Chapter 6

He shook me so hard my vision blurred.

My broken rib sent sharp pain through my chest with every movement.

I pulled my right hand free and held it up between us.

"Isolde came to the guest house," I said. "She brought others with her and had me dragged into the market square. She told the crowd I was a traitor. They beat me. Someone stomped on my hand and broke the bones."

I looked at him steadily. "I'm a healer, Valerius. Do you have any idea what this hand means to me?"

His eyes dropped to my hand. For just a moment, something flickered across his face. Then it was gone, replaced by cold stone.

"You burned her work first," he said. "You pushed her to that point. If you hadn't been so spiteful, none of this would have happened."

He released me and stepped back. "Why couldn't you have been reasonable about this? Why did you have to drag the Council Elders into it and humiliate this entire pack?"

"Reasonable?" I said quietly. "You mean let her cripple my hand and say nothing? Let her walk free while I lose everything?"

"I was trying to survive, Valerius. Not take revenge."

"Survive?" He let out a harsh laugh. "You're still pretending this wasn't about jealousy? You can't stand that she's more useful than you."

I looked at him and felt the exhaustion settle deep into my bones. I was so tired. Too tired to argue with someone who had already decided what he believed.

"Think what you want," I said. "The Elders made the arrest. The law passed the sentence. If you're so powerful, go tear down their hall."

I turned and walked toward the inner room.

"Stop."

Valerius pushed past me and went straight to the vanity. He yanked open the bottom drawer.

Inside was a small carved wooden box.

My mother's box. The one that held her final gift to me — a moonstone amulet carved with protective runes, the only thing I had left of her.

"What are you doing?" My voice came out sharp with panic. I lunged forward to stop him.

Valerius was taller, stronger. He held the box high above my reach with one hand and opened it with the other. The moonstone amulet glinted in the dim light.

"I know this is the one thing you care about," he said coldly.

"So hear me clearly, Sera. If you ever touch Isolde again — if you ever damage her career or mine — I will destroy it."

"Valerius, you bastard!" I threw myself at him, clawing for the amulet. "That was my mother's! Give it back!"

"Remember what I said." He held the amulet as if he were about to drop it.

I froze. My whole body began to shake. Tears spilled down my face before I could stop them.

"Please," I whispered. I sank to my knees. "Please don't. I'm begging you. Don't touch it."

A flicker of satisfaction crossed his face, as if he had finally found the lever that controlled me.

"Then behave yourself," he said.

He turned toward the door, slipping the amulet into his pocket.

Just then, a voice shouted from outside. "Alpha! Emergency! The northern river has breached the barrier — the Alpha King need you to the Council immediately!"

Valerius's expression changed. He moved toward the door without hesitation.

I grabbed his sleeve. "Give me the amulet back. Now."

He was already thinking about the crisis, his mind elsewhere. He yanked his arm free with more force than he intended.

"Let go!"

The motion carried the full strength of an Alpha's instinct. I was thrown backward.

My body slammed into the sharp corner of the doorframe.

The impact was immediate and brutal. My head cracked against the wood. Something warm began streaming down my face, covering my eyes in red.

Valerius stopped. He turned and saw me on the floor, blood pouring from my forehead.

His eyes widened slightly. His hand lifted, as if to help.

"Alpha, please!" the voice called again from outside.

His hand froze in midair. Then he lowered it, closed his fist around the amulet in his pocket, and turned away.

"Clean yourself up," he said without looking back. "Stop being dramatic."

Then he was gone. I heard his boots on the stone, heard the horse's hooves strike the ground and fade into the storm.

I sat on the cold floor and tasted copper in my mouth. I touched my face. My hand came away completely red.

I started laughing.

In the darkness, with thunder rolling overhead and rain hammering the roof, I sat alone and laughed until my throat was raw.

This was the man I had loved for two lifetimes.

And in that moment, the last thread of feeling I had for him, bled out with the blood on my face and died.