Chapter 2

Memory: Fifteen years ago. A stormy night.

I knelt in the mud, clutching Glen's broken body.

His chest was ripped open. His heart was gone.

Wolves roared around me.

"Who did it?! Lucia, did you see the killer?!"

I lifted my head. Tears soaked my face. I opened my mouth—

No sound came.

It wasn't that I didn't want to speak.

I couldn't.

Outside the memory, the Judgment Grounds erupted.

"She opened her mouth! She was about to say it!"

"Then why didn't she—"

The memory kept playing.

Lena rushed in and slapped me hard.

"Stop playing mute! Say it!"

My head snapped to the side. Blood filled the corner of my mouth.

I only held Glen tighter as his body went cold. Shaking my head again and again.

"She's hiding it!" a wolf shouted.

"She saw it! She definitely saw it!"

One wolf pointed at Glen's torn chest, then at me.

"Our Alpha's heart was stolen. That's our pack's shame! And what did she do? Hug the corpse and cry! How did the killer walk away right under her nose?!"

Another wolf roared, "Unless... she didn't stop it! She just watched our Alpha die!"

The wolves stared at me like they were seconds from tearing me apart.

"She's with the killer! She lured the Alpha into a trap!"

"Traitorous mutt!"

The crowd exploded.

Stones smashed into my back. Clubs rained down.

I curled over Glen's body, shielding him. Took every hit.

Then Glen's mother, Elsa, stepped forward, leaning on her cane.

"Lucia. You saw the killer. Say it. Who was it? Why did they kill my son?"

She grabbed my arms, shaking me hard.

"Speak! Why won't you talk? Why are you protecting the murderer? Why did you cut the pack link? Are you really abandoning the pack?"

Thanis was already hanging by a thread. Other packs circled, ready to swallow us whole. With the Alpha murdered overnight, the pack spiraled into chaos.

Lena was the one who stepped up. The one who held the pack together.

And an Alpha's heart being stolen?

That was disgrace for the entire pack.

I clenched my fists. Teeth grinding.

I never defended myself.

Elsa noticed something in my palm. She grabbed my hand and pried.

"What are you holding? Give it to me!"

The second I saw it—

I swallowed the broken wolf claw in my hand.

The only proof that could lead to the killer.

It tore down my throat. Blood and iron flooded my mouth.

I forced it down anyway.

Elsa's hand froze midair.

She looked at Glen's body, pale and lifeless. Then at me, blood filling my mouth.

Slowly, she closed her eyes. Like something inside her finally snapped.

"Enough... go. And never come back to Thanis."

I reached for Glen one last time.

Lena shoved me back.

"You don't deserve to."

Her eyes were swollen red. Her voice wrecked. "Do you know... I've loved him since we were pups. But he chose you.

"After you lost your wolf, I told him to pick another Luna. He said you were the only one for him in this life."

Her nails dug into my shoulder. "He fought the whole pack for you. He gave you his heart!

"And you? You watched him die!

"And now you're still hiding the evidence?! How dare you?!"

When I still wouldn't speak, she shoved me away.

"Get out!"

The wolves grabbed me and dragged me past Thanis territory.

Nick ran after us, crying. A cloth wolf toy clutched in his hand—the one I stitched for him.

"Mom! Don't go! Mom!"

I looked back one last time.

Then I bit through my tongue again and forced myself to turn away.

Don't look back.

Never.

Memory shift: The years I wandered.

Every pack rejected me. Even rogues picked on me.

They stripped me naked in the snow, laughing as my skin turned blue.

They stole the scraps of food I managed to find and kicked me into a frozen river.

"A traitor deserves it!"

"Alpha Glen died because of you!"

"Die already! Hurry up and die!"

I dragged myself onto the bank. Lungs full of water. Coughing up clots of blood.

That night, the agony returned.

I rolled through the wilderness, screaming. Slamming my head against a tree until my skin split open.

After that, I learned to hide. Living like a rat in the darkest corners.

I dug through trash. Fought stray dogs for scraps.

Once, I got so hungry I licked the bone shards other wolves left behind.

A few passing wolves saw me. They circled in.

The lead wolf stepped on my hand.

"Well, look at that. Thanis's former Luna."

He grinned and pressed his heel down.

I heard my finger bones crack.

"P-Please..." My voice came out shredded.

"Please?" He spat. "When Alpha Glen died, did you let him beg?"

They took turns kicking me.

Crack.

Crack.

Both leg bones snapped under their boots.

Everything went black.

When I woke up, I was beside a trash heap. My legs twisted at a sick angle.

I never stood again.

The Judgment Grounds fell dead silent.

Every wolf stared at the screen, watching the once-proud Luna turn into something that could only crawl.

Nick stood beside me, breathing hard.

On the screen, the wolf dragged herself through the snow. Legs broken. Barely moving.

His fists clenched until the joints cracked.

"Why..." His voice shook. "Who was it?! Who was worth protecting like this?!"

I didn't answer.

I couldn't.

The needles drove deeper. My body started convulsing. White foam gathered at the corner of my mouth.

"Alpha!" the operator shouted, panic rising. "Her vitals are crashing! If we keep going, she'll—"

"Keep going!" Nick roared, eyes burning red. "I want to see the killer! I want to see!"

The screen flickered again.