CHAPTER FOUR

I take the root to my lips and pause.

I will end my life. I will kill myself. I will not live with him. It is the only way.

Tears fill my eyes as I realize I will never see my family again. I will never see my pack again. My mother. My home.

I shudder and take a deep breath. I am about to bite down on the bitter poison root and end my life. But the door behind me suddenly flies open.

A girl staggers inside. She is thin. Her hair is straggly. She looks like she is barely alive.

She sits on the floor and curls up, sobs racking her body.

"What's wrong with you?" I say. "Who are you?"

She lifts her head and looks at me. "I was Romulus' mate. But now he has found someone else. He has thrown me out."

I stare at her, my eyes wide. I can't believe what she is saying. She was Romulus' mate?! And now he has rejected her?

"You were his mate?" I ask.

She nods. "I am from a pack in the north. Romulus came and took me. Forced me to become his mate."

Her story is just like mine.

She shakes her head sadly. "And then he threw me away.

"Why?" I say. "Why did he throw you out?"

"I gave birth to a weakling," she says. "Romulus's cubs are always strong. But this one was weak. It died." She looks at me with sad eyes. "I told him I wouldn't go through another pregnancy. I can't."

I grimace. "So he put you in here? In jail? I'm sorry."

She nods and slumps back. Then she looks at me and frowns. "Who are you?"

"I'm…" I pause. I don't want to say my name. I don't want to tell her anything about myself. "I'm no one."

She tries to smile, but it looks painful. Then she starts to sob again.

"Hey," I say. "It'll be okay."

"No, it won't," she replies. "Romulus never takes back a mate once he has thrown her out. He never forgives a woman."

I stare at her. I can't believe this.

My heart aches for her.

I shuffle across the dirty floor beside her, to comfort her. But I'm still holding the poison root in my hand and she spots it.

I try to shove the root back in my pocket. But I am too late.

"You have a poison root," she says. Her eyes are wide. "Give it to me."

I stare at her. "You want to kill yourself?"

She nods.

"Why?"

She blinks. "Because I am sad," she says, "and because I do not want to be here."

I look at her. I can see what a state she is in. Half-starved. Traumatized.

She glances nervously at the door. "Give it to me. Now. Before the guards catch us."

I shake my head. I cannot give her the poison root. It is my only way out of here. "No. It's mine."

She looks at me pitifully. "Please. I don't want to live anymore. Romulus used me up. Now he is done with me. I have no use. I will die here anyway."

She looks so sad and I realize this is the fate that awaits me.

I decide to tell her who I am. I take a deep breath. "I am his new mate."

The girl gasps. She changes in an instant and comes and kneels down beside me.

"Let me help you," she says, gently.

"Help me? How?"

She reaches into her pocket and hands me something. It is a silver dagger.

"I was not brave enough to do it myself," she says.

"Do what?" I ask, but I already know what she is going to say.

"To kill him," she says. "But if you are braver than me, you can. You could kill him and then we'll all be free."

I stare at her and shake my head. I am not sure I am brave enough. I am not sure I can kill him. I cannot take another's life, even someone I hate as much as I do Romulus.

"No," I say. "I can't. I won't."

"You must," she says. "I know what life with him is like. It is the only way."

I look at the silver dagger in her hand. If I kill Romulus, I will never have to be his mate. I would be a hero to my kind. I would be free.

I think of my pack. I think of my home. I think of my mother.

"He will come for you tomorrow," she tells me. "He will marry you. Then he will mate with you."

I swallow hard. I cannot think of anything worse.

She holds the dagger out to me again. "Unless you kill him first."

I take the dagger and hold it in my hands. I look at the blade. The handle. It's so small but so deadly.

Could I really do it? Could I kill another? Plunge a knife into them? Watch the life drain from them? Watch them die?

I must if I want to be free of Romulus. It is the only way.

I want to be free of all of this.

I will do it, I decide. I will brave. I will kill him.

I look at the girl. "When should I do it?"

"Tomorrow," she tells me. "After the wedding when you are alone together in his chamber."

"Tomorrow?" I say.

It feels too soon. I am not prepared. I was planning on killing myself, not him.

"I don't think I can," I tell her. "It's too soon."

"You must do it before he mates with you," she says. "It is for the best."

She is right.

I think of my pack and I know I have no choice.

I will do it. I will kill the tyrant. I will kill Romulus and set everyone free.

"Okay," I say. "I will do it."

"Good," she replies. "Now get some rest. You should try to sleep. You will need all your strength tomorrow."

I curl up on the floor, exhausted by the events of the day. I can't sleep, though. I can't sleep in this place.

I can't sleep knowing that tomorrow I will become a killer.