CHAPTER 4

Tiffanie

“What the hell is going on here?”

Killian’s voice sliced through the hall like a blade. Power rolled off him in waves, thick and suffocating. The guests who had been moments away from ripping me apart froze instantly. Their hungry, cruel faces drained of color. They shrank back, eyes darting to the floor, shoulders hunched in fear. 

Not a single soul dared utter a word. The silence that followed was heavier than any scream.

Liora rushed forward in a blur of pink silk, dropping dramatically to her knees beside me. “Tiffanie! Oh my goddess, sister, are you alright?” Her voice cracked with perfectly timed tears as she clutched my arm, fake concern dripping from every word. “I was so scared for you!”

I was still too weak to shove her away. My head throbbed like someone was hammering nails into my skull. Fragments of the silver wolf with the golden mane flashed behind my eyes, but every time I tried to hold onto the image, pain splintered through me. I could barely breathe.

My gaze lifted to Killian. He stood like a storm barely contained, claws still extended, chest heaving, raw fury etched into every line of his face.

A pained grunt broke the tension. The prince, Finn, staggered forward, clutching his ribs, hatred burning in his eyes as he glared at his uncle.

“What do you think you were about doing? I leave you for one second and you try to kill your chosen mate!” Killian seethed, nose flared with anger as he approached his nephew. “Is this how you plan to rule the pack when I’m gone?!”

Finn staggered back a bit from the glare his uncle threw him. 

 “The woman you forced on me is nothing but a wolfless disgrace!” he snarled. “How could you bring me such a pathetic, broken thing? Look at her…weak, disgusting, and empty inside. Is this some kind of joke to humiliate me?”

Killian’s gaze flickered to me for a millisecond before he let out a growl, low and terrifying, vibrating through the stone floors. “Watch. Your. Mouth. You won’t disobey me.” The warning in his tone made even the bravest wolves in the room flinch. His eyes then dropped to me.

I cowered instantly, pressing back against the cold floor, heart hammering.

 He’s just like the rest of them. He’ll destroy me too.

But he didn’t strike. Instead, Killian reached down and pulled me to my feet with surprising gentleness, his large hand wrapping firmly around my waist. The contact sent sparks racing up my arm, hot and electric. 

Something deep inside me stirred violently, like claws scraping against bone, twisting my stomach into knots. The corset digging into my stomach made it into a nauseating pain. No one else seemed to notice.

The prince’s eyes narrowed. He stepped boldly toward Liora.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Killian demanded, voice dangerously low.

Fear flickered across the prince’s face, but he lifted his chin in defiance and grabbed Liora’s hand, intertwining their fingers.

“I reject her,” he declared loudly, his voice echoing with cruel satisfaction. “I will not accept Tiffanie SilverMane as my chosen mate. I want…Liora instead. She is the one worthy of standing beside me.”

The words landed like blows to my chest. Fresh humiliation burned through me, sharper than the physical pain. He was rejecting me so openly, so eagerly, in front of the entire pack.

Father would kill me. They won’t let me back in that house. 

Killian’s lip curled in a sneer. “That was never the plan. Liora isn’t even the Beta’s true daughter in the line of succession.”

Liora lifted her chin, clinging tighter to the prince. “I am Beta Harlan’s daughter too,” she said smoothly, her voice sweet but laced with triumph. “And I would be honored to be the prince’s mate. Unlike some people, I actually have a wolf. A white wolf that has the grace to match his royal one.”

The prince smiled victoriously, staring straight into his uncle’s eyes in open challenge. Killian’s expression remained stoic, cold as stone, completely ignoring their little performance.

He pulled me closer to his side, his protective grip unwavering. His dark, dead eyes swept over the entire hall, silencing every whisper. “As long as Tiffanie remains in this pack,” he announced, each word heavy with lethal promise, “no one...and I mean no one is allowed to lay a finger on her. Disobey me, and you will answer to my claws.”

The gnawing agony inside me suddenly exploded. My stomach convulsed violently. Before I could stop it, I doubled over and threw up all over the front of Killian’s expensive clothes and chest.

Gasps of disgust exploded across the hall.

Killian stilled, staring down at the mess on his body. His hand, however, stayed protectively around me.

“I-I’m so sorry,” I choked out, face burning with shame, voice trembling. “I didn’t mean—”

The whispers started immediately. “Disgusting creature…” “How revolting…” “She can’t even control herself…”

I misread the stoic look on Killian’s face. The subtle crease of concern in his brow filtered into my mind as pure rage.

I couldn’t take it anymore. The pain, the humiliation, the betrayal. It was all too much.

I ripped myself from his hold and fled the hall, stumbling desperately into the night air. Branches slapped at my face as I ran blindly into the woods. A strange voice echoed faintly in my head, calling to me. My bones began to stretch and pop in unnatural ways. Pain flared through my limbs, but it was nothing compared to the fire raging inside me.

It became unbearable.

I crashed to the forest floor with a guttural cry, body convulsing. My bones snapped and reformed with sickening cracks, spine arching, joints twisting, muscles tearing apart only to knit back together stronger. Fur erupted across my skin in a wave of silver. My face elongated painfully into a muzzle, claws shredding through my fingertips. The agony was blinding, soul-deep, as if my entire being was being remade in fire. I screamed until the sound twisted into a powerful howl.

When the shift finally completed, a rush of pure, exhilarating energy flooded every cell. I rose on four steady legs, silver fur glowing under the moonlight, golden mane shimmering like living flame. The forest came alive around me. Scents became sharper, sounds clearer, power thrumming in my veins.

I can’t believe it. I shifted?! 

I’m in a wolf body. I found my wolf!!

Yes, darling, a voice chuckled in my head. We’ve finally found each other. 

Yes!

Without hesitation, I sprinted deeper into the woods, my powerful body carrying me faster than I’d ever dreamed. The wind whipped through my fur as freedom, and something ancient called me forward.