Aveline’s POV
I set the final platter onto the long oak table, my fingers shaking so badly I nearly dropped it. Every muscle in my arms screamed in protest, and my chest felt crushed beneath an invisible weight. Still, I straightened, forcing my body to obey. Serving, enduring—that was all I was allowed to do now.
The aroma of roasted venison mixed with herbs and slow-cooked roots drifted through the hall, rich and familiar. It was the dish Alpha Alaric had always favored.
Even like this—hollowed out, starved, stripped of dignity—I had cooked for him. Somewhere deep inside, a foolish thought lingered: maybe the scent, the taste, the meals I once made with devotion would stir something in him. Maybe it would remind him of the woman who used to sit at his side.
He occupied the seat at the head of the table, posture rigid, expression carved from ice. But when his eyes flicked briefly toward the food, I saw it—a momentary crack. A shadow of longing. As if memory reached for him despite himself. My heart clenched painfully, though I refused to let that fragile spark turn into hope.
“Sit down,” my mother-in-law snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut.
I moved toward one of the chairs, but she spoke again before I could lower myself.
“Not there. On the ground.”
I froze. My breath caught, lips parting in disbelief. Surely I had misheard. I lifted my eyes toward Alaric, silently pleading—begging him to stop this, to say something, anything. He didn’t even look at me.
I swallowed, my stomach twisting violently with hunger.
Slowly, unwillingly, I sank to the floor.
Not beside the table. Beneath it. Reduced to eating at their feet—like a stray, like something unworthy of a chair. Less than even the lowest omega.
The shame burned hotter than any wound, but my body was too drained to resist. Hunger gnawed mercilessly, hollowing me out from the inside. I pressed my lips together, forcing myself to endure. I had been humiliated before in this pack… but never by Alaric. Never by the people who once called me family.
A plate was placed before me on the floor. I reached for it and began to eat, every bite scraping raw against what remained of my pride.
Then a sharp cough shattered the heavy silence.
“Alpha—!”
Elowen’s voice rang out, brittle and panicked. She coughed again, harder this time, red staining her lips. Her hand flew to her mouth, eyes wide with terror. “I—I’ve been poisoned!”
The hall erupted. Gasps, chairs scraping back, warriors leaping to their feet. Every gaze swung toward me—toward the woman crouched on the floor, the one Elowen had always painted as her enemy.
I froze, food still in my mouth, as she crumpled dramatically into another wolf’s arms.
Alaric shot up so fast his chair shrieked against the stone. His fury was a physical force as he strode toward me and kicked the plate from my hands. Food scattered across the floor like debris.
“How dare you?” His voice thundered, his Alpha aura crushing down on me until it was hard to breathe. “You didn’t learn anything, Aveline. Now you’re vile enough to poison a meal?!”
I flinched as if struck. “No—I didn’t!” I cried, my voice breaking.
He didn’t hear me. His eyes blazed with betrayal.
“Take Elowen to the infirmary,” he ordered sharply. “Immediately!”
Warriors rushed to comply. In the chaos, bodies shifting around her, I caught one fleeting glimpse of Elowen’s face. Her lips curved—just barely—into a thin, victorious smile.
Ice flooded my veins.
She planned this. Every bit of it.
And Alaric… Alaric never questioned it.
“Elites,” he called, his voice slicing through the noise. His gaze returned to me, merciless. “Deal with her. Throw her into the Death Garden.”
The world tilted. My legs gave way beneath me.
“No…” My voice shattered. Tears spilled freely as I crawled forward, palms flat against the floor. “Alpha, please—don’t. You know what that place does. Wolves don’t survive it—”
“Enough!”
His command slammed down, silencing not only me but my wolf, who whimpered and retreated inside.
My chest rose and fell in broken gasps. I looked up at him, desperate. “Please listen. I would never poison her. You know me. You know my wolf—”
His jaw tightened. The eyes I once trusted, once called home, regarded me like dirt beneath his boots.
That was when it sank in.
He would never choose me.
Not over her.
Hands seized my arms. I was dragged across the floor, my pleas dissolving into screams, then into hoarse sobs. No one intervened.
When the iron gates of the Death Garden creaked open, dread washed over me instantly. Rot and decay saturated the air, the cursed flowers radiating a deathly pressure that crushed a wolf’s spirit. Mine whimpered in fear, curling inward. The moment my bare feet touched the soil, weakness flooded my limbs.
The gates slammed shut.
My breathing turned shallow, my chest constricting as though unseen hands were closing around my heart. Darkness threatened my vision, but I forced myself to move, clinging to one single instinct:
Survive.
With shaking fingers, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the burner phone I had hidden for weeks. The call connected almost immediately.
“…Aveline?” my father’s voice answered.
I swallowed, forcing strength into my tone. “We need to change the plan,” I rasped. “Burn the Death Garden. Make it look like… make it look like I died here.”
“Aveline—”
“Do it,” I insisted, tears spilling as my knees finally gave out. “If Alaric wants me gone so badly, let him believe it worked. Let him live with it. Let him regret.”
The rescue came swiftly—shadows moving through the night. I barely registered the arms lifting me, the smoke filling my lungs, the fire roaring behind us as flames consumed the cursed garden.
A body—already prepared—was left behind to burn. Around its charred neck, they placed the necklace Alaric had once given me. The symbol of a love I once believed in.
Now, it would mark my death.
And the beginning of his punishment.
...
Alaric’s POV
The door slammed open as my Beta staggered inside, breathless and pale.
“Alpha!” he gasped. “The Death Garden—it caught fire. The flames were uncontrollable. We couldn’t save her.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “We found a body… burned beyond recognition. But—”
He hesitated.
“She was wearing Aveline’s necklace. The one you gave her.”
