Chapter 2

The blood worms had already devoured my wolf spirit.

A werewolf’s natural healing ability no longer worked on me.

Kael’s frown deepened.

“Ten years, Eileen. Aren’t you tired of pretending to be weak?”

I did not tell him I was not pretending.

The blood worm curse was about to kill me.

Even if I told him, he would not believe me.

He would only think it was another trick to gain his attention.

My body trembled as cold sweat soaked my back.

Before I lost consciousness, I thought I saw Kael’s expression change.

He caught me before I hit the floor, panic flashing through his eyes.

Then his jaw tightened.

“Stop pretending, Eileen.”

“Or I’ll lock you in the silver cage again.”

But I had no time left.

In two days, I would be dead.

When I woke again, my wounds had been bandaged.

I was not back in the abandoned dungeon.

I was lying in Kael’s room.

The stronghold had once belonged to my father.

When my brother and I were children, he would sit with us beside the fireplace and teach us the history of the Packs.

My mother would bring us honey cake from the kitchen.

Now I could barely remember what it tasted like.

“Awake?”

Kael walked to the bed carrying a bowl of dark medicine.

He grabbed my jaw and forced it into my mouth.

The bitter liquid caught in my throat.

I started coughing as tears filled my eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Kael gave a cold laugh.

“Your hands may not be stained with the blood of the Black Pack, but as long as you are that Alpha’s daughter, you are not innocent.”

Kael had killed my entire family when the Moonshadow Pack fell.

But he had kept me alive.

Sometimes I could not tell whether he had spared me because he still loved me or because he hated me.

Perhaps it was only hatred.

I wiped the medicine from the corner of my mouth.

Before I could speak, an excited maid called from outside the room.

“Alpha, the healer has confirmed that the Luna is pregnant!”

Kael could not hide the joy in his voice.

“Selena is really pregnant? I’m finally going to be a father?”

Finally?

I had been five months pregnant when the Moonshadow Pack was destroyed.

Our child died during the attack.

And in the chaos, I lost the child already formed inside me.

So in his heart, our dead child had never made him a father.

I had thought that when the blood worms finally killed me, I would die alone in the dungeon.

Instead, Kael ordered me to serve Selena.

He wanted me to watch another woman carry his child.

To watch her receive everything our child and I had never been given.

Selena sat on a cushioned chair and smiled at me.

“You were the former Alpha’s favorite daughter. Since Kael sent you to look after me, I can’t give you anything too difficult.”

She pointed toward the courtyard.

“Sweep up the flower petals.”

I tightened my grip on the broom and looked at the peach blossoms covering the ground.

Selena knew I was allergic to their pollen.

She had once been my closest friend.

Of course she knew exactly how to make me suffer.