Chapter 4

“I have every reason to hate her!” I said, my voice cold. “But tonight it's for ruining my mother’s pendant.”

“Nora would never do something like that.” He spat, “She was only cleaning it.”

“And of course you would believe her!” I screamed, “Even if you have to hurt me for her lies, you would not hesitate.”

Only then did his gaze fall to my arms that were dyed red in blood. He frowned.

“Isadora…” he whispered my name, his eyes reflecting genuine concern, “I didn't mean to hurt you–”

“Kneel!” I commanded, “You failed your duty, Lucian. You have committed the heinous, declared crime of attacking the person you swore to protect.”

He immediately knelt. No question. No hesitation.

The Alpha of the Shadow Pack was kneeling before me. I felt no pride. There was only pure fury and vengeance.

I pulled out the Alpha Commanding hunter, a gift from my paternal uncle. I raised my hands to hit his shoulder.

“This is to fail your duty, Lucian–”

I did not realise when Nora walked past Lucian and covered his back, shedding feigned tears. “It's not his fault. He was just trying to protect me. If you want to hit, hit me instead.”

Before I could stop, the hunter had already landed on her back, spilling blood all over.

“Nora…” Lucian screamed.

Nora let out an ear-piercing shriek, collapsing against Lucian as blood soaked the back of her dress.

Lucian’s breath hitched. In a split second, he caught Nora in his arms, his eyes snapping up to meet mine. The raw, murderous rage radiating off him made every instinct in me scream to retreat.

Yet, he didn't strike. He couldn't. Bound by his solemn oath and my direct command, he forced the suffocating anger down, his chest heaving as he suppressed the beast thrashing beneath his skin.

Without a single word, he scooped Nora into his arms, casting one final, ice-cold look at me before rushing her out of the room.

Night fell, heavy and suffocating. Seeking space away from the lingering scent of blood and betrayal, I walked near the borders of the pack lands. I never saw them coming.

A heavy cloth slammed over my mouth, smelling of foul, bitter wolfsbane.

Hands—rough, filthy, and reeking of rot—dragged me into the darkness.

"The little princess thinks she can bleed our Alpha's favorite?" a gruff voice spat.

Before I could summon a command, a heavy blow cracked across my jaw. I hit the dirt hard.

A barrage of kicks rained down on my ribs and stomach, shattering bone and stealing my breath. Rouge wolves. The Shadow Pack's filth, doing dirty work in the shadowy treeline.

I lay in a pool of my own blood, gasping, unable to trigger my healing through the wolfsbane paralyzing my veins.

Through the ringing in my ears and the haze of fading consciousness, heavy footsteps approached. Someone stopped just out of my restricted line of sight.

"That's enough," a voice deep, dark, and unmistakable commanded through the shadows.

It was Lucian.

"You shouldn't have hurt Nora, Isadora," he whispered, his voice completely devoid of warmth. "Actions have consequences."

He didn't lift a finger to save me. He simply turned and walked away, leaving the rogues to toss my broken, bleeding body back onto the main path near the pack house hours later as a warning.

Dragging myself through the dirt, every breath a jagged blade in my lungs, I hauled my shattered body toward the courtyard. I needed to reach my quarters, to survive.

Then I saw them under the moonlight near the sacred ancestral stones. Just next to my mother’s grave.

Lucian stood tall, his head tilted back, eyes closed. Nora was draped over his chest, her hands resting softly on his shoulders, completely unbothered by her supposed injuries. She gave me a slow, victorious smirk over his shoulder as I collapsed against a stone pillar, paralyzed by agony.

She leaned in, her fangs extending under the full moon, and sank them deep into the junction of Lucian's neck and shoulder.

A low, guttural groan tore from Lucian’s throat as the bond sealed. My heart shattered into a thousand jagged pieces right there in the dirt.

He had let her mark him—the Alpha of the Shadow Pack was now bound to the woman who destroyed everything I had left.

And the place they chose—my mother's ancestral land?

I had once disclosed my wish to Lucian: I’ll take my mate to my mother's graveyard and mark him before her, taking her blessings, trying to give him some hints.

He knew what this place meant to me, yet he let her ruin everything for me.

After Nora left, Lucian stood behind, alone for a moment-until his Beta emerged from the trees, his forehead wrinkled in anxiety,

“Did you really let her mark you?" Rolan growled, “And you didn't bite her back?"

Lucian replied in a soft voice, like it was nothing. "She wanted it this way."

"She's not even your mate, Alpha," Roland hissed, brows furrowed. "You're not thinking straight. You're the Alpha of Shadow Pack, and you let an ordinary wolf claim you without letting you own her.”

"I don't need to claim her." Lucian replied, “I’m his. That's all that matters.”