Iris's POV

Cold air kissed my face as my eyes fluttered open.

I blinked against the darkness, looking up at the tall, dark trees above me. "An-Anya...." I groaned calling for my wolf but there was no response. The ground beneath my back was cold and damp. From the way the air smelled, I could tell right away that I was not in our pack territory anymore.

"Look who is finally awake," a voice said softly.

A woman stepped out from behind a large tree. I squinted through the dark, trying to see her face. When she stepped into the moonlight, my heart dropped into my stomach.

It was Nina, my cousin. The person I grew up with and trusted with my whole life.

I stared at her in utter shock. "Nina...?"

She did not answer me. Instead, Kael walked out from the shadows right behind her. Nina turned around, wrapped her arms tightly around his arm, and pressed her body close against his chest. She rested her head on his shoulder, smiling down at me like she had won a prize.

I could not believe what I was seeing.

"How could you do this to me?" I gasped, my voice raspy and dry. " Don't tell ne you're one of his mistresses...we are my family Nina."

"Because I wanted your life Iris," Nina laughed, running her fingers up Kael's shirt. "I wanted your title and my precious Kael and you fell right into our trap. Did you really think Kael loved you?"

I looked at the two of them standing together in the dark and a dry bitter laugh came out of my throat.

" This now all makes sense... I had a feeling something was going between the two of you back home before i married him. I wonder what you even see in him," I said, shaking my head. "This man is disgusting, Nina. He cheats on everyone and he has so many mistresses hidden all over the city. What makes you think you will be the only one huh...What makes you think he will not do the exact same thing to you?"

Nina’s smile vanished, and her eyes turned cold and angry. She let go of Kael and walked right up to where I was lying on the ground. She bent down, grabbed a handful of my hair, and pulled my head back violently.

"At least he chose me over you and your little daughter," Nina whispered directly into my ear, her breath smelling foul. "That day at the hospital... who do you think was on the phone with him?"

My heart stopped beating for a second and the world went completely silent around me.

"That was me moaning into the phone, Iris," Nina smirked, her face inches from mine. "I was the one keeping him in that hotel room. I made sure he did not leave to bring his blood to the hospital and I killed your little brat, and he helped me do it."

The truth crushed down on me like a massive rock. Nina was the one responsible for my daughter's death. She had intentionally held Kael back while Avery choked on her own breath and died on that hospital bed.

" Anya..." I called out again but there was still no response.

Before I could even call her again, Nina swung her hand and slapped me hard across the face. The force of her palm tore the skin on my lip, and the bitter taste of blood filled my mouth. " Anya won't help you...she is dead too." she said and let out a malicious laugh.

Kael stepped forward, his heavy boots crunching on the dry leaves. He grabbed me by the front of my dress and dragged me up onto my feet, pinning my hands behind my back.

"Look around, Iris," Kael said coldly, his voice echoing in the dark woods. "We are standing right at the border of the Lycan Kingdom."

"You always wanted to play the good Luna," Nina mocked me, stepping closer. "You always wanted to make peace with the Lycans, even after everyone told you they were dangerous monsters. So this is going to be very believable. We are going to kill you right here and throw your body across their border. Everyone in the pack will think you went to visit the Lycans and they slaughtered you."

"And once you are dead," Kael added, his voice empty of any feeling, "I will take full control of your family's royal land, and Nina will take your place as Luna."

I opened my mouth to yell, but Kael slammed his heavy fist directly into my face. Pain exploded behind my eyes as my nose broke. Blood poured down my face and into my throat. He dropped me onto the cold ground, and then the real nightmare began.

They wanted to torture me.

Kael raised his heavy leather boot and stomped directly onto my ribs. A loud, sickening crack rang out through the trees as my rib bones snapped in my chest. I screamed, clutching my side but Nina stepped up and kicked me hard in the stomach, knocking all the air out of my lungs.

"Get up, you weak bitch!" Nina yelled. " You're nothing without your wolf."

She picked up a long, thick wooden branch from the ground and swung it like a bat, hitting me hard across my back. The heavy wood tore through my dress and ripped my skin open. She hit me again and again, slamming the branch into my shoulders, my spine and my thighs until the wood finally snapped into pieces in her hands.

I rolled over on the dirt, coughing up thick black blood but Kael was not done.

He grabbed my right leg, pinned my knee against a jagged stone on the ground and slammed his heel down onto my joint. A horrible popping sound echoed in the quiet forest as my knee was completely dislocated. I let a scream so loud it would tear up my throat....the agony was so intense that my vision turned bright white, and my throat went raw from screaming.

Kael pulled out a sharp metal knife from his belt. He knelt beside me, grabbed my hair and sliced the blade deep into my shoulders, my arms, and my chest, carving lines into my flesh. Blood soaked through my black dress, pooling into the cold dirt around me.

Nina kicked my broken ribs one last time, laughing at the way my body twitched in the dirt.

"She is done Kael," Nina said, wiping her dirty hands on her coat. "She cannot even breathe anymore."

I could not move a single finger. My jaw was broken, my ribs were crushed into my lungs and every breath I tried to take felt like choking on fire. I lay there in a pool of my own warm blood, my lungs making a horrible rattling sound as I gasped for air.

Kael grabbed me by my ankles and dragged my broken body across the dirt. He pulled me fifty yards through the brush until he reached a line of dark stone markers.

He lifted me up and threw my limp body violently over the marker, dumping me directly onto the damp earth of the Lycan Kingdom territory.

"Go meet your dead daughter Iris," Kael grunted.

I heard their footsteps fade away as they walked back into the woods, leaving me all alone to die.

I lay in the freezing dirt, completely unable to move. The cold wind bit into my open wounds, but the physical pain was fading away into a strange numbness. My heart was beating slower and slower in my broken chest.

" At least... I can finally be free," I thought to myself, letting my eyes slowly close. " I am coming Avery. Mommy is coming to hold you again and we can finally be together..."

Just as I was gasping for my very last breath, a scent suddenly hit my nose.

It cut straight through the metallic smell of my own blood and the damp earth of the forest.

It was an incredible scent. It smelled like rich dark wood, crisp winter frost and pure, terrifying power. It was so intense and commanding that it made my fading soul tremble deep inside my broken body.

I tried to open my eyes, but I was too weak and everything was completely dark. Was it a rogue ?

Suddenly, two large and warm arms reached down and slid under my back and legs, effortlessly lifting my bloody body off the frozen ground, ot was so gentle that my body didn't ache. The figure pulled me gently against it's broad, solid chest , surrounding me with its scent.

I could not see it's face. and I could not say a single word.

I weakly leaned my cold head against it's chest, letting out one tiny, final whisper of air from my lips.

Then my heart stopped beating completely, Kael had won.