Chapter 3

HAZEL

By the time I returned to my room, I had made a decision that terrified me more than anything Margaret had said.

I was going to leave the Larkspur Pack, even if escaping meant walking into the wilderness with a failing body and a wolf who could barely answer my calls. Margaret had made it clear that my suffering would continue as long as I remained under my parents' roof, and after what I had heard in that secluded room, I could no longer pretend that the people I loved would protect me. Still, a small part of me hoped Mother might listen if I explained everything without shouting or accusing anyone, so I wiped my tears, covered the fresh needle marks on my arms with my sleeves, and went looking for her.

I found her in her sitting room, choosing jewelry from a velvet box while two maids arranged dresses across her bed. When she saw me, she frowned and dismissed the maids with a wave, but her expression softened only enough to hide her irritation.

“What is it now, Hazel? I have a great deal to do tonight.”

“Mother, please, I need you to listen to me.” I stepped closer, struggling to keep my voice steady. “Margaret has been lying to us about her illness. I heard her speaking to someone, and she admitted that she has been pretending to be weak so that you and Father will keep protecting her.”

Mother's hand stopped over the jewelry box before she slowly turned toward me.

“Do you understand what you're accusing her of?”

“I'm telling you what I heard! She said she knows the blood transfusions are making me weaker, but she doesn't care because she wants to keep her place in this family.” I pushed up my sleeves, showing her the purple marks covering my arms. “Look at me, Mother. Please, just look at what has been happening to me.”

For a moment, her eyes moved over the bruises, and I thought I saw a flicker of concern. Then she sighed and closed the jewelry box as though I had brought her another problem she was tired of solving.

“Margaret has lost her father and everything she ever knew,” she said. “She is still struggling with the terrible things she experienced during the war, and now you want me to believe she has invented an illness just to steal your place in this family?”

“I'm not asking you to choose between us! I'm asking you to investigate what she's doing before she destroys me!”

“Enough, Hazel.” Her voice hardened. “Ever since Margaret arrived, you have behaved as though sharing your family with her is some terrible punishment. I expected better from you, especially after everything we have taught you about kindness and loyalty.”

I stared at her, feeling something inside me crack.

“Kindness?” I whispered. “Is that what you call letting me bleed until I can barely stand?”

Before she could answer, Father entered the room, already wearing the angry expression I had learned to fear. He must have heard our raised voices from the corridor because he barely glanced at my arms before turning his attention to my face.

“What is happening here?”

“Your daughter has decided to accuse Margaret of faking her illness,” Mother replied.

Father's expression darkened immediately.

“Hazel, have you lost your mind?”

“Father, please, just listen to me. The physician knows something is wrong with my blood, and Margaret admitted that she has been using me because she knows you will never question her.”

He stepped toward me, and I instinctively moved backward.

“Do not drag the physician into your jealousy, and do not create another scene in this house,” he warned. “Margaret has been through enough without you spreading cruel lies about her.”

I stared at him, searching his face for even the smallest sign that he might reconsider, but there was nothing there except anger.

“What if I'm telling the truth?” I asked quietly.

“Then you should have some evidence before making such disgusting accusations.”

I almost laughed because the evidence was written across my arms, but the sound caught in my throat when I realized that neither of them cared enough to examine it. I lowered my sleeves, turned away, and walked out before they could say anything else, carrying the last pieces of my hope with me.

That evening, I sat alone in my room while the sun disappeared behind the distant mountains. My wolf stirred weakly when I tried to reach her, but she offered no words, and the silence frightened me more than I wanted to admit. I had always believed that no matter what happened, my family would be my shelter, but now I understood that I was trapped inside a house where even my pain could be used against me.

I was preparing to lie down when I heard voices coming from Father's study across the corridor. The door was not fully closed, and I recognized my parents' voices immediately, so I approached quietly, hoping I might finally hear something that would help me understand what was happening.

“Tommy Sunwell will arrive with Louis tomorrow,” Father said. “This masquerade is an important opportunity, and I expect Margaret to make a good impression.”

Mother gave a thoughtful hum. “She is beautiful, well-mannered, and grateful for everything we have done for her. If Tommy takes an interest in her, it could secure her future beyond anything we could have arranged ourselves.”

“And if he chooses her, our family will have a powerful connection to the Lycan throne.”

My stomach tightened as I listened.

Tommy Sunwell was not an ordinary Alpha heir. He was the future ruler of the North, a man whose power reached far beyond the borders of any single pack, and I had grown up hearing stories about the respect his name commanded. I had never imagined that my parents might use his arrival to arrange Margaret's future, but the conversation that followed left no room for doubt.

“What about Hazel?” Mother asked after a pause.

Father sighed impatiently. “Hazel has become difficult, and her health is a concern, but we cannot allow her behavior to ruin this opportunity. Margaret deserves a chance at happiness after everything she has endured.”

“And Hazel?”

“She will attend the ball and behave herself. That is all I expect.”

I pressed my hand against my mouth to keep from making a sound. They had taken my blood, ignored my suffering, and defended the girl who was destroying me, and now they were preparing to give her the future I had once dreamed of without even considering what I wanted. For the first time, I wondered whether my parents would ever see me as anything more than an inconvenience standing between them and the daughter they had chosen.

I returned to my room before they could discover me listening, and as I looked around at the familiar walls, the decorated shelves, and the bed where I had cried myself to sleep countless times, I knew I could not stay another night. I packed a few clothes into a small bag, took the little money hidden inside my jewelry box, and wrapped a thick cloak around my shoulders before standing in front of the mirror.

“I can't keep living like this,” I whispered.

My wolf gave the faintest response, like a dying spark buried beneath ashes, and I closed my eyes as tears slipped down my cheeks.

“I'm going to get us out of here,” I promised her. “Even if we have nowhere else to go.”

I knew the guards watched the main doors closely, and I was too weak to fight my way past them, so I needed a distraction. Remembering the unused side room near the western corridor, I took a candle and a small piece of cloth, then waited until the household grew quiet and most of the servants had retired for the night. My hands trembled as I set the cloth near an old stack of linens and allowed the flame to catch, and when the first thin line of smoke rose toward the ceiling, I hurried away before fear could make me change my mind.

The alarm sounded sooner than I expected.

“Fire! There's a fire in the western corridor!”

Doors opened, servants shouted, and hurried footsteps filled the house as guards rushed toward the smoke. I pulled my cloak over my head and slipped through a side passage, keeping my face lowered while everyone else hurried in the opposite direction, and for one brief moment, I felt something I had almost forgotten.

Freedom.

I reached the rear entrance and stumbled outside into the cold night air, clutching my bag as I made for the trees beyond the estate. The pack boundary lay farther ahead, marked by an old stone path that wound between the forest and the hills, and I knew that if I crossed it, I would finally be beyond my parents' immediate control. But with every step, my body grew heavier, my breathing became painful, and the darkness seemed to stretch farther across the path.

“Please,” I whispered, forcing my legs to keep moving. “Just a little farther.”

My knees suddenly buckled.

I struck the ground hard, and my bag slipped from my hand as I tried to push myself up, but my arms shook too violently to support me. The trees blurred above me, the cold earth pressed against my cheek, and my wolf's presence faded until I could barely feel her at all.

Then I heard footsteps pounding along the forest path.

“Who left someone out here in the cold?” a deep male voice demanded, dangerously close.

I tried to lift my head, but darkness swallowed the world before I could see who was coming.