Alpha accusing her of scheming.

Wilfred Hatherley stood frozen by the carriage wheel, his eyes wide with sheer terror. No one in Frostwick City spoke to Alpha Wrenford with such brazen defiance. He braced himself for his master's ruthless wrath.

Instead, Alistair’s dark eyes narrowed as he watched her furious, retreating form. A strange, sharp heat stirred in his chest. Her defiance was raw and unyielding, completely unlike the sniveling sycophants who usually begged for his favor. A subtle smirk touched his lips as the faint, alluring scent of her wolf drifted back to him through the night air.

"Let her go," Alistair said smoothly, opening the door of the transport and stepping inside.

He pulled out his pack communicator, pressing the activation rune. "Rupert," he commanded into the line. "I need an immediate intelligence check on Elspeth Crowhurst. Bring everything on her lineage, her current debts, and her split from Hadley Thornbury to my study by morning."

Meanwhile, Elspeth walked aimlessly through the cold streets until her legs felt like lead. Without realizing it, her feet had carried her straight to the iron gates of the Silverfang Pack Infirmary.

She swallowed down the lump in her throat and slipped inside the quiet hall. She couldn't go home, but she needed to be near her father. Creeping down the hallway, she peeked through the small glass window of the private chamber. Barnabas Crowhurst lay still in the bed, attached to pulsing healing stones that monitored his faint, fragile heartbeat.

The medical fees to maintain the Silverfang Healers were astronomical. Her family’s reserves were completely dried up, and without a miracle, the healers would be forced to remove the life-sustaining runes within days.

Elspeth slid down against the stone wall outside his door and curled her knees to her chest. Exhaustion finally overpowered her fear, and her eyes drifted shut.

A sudden, sharp commotion shattered her sleep.

Elspeth gasped awake, her heart pounding as shouting voices and heavy footsteps echoed through the corridor. The lanterns flickered frantically as a team of Silverfang Healers rushed past her, dragging heavy supply carts straight toward her father's door.

"What is happening?" Elspeth cried out, scrambling to her feet as a chief healer burst out of the room with a crimson scroll in his shaking hand. "Is it my dad? Is Patriarch Barnabas okay?"

The healer stopped, looking at her with pale, wide eyes. "The Silverfang Healers have just received an official mandate, Pack Heiress! Alpha Thornbury has withdrawn all guarantee funds for your father's care. His life-sustaining runes have just been terminated!"