Ava POV:
Two days later, Liam dragged me to a private clinic.
"What is this?"
"Council required health screening," Liam lied. "To ensure you aren't carrying... diseases. From your time as a Rogue."
I had been a Rogue for forty-eight hours.
The doctor was a weasel on the Vanderbilt payroll. He performed the exam roughly.
Half an hour later, Liam stormed in, throwing a paper at me.
REPORT: SUBJECT SHOWS SIGNS OF MULTIPLE PARTNERS.
"It's fake," I said calmly.
"Don't lie to me!" Liam punched the wall. "You've been whoring yourself out! That's why your scent changed to ozone!"
"That is my scent, Liam. You just never bothered to learn it."
"You are confined to the penthouse," he declared. "Indefinitely."
He clamped a new silver bracelet around my ankle. This one was heavy duty. It sizzled against my skin, a constant, low-grade torture.
"You stay here. Think about your sins."
I sat on the floor for three days. I focused on the pain, using it as fuel.
On the fourth morning, Eleanor, Liam's mother, walked in with Chloe.
"Get up," Eleanor commanded.
"Chloe and Liam are having their official bonding ceremony tonight," Eleanor said. "You will be Chloe's bridesmaid. To stop the gossip."
"I'd rather be dead."
"If you don't," Chloe smiled, "Liam will move your father's grave to the pauper's field. The one that floods."
My blood ran cold. Desecration of ancestors was the ultimate threat.
"Fine."
"Good." Eleanor pointed to a garment bag. "The car leaves in ten minutes."
They left.
I looked at the silver bracelet. I looked at the window.
'Not today,' my wolf whispered. 'Today, we break.'
I closed my eyes, reaching past the pain, tapping into the White Wolf lineage. I grabbed the silver bracelet with both hands. My skin smoked. The smell of burning flesh filled the room.
I screamed silently, pouring ancient strength into my fingers.
'Crack.'
The metal snapped.
I threw it across the room. My leg healed instantly.
I grabbed my duffel bag and burner phone.
'To: Nyx'
'Message: DESTROY BLACKWOOD. NOW.'
I fried the electronic lock with a pulse of energy and walked out the back exit.
Free.
