Chapter 4

Before I could answer that soul-crushing question, the cafe door was violently kicked open.

Five men swaggered in.

They reeked of rot and desperation—the unmistakable stench of Rogues.

The leader had a nasty scar across his chin.

He sniffed the air greedily, like a predator tracking its prey.

Then, his eyes locked onto Lily.

“Found her,” he grinned, revealing yellowed teeth. “That’s the scent. Pure human, with an Alpha’s mark on her. Prime meat.”

Sensing the danger, Lily instinctively shrank behind me.

“Elena, who are they?” she typed frantically on her phone.

The scarred man strode toward us, his lustful gaze undisguised. “Little beauty, why don’t you come with us? We’ll take real good care of you.”

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” I said, standing up to block his path, my voice ice cold.

“Well, look at this, a knight in shining armor,” the man sneered. “Little girl, do you have any idea who we are?”

“Garbage,” I spat, my voice laced with venom. "Cast out from your own packs, left to rot in the gutters."

His eyes instantly turned blood-red. “You’re asking for it!”

He snarled and lunged.

I grabbed a silver dinner knife from the table. “Lily, get behind the counter!” I hissed.

But Lily just gripped my clothes tighter, shaking her head in terror.

I dodged the man’s attack and spun, slicing the silver blade across his arm.

The sound of silver searing flesh filled the air.

He let out a piercing scream as black smoke rose from the wound.

“Bitch!” he howled in fury. “Get her!”

The other four Rogues pounced at once.

Even as a Luna, I was a decent fighter, but I was no match for all of them. They pinned me to the floor in seconds.

The scarred man got to his feet, grabbed an iron bar, and swung it viciously at my head.

A starburst of pain exploded in my skull, and warm liquid instantly blurred my vision.

“Elena!” Lily let out a silent scream, throwing herself forward without a second thought.

“Stay back!” I yelled with all my might.

But it was too late. Two Rogues easily grabbed her slender arms.

“Let her go!” I struggled, but a foot pressed down harder on my back.

“And now for the main course,” the scarred man grinned, advancing on a trembling Lily. “A scent like yours… it’s enough to drive a wolf mad.”

Just as his filthy hand was about to touch Lily’s face, the glass doors of the cafe shattered inward from a massive force.

Julian burst in like a black hurricane.

Behind him were his Beta, Ryan, and two of his most elite Gamma warriors.

A world-ending wave of Alpha power slammed into the room. The five Rogues’ legs gave out, and they collapsed to their knees instinctively.

“Let them go,” Julian’s voice was colder than a Siberian blizzard.

The scarred man immediately released Lily, his hands shooting up. “Alpha Blackwood! We didn’t mean to offend your woman!”

Julian’s gaze swept over the terrified Lily, and then, it landed on me.

But there was no concern in his eyes.

Only ice-cold suspicion and a tidal wave of fury.

“Who sent you?” he asked coldly.

The scarred man’s eyes darted around, then he pointed a grimy finger at me and yelled venomously, “It was her! She hired us! Said she was jealous of some human bitch and wanted us to 'teach her a lesson'! Said she’d pay us a fortune when it was done!”

What?!

I stared at him in shock. “You’re lying!”

“Lying?” The man pulled a battered phone from his pocket and held it up. “The messages you sent me from an encrypted number are right here! See for yourself!”

Julian snatched the phone.

I couldn’t see the screen, but I watched as his face grew darker with every passing second, the air around him practically freezing.

“Elena,” he said my name slowly, the sound devoid of all warmth. “You truly… never cease to amaze me.”

“Julian, I didn’t…”

“To get back at me, you’d sink so low as to conspire with Rogues to harm an innocent, pregnant girl?” He looked from the silver knife still clutched in my hand to the smoldering wound on the Rogue’s arm.

A look of utter mockery crossed his face. “What? Was hurting him part of the act, too? A very convincing performance.”

I realized with a crushing sense of despair that in his mind, I was already a venomous bitch, capable of anything out of jealousy.

Any explanation would be useless.

“Ryan,” Julian ordered his Beta, “deal with the traitor, according to pack law.”

Ryan’s face fell. “Alpha, Elena is still your Luna—”

“Not anymore,” Julian cut him off coldly. “She signed the agreement, remember?”

Two Gamma warriors dragged me up from the floor like a sack of garbage.

Ryan pulled a silver brand from his belt.

The end, shaped into the symbol of a traitor, was glowing red-hot.

“No!” I struggled, my eyes locked on Julian. “Julian, you’ll regret this! You will regret this!”

"My only regret," he said, his back to me as he pulled a trembling Lily into his arms, "is that I ever trusted you."

The brand seared into my shoulder.

The smell of my own burning flesh filled the air.

Pain, white-hot and blinding, exploded through me.

I bit my lip until I tasted blood, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of a scream.

My pride was the only armor I had left.

When it was done, they threw me to the ground.

Julian, holding Lily, walked out without a backward glance.

At the doorway, he paused, his back to me. His voice was flat.

"This one," he gestured vaguely at me, "is mine to deal with. You don't touch her. But the rest of this block... is yours for the night. Have your fun."

And with that, he and his men were gone.

The cafe was empty, save for me and five Rogues, their eyes now fixed on me with predatory hunger.

The scarred man licked his lips and grinned. “Looks like your Alpha doesn’t want you anymore.”

His wolf snarled, ready to tear me apart.

Before he could pounce, I used the last of my strength to pull the encrypted phone from my bag.

With a hand that trembled so badly I could barely hold it, I dialed the number.

"Felix," I whispered into the encrypted phone, my voice raw with pain. "It's time. The plan moves now."

A bloody smile touched my lips.

"I'm going to make Julian Blackwood burn for this."