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Chapter 2

Zara POV,

“Zara, I begged the Alpha to show you mercy, and he did! Just say yes already. The world outside the border is a scary place for a... a wolf who has nothing. You won't survive out there as a rogue, and it would simply break my heart to lose my only sister.”

Elara reached out, her fingers trembling delicately as if she wanted to comfort me, but she made sure to stay safely behind the Alpha's protective shadow.

“Don't let your pride ruin you,” she sobbed softly, pressing a silk handkerchief to her eyes so the entire council could admire her pure, forgiving soul. “We all know you're not equipped for the real world, Zara. Let us take care of you. Just accept the collar.”

I ignored her fake concern, the pain of the unknown wrapped tight around my heart.

The guards’ hands were already closing around my wrists. With my head bowed, I was terrified of the dark woods, I was going to say yes. I was going to accept the collar just to have a roof over my head.

Before I could give my response a voice cut through my trembling mess.

“Let her go.”

The guards paused. I looked up through the blur of my tears. Emily was standing there, her chin tilted up, looking directly at the Alpha’s guards as if they were nothing more than annoying gnats.

“Step back, Emily,” one of the guards growled. “This is Silvercrest business. The Alpha has made his decree.”

Emily didn’t move. Instead, she stepped in front of me, her body a literal shield between me and the men who wanted to turn me into a servant.

“The Alpha gave her a choice,” Emily said, her voice ringing through the hall. “And she isn't making it alone.”

She turned to me, ignoring the gasps from the remaining crowd. She took my cold, shaking hands in hers. “Zara, look at me.”

I could barely see her through the haze of the humiliation. “Em, go back. You’ll get in trouble. I... I have nowhere else to go.”

“Yes, you do,” she whispered, loud enough for Lir to hear. “You’re coming to Dawnridge. With me.”

The silence that followed was deafening. To the pack, this was a slap in the face. A member of another pack was claiming the cursed wolf that their own Alpha had just spat on.

Lir stepped down from the high dais, each footfall sounding like a gavel strike against the stone. His cold eyes were fixed on Emily, simmering with a dangerous, quiet heat.

"Emily," Lir began, his voice dropping into that smooth, predatory silk that usually made people drop to their knees. "You are a guest of Silvercrest. Do not confuse my hospitality with a license to interfere in pack law. Step away from her before you embarrass the Alpha of Dawnridge."

“I’m not stepping away from her.”

Lir’s lip curled in a sneer directed straight at me. "You would risk a war for this? Look at her, Emily. She has no reflection because she has no soul to show the world. She is a defect. A smudge on the history of this pack. If you take her, you’re taking a curse into your home."

He stopped just inches from us, his shadow swallowing me whole. "If she walks out those doors with you, she isn't just an outcast. She is a traitor. And Silvercrest treats traitors much worse than we treat slaves."

Emily just looked at him with a cold, flat stare that made his rage look like a tantrum.

"Three things, Lir," she said, her voice cutting through the silence like a blade.

"First, you can’t betray a pack that already disowned you. Second, you can't kill a girl you've already declared nothing. And third?"

She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

"If you want to hunt a member of my house, you’d better be prepared to tell my brother why you're starting a war over a girl you claim doesn't exist."

Before he could even draw a breath to roar, Emily turned. She tucked me firmly under her arm, pulling me toward the doors.

"Wait, Emily," Elara smiled, her hand resting on Lir's chest. "Zara, are you sure about this? If you're leaving to live among strangers, you should at least have something to remember us by." She pulled a stained cleaning rag from a nearby servant's tray. "Here, Zara. You’ve always been so good at staying in the dirt. Keep this so you don't forget your place."

I looked at the rag in Elara's hand, then at the cold, beautiful mask of the man who was supposed to be my soul's other half. Then, I looked at Emily. Her grip on my hands was the only thing keeping me from dissolving into the floor.

“You gave me a choice Alpha Lir, I’m leaving with Emily.” I whispered my voice finally finding its edge.

Alpha Lir’s eyes flashed. "Then go," he spat. "But remember this, Zara. Once you cross that border, that is the end. If I ever see you on Silvercrest land again, I won't send guards. I'll come for you myself."

Emily didn't wait for him to change his mind. She pulled me toward the massive oak doors.

"Keep your drama, Lir," she tossed over her shoulder. "We're done here."

—

The hum of the tires on the asphalt was the only thing filling the silence for the first few miles. The heater was blasting, but I couldn't feel my hands. I just stared at the dashboard, watching the digital clock blink.

"Zara? Say something. Please." Emily’s voice was thick, like she’d been holding her breath since we left the hall.

I didn't look at her. I couldn't. If I moved, I felt like I’d shatter into a thousand pieces of glass. "He really did it, Em. He didn't even hesitate."

"He’s a fool," Emily snapped, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. "The whole pack are fools. They’ve spent years calling you a curse just so they didn't have to feel bad about treating you like dirt. We’re going to Dawnridge. My brother... he’s fair. He’ll give you a life void of all these drama, Zara.”

"A life doing what?" I whispered. My voice sounded like it belonged to a ghost. "Scrubbing floors in a different house? I don't have a wolf, Emily. I don't have a reflection. I’m just... a smudge. He was right about that."

"Don't you dare let his voice become your own," she whispered, her voice tight. "But Zara... there’s something about my brother you need to know before we get there. Something he doesn't tell anyone."

I turned to her, my heart skipping a beat. The way she said it made Dawnridge feel less like a sanctuary and more like a trap. "What do you mean? You said he was fair."

"He is," Emily said, her gaze flickering to the rearview mirror as if checking for ghosts. "But Silas doesn't just lead Dawnridge. He protects it. And his idea of protection involves certain... protocols for wolves who don't fit the mold. If he thinks you're a threat to the pack's stability—"

I gasped, doubling over as my ribs felt like they were being crushed by an invisible hand.

"But that's the thing," I turned to her, my eyes stinging. "I am defective. Look at the mirror, Emily. What do you see?"

Emily looked at the side mirror, then back at me, her expression softening into that pity I hated. "I see my best friend."

"No," I rasped, leaning my forehead against the cold glass of the window. "You see the seat. You see the headrest. You see nothing. I’m a smudge, Emily. Even the glass knows it."

The silence fell back over us, heavy and suffocating. Emily reached over again, her hand searching for mine to give it a supportive squeeze.

"Zara, stop—"

She cut herself off with a sharp gasp. She didn't pull her hand away this time, but her fingers froze against my skin. "Zara... what is that?"

I blinked, my vision slightly blurred. "What?"

"Your arm." Emily leaned in, her eyes wide as she stared at my forearm in the dim light of the dashboard. "There’s... there’s something on your skin."

I looked down. At first, I thought it was just a trick of the yellow light or a smear of dirt from the hall. But then I felt a strange, prickling heat, like a thousand needles dancing under the surface of my skin.

I rubbed my arm, and my heart nearly stopped.

It wasn't dirt. Growing right through the pale, reflectionless skin of my wrist was a patch of fur that shimmered with a deep, metallic gold that seemed to catch the light even in the dark car.