Chapter Three

Kimberly POV

Something snapped. Hot, clarifying rage flooded my veins. I lunged forward and pushed her with all my strength. "How dare you say that? You're a traitor!"

Mona staggered back, collapsing to the floor with a theatrical shriek that silenced all conversation. She coiled up into a ball, wailing with a theatricality befitting the stage.

"Mona, my dear!" Catherine ran over, her face a mask of concern as she helped her daughter to her feet.

I towered over them, fists clenched and breathing heavy. The wolf in me paced, and snarled, ready to come out even without a full moon. I had never felt her so close to the surface outside of my shift.

I had, without warning, the crack of flesh against flesh — a burning pain across my cheek that whipped my head to the side. I staggered back, stunned, my hand coming up to touch the scorched flesh.

I turned slowly, anticipating Catherine’s wrathful eye. Instead I was looking into the obsidian pools of Alpha Derrick’s eyes.

“Do you dare strike my chosen mate?” he growled, the words low enough to rattle in my bones.

The hall went completely still, watches and all eyes trained on Alpha Derrick Wilson—the most notorious wolf like me in all of Perth—when he brought his hand up to hit me again.

But someone caught his wrist.

I could see my father standing next to us, white-knuckled on Derrick’s arm. “You have rejected her,” he said, each word a precise, deadly dart. “But she is under my protection until that three-day time is up.”

Derrick's glares sharped with corrosive menace. “You would dare challenge me, Darwin?”

“I would remind you of pack law,” my father said evenly. “That blood must be spilled tonight, blood of the Covenant and blood of the one who is part of the Covenant.”

For one heart-pounding moment, violence crackled between them — two top hunters on the cusp of shredding each other to bits.

Then Derrick smiled, a freeze of lips that never warmed his eyes. "Very well. Three days. And then she is mine to discipline however I want.”

He took a step back, then extended his hand toward Mona, who grasped it with a simpering grin. As he walked her out with his hand on her back, she looked back over her shoulder at me, and her face was a combination of triumph and something more —something that resembled, a little bit, fear.

My father’s hand rested on my shoulder, steadying me. “We need to talk,” he said softly. "Now."

The whispering of the crowd followed us like poison smoke as I trailed behind him. We navigated our way through hallways into his private study, a sanctuary no one was allowed to enter.

He shut the door and propped himself against it, suddenly seeming older than his fifty years. “Three days and we’ve got to get you out of Perth.”

I stared at him in incomprehension. "What?"

"Listen carefully, Kimberly." He went to his desk, unlocking a concealed drawer. “I had a feeling something like this would happen. Catherine has seemed… withdrawn lately. Secretive."

"You knew?" My voice cracked. "You knew Mona and Derrick—"

“I thought,” he amended, pulling out a thick envelope. "But I couldn't prove it."

“If you suspected, why would you hand me over to him?”

My father’s gaze connected with mine, full of regret and calculation. “Because I wanted to know for sure. And because I knew I needed Derrick to think that he’d won.”

He shoved the envelope into my hands. “Inside is enough cash to take you far away from here. New IDs, contact info for allies who owe me favors.”

My hands quaked around the packet. "You want me to run? To leave the pack?"

“I want you to stay alive,” he said sternly. “Derrick Wilson is not what he appears to be. This alliance, this engagement — it has nothing to do with territory or peace.”

"Then what is it about?"

My father’s face darkened. "Power. Old power that demands a certain blood line.”

“Mona’s bloodline,” I whispered, bits and pieces falling into place. Catherine’s ardent insistence that Mona was special, that she was different. The way she’d been primed from birth for something bigger.

"Yes. But there's more." He hesitated. “Your wolf woke when you caught sight of him, didn’t she?”

I froze. "How did you—"

"I know my daughter." He gripped my shoulders. "Kim, listen to me. The reason your wolf has been asleep all these years—it’s the same reason Derrick needs Mona. You both hold something rare in your blood, something most packs lost generations back.”

My head spun. "I don't understand."

"You don't need to, not yet." He looked at the door, raising a tension that seemed to radiate from him in waves. “You just have to get as far from here as you can before those three days are over.” Find the people on that list. They'll explain everything."

"But what about you? And what about Mona?" Still, I felt a pang of worry for my sister despite all.” Something was off about her behavior — it was too extreme, too quick.

"I'll handle Mona." His face relaxed a little bit. "And don't worry about me. I’ve been through worse than Derrick Wilson.”

A knock on the door brought us back to silence. My father slipped the envelope into my dress. “Regardless of what happens,” he said in a whisper, “don’t return to Perth.

The door opened to reveal Catherine’s thin silhouette. She scanned us, eyes cold and calculating.

“Alpha Darwin,” she said with syrupy voice. “Alpha Derrick requests your presence. To talk about the new arrangements.”

My father straightened, slipping effortlessly into his Alpha persona. "Of course." His gaze locked on me one last time and in it was the message I understood without words.

Run. Now.

I nodded in the monosyllabic way that could make it seem like I understood everything and nothing all at once.

"Oh my! Look at you! Already crying … Kim, save your tears. “This is only the start of your suffering!”

"You're my sister! How can you be so cruel?" I cried, my voice cracking.

"Who's your sister? Do you forget you’ve just been rejected? “You’re not in this family anymore!” Mona sneered.

I screamed and pushed her away because I could not control my anger anymore.”

"How dare you say that? You're a traitor!"

Mona stepped back, collapsing to the floor with a theatrical wail. I knew she didn’t mean it, but I didn’t care. I took my eyes off the drama queen lying on the floor.

Everyone suddenly turned and looked at us, shocked to see Mona on the ground, crying.

"Mona, my dear!" Concern etched across her face, Luna Catherine rushed to her and attempted to lift her up.

Before I had time to understand what was happening, there was this burning sensation on my cheeks. 

 A loud slap had hit my face, my cheek stinging with pain as I turned around to see who had done it…