Chapter 3

"Elisa, are you courting death?!"

Nicola’s enraged voice echoed, a visceral growl that sent a chill down my spine. Before I could react, he shoved me with all the force of an apex predator. My body hit the stairs hard, the back of my head slamming against the edge with a sickening crack.

White-hot pain blurred my vision, and I tasted copper in my mouth. Through the ringing in my ears, I heard his fury unleashed.

"Elisa, do you ever get tired of tormenting people?!" His words sliced through me like claws. "The air in this house has been poisoned by your presence! You make me sick!"

I struggled to sit up, clutching the back of my head as warm blood seeped through my fingers. "Enough," I rasped, my voice trembling but firm. "I’ll move out. You’ll never have to see me again."

"Good." Nicola's rage seemed to falter for a moment, his jaw tightening. "You better keep your word."

He stood there, breathing heavily, his piercing golden eyes glaring down at me as if I were a speck of dirt on his pristine world. Finally, with a sneer, he turned away, scooping Sasha into his arms like she was some fragile treasure.

I watched them disappear, his growl still reverberating in my chest.

The pain was excruciating, but not just from the wound.

I pressed my hand against the sticky blood pooling at the back of my head, a bitter laugh bubbling from my lips.

Once, this man—this wolf—would have turned the world upside down if I so much as scraped my knee.

I remembered a time when Nicola and I weren’t so estranged.

As a child, I adored him. The elders had told me about our arranged bond, how we were destined to become mates.

I clung to that idea, trailing behind him like a shadow.

When he rebelled, sneaking off to the woods to hunt, I followed. When he got into disputes with neighboring packs, I was there, trying to mediate.