C3

ROWENA MOONFANG POV

"Step out of the Ironfang Prison Keep right now and do not look back."

The iron gates made a loud screeching sound as they opened up. I walked past the stone walls very slowly. My old white dress felt too big for me, hanging like an old piece of cloth. It was the same clothes I had on my back when Dean Blackwolf threw me into this hell three years ago.

I kept my eyes down on the sharp rocks of the trail. I held a small black bag in my hands. Inside the bag, I only had a few packs of coins and my old identity card.

The noon sun was shining very hot on the road. The heat was strong, but my skin stayed completely cold. Not one drop of sweat came down my face.

My arms had bad marks from the prison guards. Up near my hair, there was a long, ugly cut that stayed pink and bumpy.

The pack transport vehicle came to the side of the road. I stepped inside and pulled a small coin out of my plastic bag to drop it in the box. The elder driving the transport looked at my face and made a mean sound in his throat. He turned his head away fast because he knew only bad rogues came out of that big prison gate.

I did not say a word back to him. I walked straight to the very back of the transport and sat down by the glass window, trying to look small so nobody would see me.

The trail kept moving, and I looked out at the big green territory. Three years changed everything on the outside, and it changed everything inside me, too.

I let out a tiny, cold laugh. The world was different now, and the proud Rowena was completely dead.

When the transport reached the middle of Moonhaven City, my heart gave a big thump. Where was I supposed to go now?

I did not have a single home left in this whole territory.

I opened my little bag and counted the few coins three times. It was barely enough to buy bread for one day. What was I going to do to stay alive?

A big board by the pack road caught my eye. It had words about needing workers.

"Elder, stop the transport here. I need to get out." My voice sounded soft and scared. Three years in the cells took away all my strength. I could not speak loudly to anyone anymore.

The elder made a mad face, but he opened the door for me. I said thank you and stepped out onto the pack road.

I walked right up to the big board to read the lines. My eyes found the word cleaner and the words free bed and food.

My family name was gone from the books, I had no academic records, and I was a banished wolf. A big pack company would never want an ex-convict, even for cleaning floors. But I squeezed my last coins in my fist, bit my lip, and walked inside the big doors of the Bloodmoon Gathering Hall. The cold air inside made my whole body shake.

"Tell me your name." The woman behind the desk did not look up.

"Rowena Moonfang." My voice came out very rough and dry.

The female wolf holding the pen stopped moving. The pen almost slipped out of her fingers. She looked up at me with a mean face. "Why does your throat sound so bad?"

The prison cells had been pure hell, so I did not get mad at her words. I just spoke slowly like a wolf that did not have any fight left in her.

"The smoke hurt it."

The woman looked shocked, and her eyes went straight to the scar on my head. "A fire?"

"Yes, a fire." I looked down at the floor. It was a fire that someone started on purpose to hurt me.

The woman sighed because I was being boring. "The Bloodmoon Gathering Hall is not for low wolves. The Alphas who come here to drink are very powerful." She looked at my old yellow dress with dirty eyes. She hated how poor I looked.

This place was only for noble moonborn families who had lots of pack resources. Even the girls who served drinks had to be beautiful and have pretty shapes. A broken wolf like me did not belong here.

The woman stood up and waved her hand to chase me away. "No, you cannot work here. You are not good enough to even hold a drink tray." She turned her back to go.

"I want to clean the floors."

My rough voice stopped her footsteps. She turned her body around and looked at me from my feet to my head. She looked very confused. "I never saw a twenty-year-old girl who wants to scrub toilets."

The other cleaners here were old omegas. My face was ruined, and my body was too thin, but I was still young. The other young girls here wanted to wear pretty dresses and talk to rich Alphas.

Nobody ever asked to be a cleaner at my age.

She probably thought I would start crying and telling her how hard my life was. If I started complaining, she would throw me out into the dirt right away.

Nobody in the Bloodmoon Gathering Hall cared about a sad story. They had enough problems of their own.

I kept my voice flat and steady. "If I had a pretty face, I would sell my body to the Alphas and say welcome. But I know what I look like. I do not have the beauty to do that, so I want to wash the floors. I just want to do hard work." I was just Convict No. 926 now. Pride did not matter anymore. I gave a small, ugly smile.

The woman looked surprised. She walked back to her table and took the pen again. "Rowena Moonfang? Rowena, M-o-o-n-f-a-n-g?"

"Yes."

"That is strange," the woman said, looking at my face. "Your parents gave you a beautiful name. They must have loved you a lot when you were a pup."

My eyes felt dry like old dirt. Did they love me?

Maybe they did, before they thought I killed Amara. Before I brought shame to the Moonfang Pack name.

"I do not have a family," I told her.

The woman frowned, but she stopped asking questions. She stood up from her chair. "Go get a copy of your pack identity card." She started walking toward the door in her big shoes, but then she stopped and looked back at me. "Rowena, do you know why I am letting you stay?"

She did not wait for me to speak. "You know exactly what you are. You do what you can do. A lot of young wolves come here with big heads and try to fight the Alpha King. They think they are special, but they fail because they do not know their place. You know what you cannot do."

The woman made her eyes small. "Rowena, this tavern is dangerous."

"I understand," I told her. "My voice is bad. I will keep my mouth shut and just work."

The woman looked happy with that answer. She usually did not waste time talking to new workers because everyone who came to the Bloodmoon Gathering Hall knew the rules.

But today she was being nice to a cleaning girl.

She was an important officer in this place, but even she could not get on the bad side of the noble families who came here to drink. Everyone had to learn how to survive. You had to know when to speak and when to hide.

"Miss..." I looked down at my shoes. "I do not have a bed for tonight."

The woman looked at her phone. "Call me Miss Jody Harvelle from now on." She pressed a button on her screen. "Arno, come to my room. I have a new floor cleaner. Take her to the omega barracks." She put the phone away and looked at me.

"Start your work tomorrow morning."

She walked out and left me alone in the small room.

I looked at the piece of paper in my hand and let out a big breath. My heart felt a little better because I did not have to sleep in the dark woods tonight.