All Chapters of To Kill Alpha Roderic: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

- RAVENAI smelled of death before I saw my mom, before she even spoke.And I knew that the world was gone before she dragged me away to our secret chamber.I was leaning my back against the chilly rock of the secret niche, and my body trembled so that I thought my bones would clatter.The fragrance of dried lavender and hearth smoke was no longer on my mom's hands, but I only sensed panic. It was the final heat. Then her shivering fingers were cupping my face, and I was rooted once more, before she shoved me back into the crevice behind the bookshelf."Stay put, Ravena," she hissed in a cracking voice. "Whatever happens, whatever you hear, never come out.""Mom....” I stammered, but she shook her head desperately."Swear to me," she said, lightly tracing the pendant that had been mine since the day I was born. “You gotta stay alive and hide your true self. When you manage to escape, always keep your pendant. One day, when the time is right, it will show the world who you truly are.""

- RODERICI was doomed. I began to realize that I was never getting out of this fucking wheelchair. It was like a moving cage. I clenched the metal rim until my fingers blanched as I dragged myself an inch forward, simply to feel the metal against my skin. My legs were like twigs, useless limbs covered with fancy pants.It wasn't supposed to happen. Not to a Grand Alpha, especially not to the executioner. A silver-laced hex, a splinter of blackened bog iron was driven into my spine during that shitshow at the Black Ridge. The healers dubbed it "the Mute's Grip". It not only snapped the bone, but it also decayed the linkage between my mind and my nerves. Most werewolves would have been instantly dead. I was simply left there, waiting for that twitch that would never come. “Are you even listening, Alpha Roderic?” The voice sounded hoarse.I looked up. Elder Kieran was leaning over the long oak table, his face turning a dark red. The council chamber was packed with some bitter old men

- RAVENAThe two goons Elder Marrow picked to dump me at the edge of the world didn't say a word the whole trip. They just gripped my arms, dragging me through the dirt until the dirt turned into frozen slush.We were heading for the Hollowland.Every wolf grew up hearing stories about this desolate, tundra-like expanse, and none of them were good. It’s basically a massive, frozen graveyard where the pack threw its trash. There were no trees, no shelter, nothing but these nasty, black "Iron-Grip" shrubs poking out of the permafrost like skeleton fingers. The wind didn't just blow out there; it made this horrible, constant wailing sound that got right under our skin and made us think of a dying pup. It’s where rogues went to starve or freeze to death. And now, without Astraea’s warmth humming under my skin, the cold hit me twice as hard. The thought made me shudder so bad that my teeth clicked."Keep moving," the bigger guard grunted, giving my shoulder a rough shove forward."I am m

- RAVENA"Hey! Drop that!" the paralyzed man shouted from the pool, his voice booming with a furious authority that made the water vibrate.I didn't answer. I just backed up into the slushy gravel, my breath hitching as I clutched the heavy pile of dry clothes against my chest."You're dead if I catch you!" he snarled, his dark eyes fixed on me with enough heat to melt the permafrost. "Put them down!"I didn't wait around to see if his legs miraculously decided to start working. I turned on my heel and bolted into the brush, disappearing into the dense woods like a ghost.My lungs were burning, screaming for oxygen as I frantically kicked my feet, trying to break through the surface of that freezing pool. When my head finally popped above the water, I let out a violent, hacking cough, sucking in the icy air so fast it made my chest ache."Lucas! Get your ass down here right now!" Behind me, the paralyzed man was shouting something, his voice deep and furious, echoing off the wet cany

- RAVENAMy feet felt numb and heavy, and every step sent an ache through my back. Between the injury after the Council's punishment, an escape through the freezing river, the drop off that waterfall, the lack of a wolf to keep me warm, and the hollow emptiness in my stomach, I was completely running on fumes. I hadn't eaten a real meal in days. My throat had gone completely dry, making every swallow a struggle.I didn't know where I was going anymore. I was just putting one foot in front of the other, moving away from the border, away from the Crimsonridge Pack, and away from that angry, paralyzed wolf by the pool.Eventually, the forest started to spin. The dark pines blurred together into a messy green smear, and my knees buckled. I didn't even try to catch myself. I just tipped forward, collapsing onto a bed of frozen moss beneath a massive, ancient pine. The ground was hard and unforgiving, but right then, it felt like a feather bed. I let my eyes close, the freezing cold wrappin