Cast away

Chapter 2

The physician looks up at Kade, and the horror in his expression makes my stomach drop.

"His wolf... it's not suppressed. It's not blocked. It's—"

He stops, like the words refuse to come out. "It's..."

Silence crashes over the clearing like a physical weight. Then someone screams.

"She has extended her bad luck to them!"

"The wolf less one is a defect that needs to go!"

"Kill her!" someone screamed

"Kill her before she destroys us all!"

I covered my ears, trying to tone that the ringing in my ear. The crowd surges forward—both packs now, united in their terror. Wolves I've known my entire life to bare their teeth at me.

Shadowcrest warriors reach for weapons. In the torchlight, they look like demons, all flashing eyes and snarling mouths.

My father's voice rises above the rest, cold and commanding. "She is an abomination! She must be destroyed immediately, before she can harm anyone else!"

I stand terrified; I can't move nor think. I tried to process what just happened.

I touched Marcus, and now his wolf is gone. What am I?

Kade moves in front of me, his hand shooting out to close around my upper arm. Not my wrist. Not skin-to-skin.

He grabs the fabric of my sleeve, careful not to make direct contact, and hauls me against his chest. His other hand goes to the knife at his belt.

"No one touches her!" The Alpha command in his voice crashes over the crowd like a tidal wave, forcing wolves to freeze mid-step, mid-snarl. The sheer power of it makes my knees weak.

"She's mine. My claim. My problem."

I can feel his heart pounding against my back and can smell the fear beneath his fury—not fear of me, but fear of losing control of this situation. Fear of what his pack will do if he can't contain this.

"She destroyed Marcus!" someone shouts. "She's a threat to every wolf here!"

"The Nightshade Pack has harbored a monster!"

My father pushes to the front of the crowd, his face twisted with disgust.

"Alpha Blackthorn, I apologize for my daughter's existence. Whatever debt existed between our packs, consider it paid. Take her life and be done with it."

My daughter's existence he said, Not my daughter's actions. My existence.

I've always known he saw me as a failure, but this—this casual offer of my death, like I'm livestock to be slaughtered—cuts deeper than anything else tonight.

"Touching, Elias." Kade's voice is ice. "But she's mine now. The claim still stands."

"The claim was before she revealed herself as a threat!"

"The claim," Kade says with exaggerated patience, "is binding and irreversible. Ancient pack law. You know this."

Marcus is still on his knees behind us, staring at his hands like they belong to someone else.

Two Shadowcrest wolves carefully approach him, not touching, just hovering nearby like they don't know what to do with a human in their midst.

A wolf without a wolf is the thing we fear more than death.

"What did you do?" Kade's voice is low, meant only for me. His breath is hot against my ear. "Tell me what the fuck you did to him."

"I don't know." My voice comes out broken, barely a whisper. "I swear, I don't know. I've never—this has never happened before."

"You've never touched someone before?" Skepticism drips from every word. "Not like that. Not skin-to-skin. They avoid me. Everyone avoids me."

I feel him process this, his body tense against mine. Then he raises his voice again, addressing both packs. "She's contained under my authority. No one approaches her without my permission. This situation will be investigated and handled according to pack law."

"She should be executed!" someone shouts.

"By whose authority?" Kade's voice drops to a dangerous purr. "Mine, right? I'm her alpha now, and the claim is complete—she accepted when Marcus interrupted the ceremony. Or perhaps you'd like to argue pack law with me?"

No one argues. No one wants to challenge an alpha directly. Kade looks over his shoulder, barking orders. "Damon, Jarken, get Marcus to the physician's hall. I want to know if this is reversible."

He pauses.

"And someone get my sister. Tell her to bring wolfsbane chains."

“That’s useless.” I murmur to myself.

Anyways, I know what the chains are really for: to make the pack feel safe and make them think I'm contained, even if the chains do nothing.

Two warriors approach—the one called Damon and another I don't recognize. They use spear shafts to herd me forward, keeping a careful distance like I'm a rabid animal that might lunge at any moment.

They don't touch me; they don't get within arm's reach.

As they force me away from the ceremonial platform, toward the dark mass of the Shadowcrest pack house in the distance, I look back once.

Marcus is being carried by four wolves, his body limp and his eyes vacant. They're moving slowly, carefully, like he might shatter.

Kade stands alone in the center of the circle, surrounded by two packs baying for my blood. His warriors have formed a protective ring around him, but their eyes keep darting to me, fear bright in their faces.

And my father—my father is smiling. A small, satisfied smile that says he's finally free of me.

The defective daughter who brought him nothing but shame. I destroyed an enemy pack's beta. I'm Shadowcrest's problem now. He's won.

"Move." Damon shoves me forward with the spear shaft, not hard enough to hurt but enough to make me stumble.

The packhouse looms ahead, all stone and timber, built into the side of the mountain. We enter through a side door, down corridors lit by flickering torches. Other wolves press themselves against the walls as we pass, staring at me with wide eyes.

Word has already spread. The wolfless one who destroys wolves. They take me up three flights of stairs, down another hallway, and finally stop at a heavy wooden door.

Damon produces a key, unlocks it, and shoves the door open.

"Get inside now." I step into the room. It's larger than I expected; it doesn't look like a cell but someone's personal quarters.

A massive bed dominates one wall. Bookshelves line another. A fireplace sits cold and dark. Windows look out over the forest, though I can see iron bars embedded in the frames.

"Alpha's quarters," Damon says, seeing me look around in confusion. "You're his problem now. So you stay here where he can keep an eye on you."

He smiles, and it's not kind. "Where you can't hurt anyone else."

The other warrior steps forward with a set of chains. Heavy silver links, dark with age, that smell faintly of wolfsbane.

He approaches carefully, keeping the chains between us like a shield.

"Wrists," he orders, and I hold them out. What choice do I have? The metal is cold against my skin. The wolfsbane tingles, trying to suppress wolf abilities I don't have.

The irony would be funny if everything didn't feel like a nightmare. They back out of the room quickly, slamming the door. I hear the lock click and their footsteps retreating down the hall.