Chapter 1 Beyond the Iron Bars

Elone's POV

The rain was cold, biting into my skin like a thousand needles.

I pulled the oversized sleeves of my prison rags tighter around me, my arms wrapped in a futile attempt to stop the trembling. Behind me, the iron gates of Hollowstone Dungeon slammed shut, the heavy, metallic thud swallowed by the relentless downpour.

Three years.

I'd made it out alive.

But my chest felt hollow, as empty as the leaden sky above. I couldn't feel anything anymore.

I limped along the stone perimeter. Every step was a fresh agony, like walking on silver shards. The scar on my left ankle—the one left by a silver lash—throbbed in the damp air, the pain seeping deep into the marrow of my bones before crawling up my leg. I used to run under the moonlight, a silver wolf of grace and speed. Now, even a simple walk made my legs shake with exhaustion.

A black SUV cut through the mist, blocking my path.

Mounted on the door was a crest I knew too well: the wrought-iron wolf head of the Greyman Pack.

My face went deathly pale; my fingertips turned to ice.

The window rolled down, revealing Marcus, the Gamma of the Kelsa Pack. His gaze swept over my limping frame, his lips set in a hard, unforgiving line.

"What? A cripple now?"

No concern. Just cold, clinical judgment, as if he were inspecting a piece of damaged freight.

Those words made my eyes sting.

This was my fiancé. At eighteen, when my wolf first stirred, I truly believed the Moon Goddess had gifted him to me. I had loved him with everything I was. And yet, he was the one who handed the forged evidence of "treason" to the Council. He was the one who pushed me into the abyss.

On my first day in the hole, a group of female inmates cornered me. They were smiling as they swung. "The Gamma paid us to take 'good care' of the traitor bitch," they hissed.

I could still hear the sound of my own ribs snapping.

"Get in."

Marcus rested his hand on the window ledge, his posture regal and detached. He made it clear he wasn't here by choice.

"Alpha Aldric of the Moonsilver pack wants you brought back for the banishment ceremony."

Banishment.

I could hear his patience wearing thin. Images of my parents—Alpha Aldric and Luna Isolde—flashed through my mind. They had claimed they wanted to make amends when they first brought me back to the Sunwood family. But Astoria's mind-warping lies had poisoned everything.

The day I was framed, the Sunwoods' hidden resentment boiled over. My father had pointed a shaking finger at me before the Council, "Traitor. Ungrateful child." My mother stood by Astoria's side, her voice as flat as a gravestone: "Astoria is the only daughter truly worthy of the Sunwood name."

No one listened to my defense. Not a single soul.

Marcus snapped at me again. His eyes flickered toward my ankle—the jagged, grotesque scar from the silver lash was exposed to the rain, the charred flesh sunken and puckered. His brow twitched for a fraction of a second.

Then, he looked away.

Total indifference.

His subordinate, Mark, stepped out of the car and approached me. His tone was polite, yet distant. "Gamma Marcus requests you enter the vehicle."

I didn't move.

Mark reached out a hand.

Conditioned by three years of hell, I instantly curled into a ball, shielding my head. A sob-choked plea tore from my throat. "No—please, don't hit me! Please..."

Mark froze.

He remembered the girl I used to be three years ago—a healer with light in her eyes and breathtaking talent. He glanced back at the car, uncertain. Marcus remained stony-faced.

"Three years in the dungeon and you still haven't learned to obey?"

The Gamma's aura flared—a crushing weight. It wasn't as suffocating as a true Alpha's command, but it was enough to make my body lock up, my shoulders sagging under the sheer force of it.

"Don't make me say it a third time. Get in."

I forced myself up and climbed into the car.

I sat in the farthest corner, pressing myself against the door to keep as much distance from Marcus as possible. I was shivering violently, my mind a hazy fog. Rainwater dripped from my hair, soaking into the leather seats in dark, ugly patches.

The car hit a sharp bump. The momentum threw me from my seat, and I landed on my knees on the floorboard.

Marcus opened his eyes and looked down at me.

"Pathetic."

The word felt like a silver needle driven into my heart.

I made myself even smaller, whispering, "I'll... I'll clean the mess. I'll scrub the seat when we get there."

"Don't bother," he said, his voice devoid of warmth. "Anything you touch will be disposed of anyway."

My fingers clutched at my pants.

In his eyes, I was filth. Lowly. Something that shouldn't even be touched.

I turned to the window. The rain blurred the world outside, my eyes burning red, though I saw nothing.

Silence stretched between us for a long time.

"In your eyes," my voice was a raspy ghost of a sound, "only Astoria is worthy of being your mate... right?"

Marcus's expression went ice-cold.

His aura slammed into me again, far heavier than before. It forced my shoulders down and bowed my spine, pinning me like a pup caught by the scruff.

"You are not worthy of uttering her name."

His voice was a blade.

"If you so much as touch a hair on Astoria's head again—"

He turned his head, his dark pupils devoid of hesitation.

"I will personally teach you the lessons the dungeon failed to."