Chapter 2

While he was gone, I slipped into the cabin.

The moment I stepped inside, I froze.

The cabin contained not only a cellar sealed with runes and packed with meat from high-level prey, but also a sensory map on the wall that monitored every inch of the wilderness.

There was even a complex elemental perception chart, so precise it could track the phases of the moon.

Ryker had calculated everything, all to ensure I would never leave this forest.

And I had been foolish enough to give him my whole heart.

I clutched my festering leg and punched the frozen ground again and again, hammering my silent fury into the packed dirt.

The hand I had clung to in my darkest moment was the very same one that had shoved me into this hell.

Just then, the sensory map on the wall flared with a blinding crimson rune.

As one of my pack's most gifted Healers in a century, I understood the warning at a glance.

In one week, a once-in-a-century blood moon storm would descend upon this place.

This was my only chance.

I raised my hand and wiped away the warning runes on the chart one by one, returning the map to its calm state. I would use that storm to escape.

Ryker returned smelling of dew, looking as if he had just finished "patrolling the territory."

Gritting my teeth against the searing pain in my leg, I took a shortcut and made it back to the cave before him.

He bent down and, as he always did, gently kissed my forehead. I pretended to stretch lazily, and as I turned my head, my eyes landed on the object he was holding out to me.

It was a fresh, dripping deer's heart.

"For you, Elara, to build up your strength. Be a good girl and eat up. You'll need your strength for what I have planned tonight." His eyes were deep enough to drown in, but I knew this was Selena's favorite.

I suppressed the nausea churning in my stomach and forced a smile.

But then he tossed a pile of rotten meat at my feet. I feigned confusion and pointed at it. "What's that?"

Ryker lied without batting an eye. "It was all I could find. We have to eat to survive, so don't be picky."

High-ranking werewolves are naturally repulsed by rotten food. It's an assault on our senses.

The cellar was full of the finest fresh meat, but remembering Selena's order, I knew he had deliberately chosen the most disgusting thing he could find to prove his obedience to his master.

Fine. If he wanted a show, I would play my part.

Forcing myself to ignore the revulsion churning in my gut, I choked down the rotten meat, playing the part of a docile, compliant mate.

That night, I straddled Ryker, pressing my body against his, whispering sweet nothings into his ear, panting and moaning for him.

He laughed, a low, seductive sound. "Is your heat coming soon? My Elara is growing up." His large hand kneaded my waist, his hips expertly responding to my every move.

Just as his breath grew ragged and he was about to press down on me, I whispered against his jaw, suggesting we cut down some logs, build a raft, and cross the river to the village on the other side.

His body went rigid, and he shoved me away.

My eyes immediately welled with tears. I looked at him, letting the unshed tears make me look vulnerable. "Don't you want a real home with me? Do you want to be a lone wolf forever?"

His eyes flickered. He quickly put on his usual easy smile and leaned down to bite my lip. "How could I pass up the chance to have a beauty like you all to myself? I'll go get the wood tomorrow."

The rough touch of his fingers sent a chill down my spine.

The next day, he did indeed drag a few thick logs back to the cave entrance, making a show of preparing to build a raft.

But the following morning, he approached me with a look of frustration. "A pack of Rogues from nearby destroyed the wood. It's all ruined."

I fell into his arms, crying a river of perfectly performed tears.

Ryker wrapped an arm around my shoulders, stroking my back and soothing me for a long, long time.

He would never know I didn't care about the logs. What I was really after was the strong animal sinew he had used to bind them.

And while he was out on his fake "patrols" each day, I had been secretly using a Healer's breathing technique to draw the wolfsbane from my leg, inch by inch.

I had already begun my secret rehabilitation. He knew nothing.

As usual, he brought me a bowl of steaming, frothy "herbal" poultice.

I stared at the bowl, a chill running down my spine.

Ryker had once told me these herbs were extremely difficult to find, that he'd almost fallen off a cliff once while gathering them.

"Good girl, apply all of it," he urged, his voice low and soft. The pad of his thumb brushed against my inner thigh. "The more you use, the faster you'll heal."

"Elara, once you're better, on the day of our marking, I'll take you to the highest peak in the wilderness to watch the eclipse. Then we'll mark each other under the moonlight."

Ryker was a master of sweet talk. I once would have blushed and called him shameless, undeniably drawn into the thrill of it all.

But now I understood. His words were just a gentle way to smear poison on my wounds, a way to keep deceiving me.

Or rather, to get Selena everything she wanted.