Claim of Shame

Chapter 5

The single word cracks across the clearing like thunder. Every head turns toward the tree line on the western edge of the ceremony grounds.

The border between Nightshade and Shadowcrest territories runs through that forest—marked by the ancient stones placed by the first alphas, back when packs were still forming alliances and drawing boundaries.

A figure steps out of the shadows between the trees. Alpha Kade Blackthorn of the Shadowcrest Pack.

Even from a distance, his presence is unmistakable. He moves with that predator's grace all alphas possess, but there's something else about him—a coiled danger, like a blade waiting to be drawn.

He's dressed in black, practical fighting leathers, and even though he's technically on neutral ground, his hand rests casually on the knife at his hip.

Behind him, eleven more figures emerge from the forest. His warriors, also in black, fanning out in a loose formation that somehow manages to be both non-threatening and absolutely intimidating.

The Nightshade Pack erupts into chaos. Wolves surge to their feet, snarling. Warriors move to the front of the crowd, placing themselves between their alpha and the Shadowcrest wolves.

The tension in the air goes from ceremonial to combat-ready in seconds. Alpha Thorne raises his hand for silence. It takes longer than it should for the pack to settle.

"Alpha Blackthorn." Thorne's voice is carefully neutral. "This is Nightshade land and ceremony. You have no business here."

"On the contrary." Kade stops at the edge of the stone circle, his gray eyes scanning the crowd before settling on me. "I have very specific business here."

For the first time tonight, someone is actually looking at me. His gaze is intense, assessing, like he's reading something written on my skin that no one else can see.

It should make me uncomfortable. Instead, I feel oddly seen.

"We're in the middle of an exile ceremony," my father says sharply. He still hasn't looked at me, but now he's staring at Kade with undisguised hostility. "Whatever business you think you have can wait until—"

"The Claim of Shame," Kade interrupts, his voice cutting through my father's like a knife through silk.

"I invoke the Claim of Shame." The words hit the clearing like a bomb as wolves gasp. Someone curses.

Alpha Thorne goes very, very still. "You can't be serious," Thorne says slowly.

"I'm completely serious." Kade's eyes haven't left me. "The blood debt between Nightshade and Shadowcrest—the one your father incurred and never paid, the one that's hung between our packs for thirty years—I claim payment now through the ancient rite of Claiming Shame."

My father's face goes purple. "That debt was paid! Years ago! There's no—"

"Your father promised my father an alliance marriage," Kade says, his voice sharp enough to cut. "First daughter to first son. A binding of our packs. That marriage never happened because—well."

His smile is cold. "We all know what happened." The air in the clearing gets heavier.

Because yes, we all know what happened. Thirty years ago, the Nightshade Alpha's daughter was supposed to marry the Shadowcrest Alpha's son.

But she ran away three days before the wedding, disappeared into human society, and was never seen again.

The alliance fell apart. The two packs, which had been moving toward peace, remained enemies.

"That debt died with my father," Alpha Thorne says, but there's uncertainty in his voice now. "The old alliances, the old promises—they're not binding on—"

"Pack law says otherwise." Kade pulls a worn leather journal from his jacket. "The original agreement. Signed in blood by both alphas. Witnessed by both packs. Still binding under the ancient laws—the ones we all swore to uphold."

He opens the journal and begins to read.

"Should the alliance fail through fault of one pack, that pack will pay blood debt to the other. Payment may be claimed through gold, territory, or bond."

Kade closes the journal and looks directly at my father. "Your pack failed to honor the agreement. The debt remained unpaid, and now I claim payment through bond."

"There are no eligible daughters—" my father starts.

"No?" Kade's eyebrow arches. He looks at me again. "Funny, because I see one right here."

"She's being exiled!" My father's voice rises. "She's not packing anymore! You can't—"

"The exile hasn't been completed yet," Kade observes calmly. "She still wears the pack colors. She hasn't bled on the soil and hasn't left your territory. So legally, she's still a Nightshade Pack member, which means she's eligible for the Claim."

Alpha Thorne and my father exchange a look. I can see the calculation happening behind their eyes. They want to refuse, but pack law is sacred—especially the old laws, the ones written in blood.

Breaking them would weaken Alpha Thorne's authority and open him to challenges from other alphas who follow tradition more strictly.

If Kade takes me as his mate under the Claim of Shame, I become Shadowcrest's problem, not theirs. The shame of a wolfless pack member gets transferred to their enemy.

It's almost perfect.

"The Claim of Shame," Alpha Thorne says slowly, "requires the claimed to accept willingly. She has to speak the words of acceptance."

"I'm aware." Kade's eyes find mine again.

"Well, Sera Nightshade, what's it going to be?"

"This is absurd!" My father steps forward, his face twisted with rage. "You'd claim my—" He stops, catches himself. "You'd claim her? The wolfless one? As your mate?"

"The Claim of Shame doesn't require the claimed to be valuable," Kade says mildly. "In fact, that's rather the point. I claim your most worthless member to humiliate you.

To show everyone that the great Nightshade Pack's Beta couldn't even produce a proper wolf. That your bloodlines are so weak, your daughter is fundamentally broken."

Each word is designed to hurt and shame me, and it works—I can see my father's hands clenching into fists and see Alpha Thorne's jaw tighten.

But Kade's eyes, when they meet mine, tell a different story. There's something else there, something I can't quite read.

"So," Kade says to me, ignoring everyone else in the clearing. "What do you say, Sera? Exile or claim? Death or shame? Choose."