IA

n't take

led to the old basement beneath the pack house. The air grew colder with every step. I stumbled, still cr

arled. "The Alpha Prince rejected you and you still had th

shut behind us. The lock tur

to turn before the

ther didn't speak. He simply struck me across the shoulders, then the back, then the side of my head until I

e...st

didn'

aring the elegant dress she had danced in, a pair of sharp sh

lightly. "It only makes her look messier. A

fr

ist

r. I thrashed, cried, begged, but the hands holding me were too strong. Tears streamed down my face as my hair, the only thing I had ever privately liked ab

s aside and crouched in fr

look exactly lik

my teeth chattered. "W

wered, voice

old, wealthy, and he doesn't care about appearance as long as the girl is obedient and quiet. We a

it harder t

going to

But to Sell me over to an old man like I

pack will ever want you after tonight. At least this way you won'

ast slap, almost absent-m

scream, no one will come. They're

k turned. Their footst

lly I wa

torn and cut. My body ached from the blows. The broken mate bond still throbbed in my chest like an open wound that refused to close. Patrick's voice kept re

nside me cr

ted m

through a small, barred window high on the wall. I stared at it until my vision cleared.

wn was

sold off to the old minis

They were old and rusted. I braced my feet and pulled with everything I had left. One bar shifted. Then another. The gap was narrow-barely wide enough for me-bu

hit my face, c

oked

s farther tha

ped a

here for several seconds, gasping, certain something was broken. Then I forced myself up.

shorn, the black dress torn and dirty. Branches clawed at my arms. Roots tried to trip me. I kept g

rifted faintly on the wind. They were still laughing. Still dancing. St

't loo

breathing and the distant night insects. My legs finally gave out near a fallen log. I collapsed

aped the

d nowher

blood had beaten me, cut off my hair, and tried to sell me

the tears and dirt from my face with a tre

d no

thing with abs

hese woods than live as the