Chapter 4

William looked at me. There was a conflicted look in his eyes.

"I, Zendaya, fought for the Silver Moon Pack for years. Yet in his eyes, even an Omega mattered more than I did. So," I went on, steady and calm as I met his gaze, "my justice is mine to take. Whatever's between him and me, starting today, I'll settle it in my own way."

In the end, William clenched his jaw and agreed.

He bent down and lifted me from the chair with care.

He took me straight to the Royal Healers' Den, the highest-security medical wing in the Werewolf Kingdom, where I received the best treatment they had.

My body healed day by day, but my heart drowned every night in the same nightmare.

I dreamed of the dark forest, the freezing cuffs, and those rogues who reeked of sweat and filth.

I dreamed of how I helplessly struggled beneath them.

I often woke up drenched in sweat while my heart pounded out of control.

The ruthless wolf princess I once was felt like she had died at that tree. The one who survived was a broken, terrified version of me.

William saw everything, and worry ate at him. He brought the best psychological healers he could find, but I knew no medicine could cure me.

There was only one antidote: my enemies' blood.

One late night, I woke up from another nightmare.

William walked in without turning on the lights and sat beside my bed silently.

"Princess," he finally said in a rough voice, "if you're tired, and if you don't want to face any of this anymore, let me handle it. I promise you, Cameron and that Omega will vanish from this world before sunrise."

I looked at him. He had always trusted me and followed me without a second thought.

I shook my head.

"William, killing them would be too easy."

I pushed myself up, walked to the window, and pulled open the heavy curtains.

"Do you know what was the first thing I learned after being with Cameron? It's how to smile," I said softly while looking at the lights outside.

"I learned the gentle, harmless, and pretty smile he liked.

"I hid my claws. I had my tattoos removed. I naively believed that if I changed myself into the version he liked, I could finally be happy.

"What I got in return was being chained to a tree and treated like trash by a group of trash."

I turned back to face William.

The vulnerability and fear from the nightmares were gone from my eyes. In their place was a cold, familiar edge, one forged through blood and war.

"The Zendaya who tried to be a good mate? She's gone. What they'll face now is the wolf princess who crawled out of a mountain of corpses."

I stepped up to him and extended my right hand. It was scarred and battered, but still steady and strong.

"William, tell the pack I'm back.

"I don't want Cameron's life.

"I want him cast out of the pack. I want him ruined.

"I want him on his knees, admitting to my face that he's nothing but a blind, pathetic disgrace.

"And I want him to watch helplessly as everything he's ever been proud of gets crushed by my own hands."