Three

Vanessa

The mansion reeked of sex, wine, and sweat. Alec's packmates were morbid. Most didn’t even try to hide their affairs, taking whoever they wanted in whatever dark corner they could find.

I usually found a way to avoid it all. I knew this house better than anyone.

It was a miracle I had kept my virginity all these years. The wolves here loved sadistic games. They were cruel to the weak but turned gentle with their wives. Servants and slaves like me had no choice, no voice, and no rights.

I had deliberately made myself bait. I walked right into the main hall and got caught by a drunk fool. I needed to see what Alpha Alec would do.

“On your knees, traitor’s bitch,” the drunk fool slurred. He was a warrior, big and stupid with power. He grabbed a nearby goblet of wine from a tray and poured it all down my chest.

A flash of anger shot through me. I wanted to hit him. This was the second time tonight someone had spilled liquid on me, and this was the only dry dress I owned. But I forced a smile. That’s what servants do.

From under my lashes, I saw Alec watching. He was surrounded by people wishing him well, and his pregnant fiancée was clinging to his arm like a designer handbag. But his eyes were on me. A small, dark part of me was pleased that he saw this humiliation.

“I’m so sorry, sir,” I whispered to the drunk, taking my time as I knelt before him.

He grinned, his eyes full of ugly excitement. “Hurry up,” he ordered.

I reached for his zipper. His head lolled back in pleasure. I risked another glance at Alec. He had turned his head away, acting like he hadn’t seen a thing.

My heart sank. He wasn’t going to do anything. The mate bond meant nothing to him.

His Beta, Lucas, a giant with braided blond hair, steered him toward a group of Elders. They disappeared into the crowd.

I looked back at the drunk man in front of me. His eyes were fully closed now. I stood up silently and slipped away into the shadows of the hall, my heart a cold, heavy stone in my chest.

As I walked, I passed a nobleman tearing at an omega slave girl’s dress like he was unwrapping a present. She was crying silently.

I hated it here. I hated this life. I missed my father. I missed my people. I missed the time when life was simple. When I didn’t have to worry about some entitled fool thinking he had the right to my body.

I missed the days when I lived like a princess, safe and loved.

I made my way to the back of the kitchen. It was chaos, with cooks and staff rushing around with platters of food. I found my usual spot, a dark corner behind some empty shelves where I could see everyone, but no one could see me.

A moment later, Maya, Alec’s fiancée, walked in. She barked orders at the staff, complaining that the meat wasn’t hot enough and the wine wasn’t chilled. She was already acting like Luna. Her voice grated on my nerves.

I immediately scolded myself. Stop it. I couldn’t feel jealous. I was never, ever going to allow Alec to mark me.

Ellie could cry and ache for him all she wanted. I didn’t care. I was supposed to kill Alec, not crave him.

After a few more minutes of watching Maya play queen, I slipped out of the kitchen. I needed to find Priestess Olga.

She was the main reason I was still alive. Six years ago, after my father’s murder, when the new regime was killing everyone loyal to him, Olga had saved me.

She was a seer, a woman of great power and respect. She hid me and gave me a fake identity as an orphaned servant. She told me my father had blessed her in special ways, and she would honor his memory by protecting me. She promised me revenge. If anyone in this pack hated Alec as much as I did, it was Olga.

I found her near the main foyer, speaking to one of the Elders. I caught her eye and gave her our secret signal, a slight tap of my finger against my collarbone. She gave a tiny nod. She would meet me in the garden.

I hurried outside and began pacing the stone path of the moonlit garden. A few minutes later, the priestess appeared.

The moment I saw her, the control I had clung to shattered. I rushed into her arms and burst into ugly, choking sobs.

“What is it? What’s wrong, child?” she asked, startled. She held me tight, stroking my hair. Her motherly voice and the safety of her embrace only made the tears fall harder.

The story came pouring out of me. The scent. The collision. The shock. The mate bond. I didn’t have to repeat everything for her to understand. My broken words and terrified sobs told her enough.

“I don’t want it, Olga,” I kept repeating, my voice muffled against her shoulder. “I hate him. I’m supposed to hate him. He’s my enemy.” The tears wouldn’t stop. “Please,” I begged, pulling back to look at her, my hands gripping her arms. “You have to break the bond. You have powers. You can do it. Please. You have to.”

Olga was still in shock, her eyes wide. “Are you sure of what you’re saying, Vanessa? A fated bond with the new Alpha?”

“Yes! I’m sure!” I cried. “He can feel it too. I saw it in his eyes. Please, Olga, set me free.”

Olga let out a weary sigh. “My child,” she said softly, her hands cupping my face, her thumbs wiping away my tears. “I feel your pain. Truly, I do. But you must not see this as a curse. You can use this pain. You can use it as power.”

I didn’t understand. What was she talking about? “The Moon has cursed me. She linked me to the son of the man who murdered my father.”

“Do not speak badly of the Moon,” Olga said sharply, and I flinched. She immediately softened her tone. “She works in ways we cannot understand. Do not worry,” she added, her voice calm and steady. “We cannot break the bond. That is beyond my power and would likely kill you both. But we can quiet it. I will inject you with wolfsbane. It will calm your wolf for a while and dull the ache of the bond.”

Wolfsbane. I knew how dangerous it was. For a werewolf, injecting it was like drinking poison. It could weaken you, make you sick, and if the dose was wrong, it could be deadly. But the thought of silencing Ellie—of stopping this horrible craving for Alec—was worth any risk.

“I’ll do it,” I said without hesitation.

Olga nodded grimly. She reached into a hidden pocket in her cloak and pulled out a small leather pouch. From it, she took a strange-looking needle carved from dark wood. She took my arm gently, her fingers searching for the vein in my wrist.

“This will hurt,” she warned.

I nodded, bracing myself. She found the vein and pricked my skin. I hissed as the needle went in. Then she began to chant in the old tongue.

With her free hand, she drew symbols on my skin, right over the injection site.

Inside me, Ellie began to protest. No! What are you doing? Stop her! My wolf fought against the poison in a frantic, desperate struggle. But the wolfsbane was strong. Slowly, her protests grew weaker. Her struggles faded. Until finally—

There was silence.

I let out a long, shaky breath of pure relief. The nagging pull toward Alec was gone.

Olga pulled the needle out and put it away. “Use this bond to your advantage. Alec can’t kill his fated mate. The guilt would destroy him. This bond is your shield.”

She grabbed my shoulders, her eyes intense. “Make him trust you. Get close to him. Use his feelings for you as a weapon. Make him fall for you. Make him get down on his knees for you. And then, when he least expects, when he is completely vulnerable, you will kill him.”

I looked down at my hands. A drop of blood welled up from the tiny hole in my wrist.

When I looked back up at Olga, the motherly woman who had held me while I cried was gone. In her place stood a cold strategist, the woman who had plotted revenge with me in secret for six long years. Her expression sometimes scared me.

“You are no longer the thirteen-year-old girl I hid in the cellars,” Olga said, her voice like ice. “You are a weapon, sharpened by years of pain. Now it is time to use it.”

She let go of my shoulders, turned, and walked away. Her dark cloak melted into the shadows of the garden.

She left me standing there alone in the cold silence, her chilling words echoing in my mind.