Chapter 5

"It wasn't me."

For once, I didn't grab Adrian's arm or turn on Vivian in a jealous rage. I unlocked my phone and pulled up my location history.

"I've been on the estate since four this afternoon. Check the front gate, the garage, or the back entrance. There are cameras everywhere."

Adrian glanced at the screen.

He could have verified my story with one order. He didn't. Vivian's injuries had already given him the answer he found easier to believe.

I pushed myself upright, my head pounding. "Check the footage. Check my phone. I never left."

Vivian stepped into the room and opened her coat. Bruises and scratches covered her neck and shoulders.

"I've backed down again and again," she sobbed. "Why won't you leave me alone?"

The last hesitation vanished from Adrian's eyes.

"Why do you keep forcing me to punish you, Elena?"

He sounded wounded, as though I had cornered him rather than the other way around.

That was his trick, even with himself. Every time he hurt me, he handed the blame back first. I wouldn't admit I loved him. I was jealous. I attacked Vivian. I made him use his authority.

As long as I forced his hand, he never had to admit he was choosing to break his mate.

"Because I didn't do this."

"You always have an excuse."

He looked toward Caleb, who stood outside the door. "Take her to the underground discipline hall. Three hours, level-one discipline. No weapons, no silver, no sexual humiliation, and no permanent damage."

A roar filled my ears.

The hall was supposed to punish pack members who seriously defied an Alpha. In reality, men who enjoyed violence had taken control of it years ago.

Three years earlier, a young wolf had almost died there. I demanded the place be shut down. Adrian accused me of undermining his rule and merely replaced the supervisor.

"Rules keep everyone in line," he'd said.

Now he was handing me over to a system he knew had already failed.

I lunged for the desk, grabbed a silver letter opener, and held it against my throat.

"If you're sending me down there, kill me now."

Every trace of color left Adrian's face.

"Put it down."

He moved slowly, his voice dropping into the tone he once used when my trauma took over. "Lena, look at me. Give me the knife."

His Alpha pressure disappeared. What replaced it was raw, almost frantic pleading.

"I won't send you. Just put it down first."

The terror in his eyes was real. He was afraid I would die.

He had never been afraid enough of the way I was living.

Vivian suddenly ran toward the second-floor terrace.

"Forget it! I'm the problem. Once I'm dead, the two of you can stop fighting over me."

She climbed the railing and jumped into the landscaped trees below.

"Vivian!"

Adrian spun around.

The letter opener slipped from my hand.

Vivian injured her leg and cut her forehead, but she remained conscious. Curled in Adrian's arms, she looked over his shoulder at me and smiled where only I could see.

She had won.

Adrian lifted her. Before leaving, he looked back at my bare feet among the broken glass and at the thin streak of blood the letter opener had left on the carpet.

His mouth moved, but Vivian moaned in his arms.

Whatever he meant to say went with him.

The ambulance arrived. Adrian carried her inside, then turned to Caleb.

"Three hours," he repeated. "The second the time is up, release Elena."

As the doors closed, I heard him add, "Call me as soon as a doctor confirms she's safe."

That message never reached anyone who cared whether I survived.

Even if it had, it wouldn't change the choice he'd already made.

He sent me into hell and asked the devils to be gentle.

The iron door of the discipline hall locked behind me.

Lights snapped on one after another. More than a dozen masked men stepped from the shadows.

Their leader rolled up his sleeves, nudged a padded restraint baton across the floor, and played a voice message.

[Alpha said three hours,] Vivian murmured through the speaker. [I want her to remember forever which woman he chooses.]

The men laughed.

The heavy lock slid into place, and my wolf howled inside my head.

The termination would take effect in three days.

For the first time, I wondered whether I would live long enough to be free.