Chapter 3

The rejection sickness grew worse every day.

Aconite, bloodletting, banishing spells. I tried them all. None helped much.

The Moon Goddess herself had forged the mate bond. Ordinary witchcraft couldn't sever it.

There were only two ways to break it by force.

The first was to drive a bond-breaking silver dagger blessed by moonlight into your chest. But whoever used it paid a price.

At best, the wound would be slow to heal. At worst, you would lose your wolf.

The second was to swear before witnesses under a full moon that you rejected the Moon Goddess's choice.

The oath would tear the bond apart. The one who spoke it would feel their soul being ripped away. Their rejected mate would carry an emotional scar that would never heal.

The stronger your mate, the worse the backlash.

Logan was the strongest Alpha in the North. He would never do it.

That left me.

All my life, people had called me wolfless. Clara loved to use it against me, claiming she'd been born better than I was.

I've never had a wolf anyway. What do I have to lose?

That night, Kane took his men out on patrol.

I threw on a cloak and went to the black market alone.

It lay in an abandoned sewer. The air stank of wastewater and cheap liquor.

Gus, the scrawny old shopkeeper, hunched behind his counter, counting money.

I set a bag of gold on the counter.

"I need a bond-breaking silver dagger."

Gus looked me over, then sifted through the coins.

"Silver blessed by the Moon Goddess costs more than that."

I took off my bracelet and laid it before him.

"Take this, too. It's everything I have."

Gus weighed the bracelet in his hand and finally nodded. He rummaged around, then pulled a long box from the bottom of a wooden chest.

Before he could hand it to me, a hand came down on the lid.

"That dagger's mine."

Clara stood beside me. Reed, Logan's Beta, waited behind her.

She tossed the shopkeeper a bag of gold.

"I'll pay double."

He pushed the box toward her at once and pocketed my gold and bracelet.

I grabbed the other end of the box.

"What do you want with a bond-breaking dagger?"

Clara stifled a laugh, then leaned close to my ear.

"To make sure you don't get it, of course.

"You're planning to break your bond with Logan, aren't you? I won't let you."

She released the box and stepped back beside Reed.

"I'll let that bond torture you forever. When I'm Luna, you'll be on your knees watching."

She gestured to Reed.

"Ruin her face. Let's see who wants an ugly girl who can't even shift."

Reed drew a short knife and lunged at me.

I couldn't shift, but I'd spent more than a decade fighting in the slums.

Nobody there taught you technique. You survived. That was the only rule.

I snatched the kerosene lamp from the counter and smashed it into his face.

Glass shattered. Kerosene drenched his head.

Reed screamed and clutched his eyes. I kicked his knee, took the knife, and dove for the box holding the silver dagger.

My hand had barely touched the lid when an Alpha's power crushed me to the floor.

My knees struck the bricks. I fell forward, and the knife clattered out of reach.

Logan entered the shop and planted a boot on my hand and the box.

He ground his heel back and forth. Several of my fingers snapped.

I clenched my teeth. I wouldn't beg.

Logan sneered, "You never stop taking what belongs to other people.

"Clara bought that dagger, and you still tried to steal it. How low can you sink, Lila?"

I was shaking with pain, but I still had the breath to curse him.

"Are you blind? She ordered him to cut up my face!

"Is throwing your weight around as Alpha the only thing you know how to do, Logan?"

Furious, he pressed down harder.

"Apologize to Clara, or I'll destroy your whole hand."

Clara hid behind him. "It's all right, Logan. She's always taken my things. I'm used to it."

Logan unleashed all his power. "Kneel!"

The rejection sickness and his Alpha power hit at once. My insides twisted with pain, and I spat blood.

It splashed over Logan's boots.

"This pain is the Moon Goddess's punishment for you."

I looked up at him.

In my first life, I'd always made excuses for him.

He didn't understand the slums. He couldn't see through Clara's lies. He had a whole pack to run. He couldn't spend every moment on me.

Looking back, none of those excuses held up.

I dug my good hand into a gap between the bricks and fought to rise. I refused to kneel to him. As my vision darkened, metal snapped overhead.

Someone ripped away the vent grille. Kane dropped through the opening and drove his boot into Logan's chest.

Logan stumbled back several steps and slammed into the wall.

Kane crouched and lifted me from the floor. At the sight of my twisted fingers and bloody lips, his claws came out.

"You'd better pray she's still alive three days from now, Logan."

I leaned into Kane's arms.

Before I closed my eyes, I heard Logan snap the bond-breaking silver dagger.