Audrey POV:
Pain wasn't a sensation anymore; it was the atmosphere.
I woke up to the cage door groaning open.
"Up," Jake said. His voice was dead.
He dragged me by my hair up the stairs, into the clinic lobby. It was a circus. Staff, patients, and Jada.
Jada held one of the twins. The boy had a small, theatrical bandage on his finger.
"She did it!" Jada shrieked, pointing at me. "She used blood magic! My baby just started bleeding! It's a curse!"
"I didn't..." My voice was a croak.
"Silence!" Jake’s Alpha Command clamped my jaw shut.
"The Pack Law is clear," Jake addressed the room. "Witchcraft against a pup is a capital offense."
"The doctor found hex bags in her office!" Jada lied, burying her face in the boy's neck.
"Since you use your mouth to lie and curse," Jake said, turning to me. He motioned to the head of security.
The guard handed him a device. A silver muzzle. It looked like a medieval torture instrument—a heavy, intricate clamp with internal spikes.
My eyes went wide. "No," I whimpered. "Jake, it's Audrey. Look at me."
He didn't see Audrey. He saw a threat.
Two guards forced me to my knees.
"Hold her."
He stepped closer. I smelled him—rain and pine—corrupted by the lie he was living.
He brought the muzzle to my face.
"This will teach you silence," he whispered.
He clamped it shut.
*Sizzle.*
The silver spikes bit into my cheeks and lips. The metal fused to the skin instantly. I tried to scream, but the sound died in my throat, trapped behind the burning metal.
Tears blurred my vision. The smell of searing flesh filled the lobby.
Jake stepped back, wiping his hands as if he’d touched something filthy.
"Hang her up," he ordered. "Let the Pack see what happens to witches."
The guards grabbed a rope. They tied my ankles.
The world flipped. I was hoisted toward the chandelier.
Blood rushed to my head, throbbing against the burns. I swung there, inverted, a display piece of cruelty.
I looked down at Jake. He was staring up, chest heaving.
*I reject you,* I thought. *I reject this life.*
Deep inside, the White Wolf opened her eyes. She didn't growl. She didn't howl. She detonated.
