Chapter 4

For the past three years, I'd kept an emotional distance from the Howard family.

I let everyone in the Silver Moon pack take care of me without a second thought, but I always saw myself as just passing through.

I'd come with my guard up, wolfsbane in my pocket, ready to run at any moment.

I'd seen how people schemed in the Wilds and how often kindness was only self-interest in disguise.

I didn't dare give my heart to anyone. To me, this was just a rare place to catch my breath.

Still, little moments came flooding back whether I wanted them to or not.

My sister brought honeyed fruit to the sunroom every morning at just the right temperature. Whenever we walked, she offered me her sleeve to hold.

Eleanor remembered every one of my dietary restrictions.

My seven brothers, ruthless in battle, always walked softly when they came home, afraid they might wake me.

They never asked for anything in return. To them, I was just a little sister who needed looking after.

And now, those same people were putting their bodies and pride on the line to save me.

My father and brothers were on their knees, trading their dignity and their lives for my chance to escape.

In that instant, the distance I'd kept from them for three years disappeared.

I could walk away and save myself.

But I couldn't stand by and watch my family, who'd protected me for three years, die in a cage.

William stepped forward and yanked Evelyn, already weak from crying, out of the way like a worthless rag.

He leaned down and looked me over with a leer, then reached for my chin.

"Little blind girl.

"Ready to be locked in my silver cage and beg in the dark like a dog for a sip of water?"

His bloodstained hand moved closer.

My fury boiled over. He thought he could destroy my family?

Was he kidding?

Then who was going to take care of me for the rest of my life?

As my family watched in terror and despair, I opened my right hand. The ivory cane that had never left my side for three full years clattered onto the rubble.

I tore off my dark glasses. They fell away, revealing clear, pale-gray eyes with double pupils instead of the clouded, unfocused eyes everyone had expected.

I stepped forward under William's shocked, suspicious gaze and kicked a jagged piece of broken stone neatly out of my path.

"William, ask the Chief Elder what happened in the underground palace beneath the Alps three years ago.

"I repaired his heart myself by reconnecting the damaged nerve pathways, then sealed life-saving serum inside it. Ask him how it's working out."

The sick grin froze on William's face.

I looked down at his paling face. "Tell him his three years are up today.

"And now I'm cutting him off."