Eloise POV:
The morning sun felt like a lie. It was bright and cheerful, completely at odds with the darkness brewing on my doorstep.
Alphons had left early for a council meeting—something about rogue movements on the northern border.
"I'm leaving two of my elite Delta guards at the gate," Alphons had said, kissing my forehead. "Do not open the door for anyone but me. I'll be back by noon to move your things."
I was packing a box of books when the doorbell rang.
I checked the security feed. It was Jaidyn.
She stood there, not in a wheelchair, not looking pale. She was wearing a tight red dress, checking her reflection in my window. She looked perfectly, infuriatingly healthy.
Rage, hot and sudden, flared in my chest.
I opened the door, confused as to why the Deltas hadn't stopped her. Maybe they were patrolling the perimeter?
"You made a miraculous recovery," I said, leaning against the frame.
Jaidyn jumped, then composed herself. A sickly sweet smile plastered onto her face. "Oh, Eloise. You know how it is. The healers gave me a boost. But I'm still so fragile."
"Cut the act, Jaidyn," I snapped. "Holden isn't here."
Her smile dropped. Her eyes, usually wide and innocent, narrowed into slits.
"You think you've won, don't you?" she hissed. "Because you ran crying to the big, bad King?"
"I think I dodged a bullet," I corrected. "You can have Holden. He's weak. You deserve each other."
"I don't want Holden," she laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "I want the title. I want the power. And you... you're just a beta bitch standing in my way."
She stepped forward, invading my personal space. She smelled wrong. Underneath the expensive perfume, there was that scent again—rot. But it wasn't sickness. It was corruption.
"Get off my porch," I warned.
"Make me."
I reached out to shove her back. My fingers barely grazed her shoulder.
"Ahhh!" Jaidyn threw herself backward.
It was a performance worthy of an Oscar. She flew off the porch steps and landed in the grass, screaming as if I had poured acid on her.
"Help! She's killing me!"
"Jaidyn!"
Holden burst from the bushes.
"Where are the guards?" I shouted, backing up.
Two men in black tactical gear emerged from the tree line. Mercenaries. One of them wiped a bloody knife on his pant leg. They had ambushed Alphons' men.
He didn't hesitate. He didn't ask questions. He charged at me, his eyes flashing red.
"Kneel!" he roared.
This time, he put everything he had into the Alpha Command.
I wasn't a wolf yet. I didn't have a rank. The command hit me like a physical blow to the stomach. My legs locked up. I couldn't breathe. I slumped against the doorframe, paralyzed.
"You vicious monster!" Holden screamed, spitting in my face. "She came here to apologize, and you attack her?"
"She... faked..." I gasped, fighting the invisible weight crushing my lungs.
"Save it!" Holden signaled to the mercenaries. "Grab her."
"Holden, you can't," I wheezed. "Alphons..."
"Alphons isn't here!" Holden grabbed my hair, yanking my head back. "And by the time he finds you, you'll be begging for forgiveness."
He pulled something from his pocket. A collar.
It gleamed with a dull, menacing luster. Silver.
Pure silver is poison to us. It burns the skin and cuts off the wolf from the human host. It blocks the Mind-Link.
"No," I whispered.
He snapped it around my neck.
The pain was instantaneous. It felt like a ring of fire searing into my flesh. I screamed, but the sound died in my throat as my energy was sucked away. My connection to the world, to the pack, to Alphons, vanished.
Static. Just static and pain.
They dragged me to a van. As they shoved me inside, I saw Jaidyn standing up. She brushed the grass off her dress, smirking at me. She blew Holden a kiss as he climbed in beside me.
"Where are we going?" I managed to rasp, the silver burning my vocal cords.
"Somewhere quiet," Holden said, looking at me with cold, dead eyes. "Somewhere you can think about what you've done to my family."
The van sped away.
I tried to reach out with my mind. Alphons! Alphons, help me!
Nothing. The silver collar acted like a Faraday cage for the soul. I was alone.
We drove for hours. When the van finally stopped, the air smelled damp and metallic.
They dragged me down a flight of stone stairs. A dungeon. This was the old Callahan estate, abandoned years ago.
Holden threw me into a cell. The bars were coated in silver dust.
"Rot here for a while," he spat. "Maybe when you're humble, we'll talk."
He slammed the gate shut. The lock clicked.
I lay on the cold stone floor, the collar eating into my neck. I closed my eyes, fighting the darkness threatening to swallow me.
I had to survive. I had to hold on.
Because when my King found out about this... the world would burn.
