Chapter 5

The horn sounded at dawn. Three long, mournful blasts that echoed across the territory like a death knell. I knew what it meant. Every wolf in Shadow Claw knew what it meant.

A public execution.

Rough hands dragged me from the basement, my legs too weak to support my weight. The enforcers hauled me across the muddy courtyard where the entire pack had gathered in a silent circle. Men, women, children—all of them avoiding my eyes as I was dumped at the front of the crowd like a piece of evidence.

Luca stood on the raised platform in the center, his Alpha aura crackling with dark energy. Beside him, Kara wore a flowing white dress that made her look like some twisted angel of death. And there, on her knees with her hands bound behind her back, was Stormi.

My heart shattered all over again.

"Pack members of Shadow Claw," Luca's voice boomed across the courtyard, "we gather to witness justice. This wolf has committed treason against your Alpha and Luna. She has aided a child-killer and plotted against the rightful leadership of this pack."

"No!" I screamed, trying to crawl forward. "She's innocent! She just brought me water!"

Luca's eyes found mine across the crowd. For just a moment—one heartbeat—I saw something flicker behind the glaze. Doubt. Pain. The ghost of the man who used to love me.

Then Kara's hand touched his arm, and the moment died.

"The penalty for treason," Luca continued, his voice growing colder, "is death."

Stormi lifted her head. Even with blood matting her hair and bruises covering her face, she looked directly at me. Her lips moved, forming words only I could hear: *I'm sorry, Luna.*

"Don't apologize," I sobbed. "Don't you dare apologize."

Luca shifted into his wolf form in one fluid motion. His massive black wolf stalked toward Stormi, who didn't flinch. She kept her eyes on me, steady and brave until the very end.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but I couldn't block out the sound. The wet tear of flesh. The crack of bone. The sudden, terrible silence that followed.

When I opened my eyes, my best friend was gone.

"Let this be a lesson," Luca announced, shifting back to human form, Stormi's blood still staining his mouth. "Anyone who aids the traitor will share her fate."

The crowd dispersed in hushed whispers. No one looked at me as I knelt in the mud, keening like a wounded animal.

But the cruelty didn't end there.

That night, they brought her to me.

The enforcers dumped Stormi's body onto the moldy mattress in my basement cell, her lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. Her throat was a mangled ruin, her skin already growing cold and waxy.

"Alpha's orders," one of them muttered, unable to meet my gaze. "Twenty-four hours."

The door slammed shut, leaving me alone with my dead friend.

I crawled onto the mattress beside her, my hands shaking as I smoothed her blood-matted hair. "I'm sorry," I whispered over and over. "I'm so sorry, Stormi. This is my fault. All of this is my fault."

I held her through the night, talking to her like she could still hear me. I told her about the dreams I used to have for my son. I told her how scared I was. I told her I wished I had died instead.

By morning, her body had grown stiff and cold. The smell of death filled the small space, but I couldn't let go. She was the last person who had shown me kindness, and now she was gone because of me.

A week passed in a blur of fever and despair. Then, footsteps on the stairs. Heavy ones I didn't recognize.

"This has gone too far, Luca."

Jacob. The Beta's voice was tight with barely controlled anger.

"She's dying down there," he continued. "Just exile her. Send her away. But this... this isn't justice. It's torture."

I heard Kara's sharp intake of breath from the top of the stairs. "How dare you question the Alpha's judgment? Are you another traitor, Beta?"

"I'm trying to save what's left of this pack's honor," Jacob shot back.

Then Luca's voice, low and dangerous: "You think I'm weak, Jacob? You think I should show mercy to a child-killer?"

"I think you're being manipulated—"

The explosion of rage that followed shook the entire house. I heard furniture crashing, Kara's theatrical gasp, and then heavy footsteps thundering down the stairs.

Luca appeared in the doorway, his eyes completely black with fury. Behind him, Kara's face was a mask of triumphant malice.

"You still have allies," he snarled, grabbing me by the hair and dragging me off the mattress. "You still think you can turn my pack against me."

"Luca, please—"

His fist connected with my jaw, snapping my head back. Stars exploded across my vision. He dragged me up the stairs, through the house, and out into the gray morning light.

The pack borders. The place where rogues were left to die.

He threw me to the ground and began to kick. My ribs cracked like kindling. My arm bent at an impossible angle. Each blow drove the air from my lungs until I couldn't even scream anymore.

"Bury her," he commanded the enforcers who had followed us. "Shallow. Let the earth have what's left."

As consciousness faded, I felt the first shovel of dirt hit my face. Cold. Final.

But in the darkness, something stirred. Something ancient and powerful, awakened by the taste of my blood in the soil.