"Sorry, Damian, didn't mean for this stray to ruin your day. We'll drag her out of here!" one of the wolves snarled, lunging forward.
Before I could react, he clamped jaws on my forearm, fangs grazing bone, and shook me like a ragdoll.
"You gutter-scum thief! Snatched our cash like a rabid dog and thought you could scurry off? I'll tear your throat out before you blink!" he bellowed, veins bulging in his neck like writhing serpents.
I shrieked-a sound halfway between a wounded animal and a dying bird-as my legs buckled beneath me. The ground rushed up like a vengeful fist, slamming into my ribs with a sickening crunch that made stars explode behind my eyes.
"Let me go! That's my money!" I shouted, voice cracking.
"Pfft! You, with cash like that? Don't make me laugh!" he spat.
I tried to fight back, but he grabbed the back of my neck, pressing down hard.
It was like flipping a switch-my body froze, trembling uncontrollably, my face drained of color.
That grip, that pressure. it was the same feeling I got right before the shocks in the mental hospital.
My body had learned to fear it, conditioned to shut down.
The wolf, satisfied I'd gone still, started dragging me away, cursing under his breath.
The thought of going back to that place-those silver-lined walls, the endless howls muffled behind iron doors-sent a howl of desperation clawing up my throat, tears boiling over like molten lead down my cheeks.
"Enough!" Damian's voice cut through the air, sharp and cold as a winter storm.
His icy gaze swept over the wolf, who stiffened under it.
Damian fished a check from his pocket and flicked it at my feet like it was trash. "Cash it and vanish. Don't make me hose you off Wolfe turf like the mongrel you are."
The wolf dropped me like I was trash, scrambling to pick up the check before hightailing it out of there.
Before I could catch my breath, Damian's grip closed around my wrist, yanking me into the pack office building.
My chest screamed with pain, my head spinning as he shoved me against a wall.
His presence loomed over me, dangerous and suffocating.
"Emily," he growled, his voice dripping with venom.
"All these years, and you're living like some mangy stray?"
My heart felt like it'd been stabbed, the pain sharp and immediate.
"This. Is. Your. Reckoning."
Those hate-filled eyes burned into me, and for a moment, I wanted to scream the truth, to let it all spill out.
But I couldn't. I'd promised Kathleen I'd keep her secret, let her leave this world pure.
Three years ago, Kathleen and I were kidnapped.
She shielded me, and they dragged her away.
When I saw her again, her legs were broken, her face ruined. I set the place on fire, carried her on my back, ready to escape. But at the last moment, she grabbed my hand, tears streaming down her scarred face.
"Emily, get out. Live well." she'd whispered.
"I want to stay clean in the eyes of my mate, my brother."
She pushed me out and let the flames take her.
Kathleen wanted to stay pure.
Damian, the pack's golden wolf, deserved to stay pure too. I'd been through the filth of that place, marked by it.
I wasn't fit to be his mate anymore. One of us being tainted was enough.
So when Damian found me, eyes red with grief, clutching me and begging, "Emily, where's Kathleen? Why didn't she make it out?"
I forced a smile, tears flooding my face.
"She's dead. They said only one of us could live. I chose me, so she had to go."
I'll never forget the look in his eyes-shock, rage, despair all at once.
Damian's hands clamped onto my shoulders, his grip so tight it felt like he'd crush my bones.
"Emily, tell me the truth! Tell me it's a lie!" he'd roared.
But I gave him nothing.
Just silence.
The Wolfe pack wanted me dead.
Damian locked himself away for three days and nights, then handed me a one-way ticket out of the pack's lands.
His voice was raw with hate as he said, "Never show your face to me again."
He asked his rich pup friend to make sure I left.
What he didn't know was that his friend, to "avenge" him, locked me in a mental hospital for Three years.
