Chapter 3

For the next few days, I brought him his meals on time, prepared his medicine, and kept his chambers tidy.

When he was awake, I looked after him. When he slept, I meditated in my side den.

We stayed within a few paces of each other, yet not a single word passed between us.

The unnatural silence blanketing the territory was clearly wearing on Augustus more and more.

Waves of divine backlash kept wracAlpha his body with pain, and without my spiritual energy to ease his suffering, his recovery crawled along at a miserable pace.

That night, he could hold it in no longer. "Do you have nothing to say to me?" he asked abruptly as I set down the bowl of medicine.

I looked up at him, calm as ever. "Say what?"

"Why?" he demanded, his eyes boring into me. "Why did you refuse me? Was all of this to catch my eye?"

I nearly laughed. After everything, he still believed the world revolved around him.

"My Alpha, you flatter yourself," I replied coolly. "I simply did not want it. That is all."

"I don't believe you!" Augustus snarled, seizing my wrist with a grip tight enough to crush bone. "Lisa, you have loved me for ten years. Your eyes cannot hide the truth."

Yes, I did love him for ten years. From the moment I first saw him at the mate ball, I was completely, hopelessly in love.

But that love? He destroyed it with his own hands in my previous life. He shattered it beyond any hope of repair.

I wrenched my hand free and stepped back. "That was then. Now, all I feel for you is pure disgust."

His face drained of color. It was not from the backlash, but from my words.

He stared at me, his eyes a storm of fury and hurt tangled together.

"Very well," Augustus bit out, each word clipped and sharp. "Lisa, you have brought this upon yourself."

The next day, Morgan moved into the Wolf Alpha's territory, taAlpha the den right next to mine, under the pretext of helping care for the ailing Alpha.

Every day, she appeared dressed to charm, carrying her homemade soup, playing the sweet and devoted angel for Augustus.

And me? I was left outside the door, stationed there like a miserable guard dog.

Every time Morgan walked out of Augustus's chambers, she made a show of casually revealing whatever new trinket he had gifted her, ensuring I saw every single one.

One day, it was a delicate collar woven from moonflower vines. The next was a polished moonstone pendant meant to soothe the mind and bring restful sleep. All of them, gifts from Augustus.

"Lisa, the Alpha says I am far too delicate and need these things to recover properly," Morgan said, her face the picture of innocence. "You are not angry with me, are you?"

I looked at her with a blank expression, as though watching a clown stumble through a tired act. "No."

Morgan's expression faltered at my response. She bit her lip, then quickly rearranged her face into a mask of concern.

"Lisa, I truly worry about you. You cannot shift into your wolf form, and you have angered the Alpha. How will you manage from now on?" she said.

She played the part of a caring friend, but I knew exactly what she was doing. She was rubbing it in that I was nothing but a useless, wolf-less outcast.

Most Wolfkind unlocked their wolf form between sixteen and eighteen.

In my previous life, I did not awaken my inner wolf until after childbirth, when the searing pain and surging maternal instinct pushed me past the brink.

But this time, I refused to wait for that.

I knew a secret that could allow a wolf-less to awaken their inner wolf ahead of time.

In Wolfkind's forbidden grounds, Gale Valley, there grew a plant called Moonshade Herb.

If consumed during the full moon, it could force the inner wolf to awaken.

The risk was staggering. Fewer than one in ten survived the attempt. Those who failed died as their bodies tore themselves apart. That was why the method had long been forbidden.

But for me, it was the only shortcut. I needed power, and I needed it fast, if I ever hoped to break free from this cage.

Under the cover of night, I slipped past the guards and quietly left the Wolf Alpha's territory.

Gale Valley was wrapped in a constant shroud of icy, howling wind. It served as Wolfkind's exile zone, a desolate prison where the banished mad, those who had lost their minds to feral rage, were locked away.

The moment I stepped into the valley, a thick stench of blood and a surge of raw, violent energy slammed into me like a physical blow.

Following the path etched in my memory, I moved cautiously deeper into the valley.

As I was about to reach for the Moonshade Herb, a low growl rumbled from behind me.

A massive, feral black wolf with blood-red eyes stood blocAlpha my path. Drool dripped from its jaws as it let out a guttural, bloodthirsty snarl.

My heart seized. The blood in my veins turned to ice.

I was certain I was about to die when a far more crushing aura descended from above. Augustus's towering figure appeared before me, placing himself between the beast and me.

He shifted into his signature massive black wolf form and unleashed a roar so fierce it reverberated through my very bones, aimed straight at the feral black wolf.

The feral wolf shrank back two steps, cowed by his presence, but its bloodlust kept it rooted in place.

Augustus shot me a glare sharp enough to cut. "Who told you to come here? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

I did not answer him. Instead, I stared past him, my eyes locked onto the plant glowing with an eerie blue light beneath the moon, perched dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.

It was the Moonshade Herb. I had to have it, no matter the cost.

As Augustus faced off against the feral black wolf, I seized my chance and bolted for the cliff's edge, my heart pounding with reckless resolve.

"Get back here!" Augustus roared.