Harper POV:
The forest was alive with the sound of death.
Rogues—wolves who had surrendered their minds to madness and bloodlust—were circling. I could smell their rot, the stench of their matted, unwashed fur. I was naked, shivering violently, and weak from the agonizing silver burns.
A twig snapped. A pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the brush. Then another.
*Meat,* a collective voice hissed in my head. Rogue minds were fractured, broadcasting their hunger like a radio signal.
I tried to stand, but my legs gave out. My Inner Wolf was silent. I was going to die here. After everything, I would be nothing but a meal.
Then, without warning, the heavy clouds parted. A beam of pure, concentrated moonlight struck the ground between me and the Rogues.
The Rogues yelped, shielding their eyes, and scrambled back into the shadows as if burned by fire.
The light didn't hurt me. Instead, it felt... warm. Like a mother's soothing hand.
*Harper,* a voice whispered. It wasn't in my head. It was in the wind. *Seek the truth. Remember.*
The light formed a path. I didn't question it. I forced my battered body to move. I crawled, then walked, stumbling over roots until my feet found stone.
The path led me straight to the ruins of the Old Temple, a place strictly forbidden by Pack Law. It was ancient stone, covered in centuries of moss.
As I stepped onto the stone floor, the air shimmered.
*Look,* the Goddess whispered.
A vision formed in the center of the room. It was like a hologram, but woven entirely of shifting mist.
I saw the lake. I saw the sun shining. It was the day Leo died.
I saw myself in the garden, looking at my journal.
Then the vision shifted. It moved to the boat house, fifty yards away.
I saw Eli. And I saw Kasey.
They were tangled together. Eli’s eyes were glazed over, black with lust.
*The Rut,* I realized with a jolt of sick horror. Eli had gone into a biological Rut, a time of intense breeding instinct. But why with her?
Then I saw the bottle in Kasey’s hand. She smashed it on the floor. A purple gas rose up. Synthetic Pheromones. Illegal. And highly potent. She had drugged him to trigger the heat.
But that wasn't the worst part.
In the vision, I heard a splash.
"Daddy!" A small, terrified voice cried out from the water. "Daddy, help!"
Leo.
Eli paused, his head snapping up. He had heard it. I saw the flash of recognition in his eyes.
But Kasey grabbed his face, forcing his gaze back to her. She kissed him, hard. The pheromones spiked. Eli’s eyes rolled back. He growled, ignoring the cry of his son, and pulled Kasey closer.
They continued. While my son drowned fifty yards away, my Mate was rutting with the woman who was murdering him.
The vision shifted again. Inside the Alpha office.
"The boy is gone," Kasey said, fixing her hair. "Now... about Cody..."
"He is my blood," Eli said, calmly pouring a drink. He looked... relieved. "Cody is strong. Leo was weak, like his mother. This is for the best, Kasey. You have given me a true heir."
Cody was Eli's son. He had been cheating on me for years.
The scream that tore from my throat shattered the silence of the ruins. It was primal. It was the sound of a soul fracturing beyond repair.
Deep inside me, my Inner Wolf woke up.
She didn't whimper this time. She roared. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated rage. The dormant weakness vanished, replaced by a surging power that felt like lightning in my veins.
*KILL THEM,* my wolf snarled. *TEAR THEIR THROATS OUT.*
I fell to my knees, dry heaving into the dirt. The Mate Bond, that sacred thread I had worshipped, now felt like a noose around my neck. It felt like slime. I could feel Eli’s existence at the other end of it, and it made me want to vomit.
I couldn't go back. Not to kill them. Not yet. I would die if I tried.
*Sever it,* the Goddess whispered. *Be free.*
I looked at the altar in the temple. There were carvings I recognized from my studies. The Ritual of Severance. It was forbidden because it required a terrible price.
To break a Fated Bond without one party dying, you had to sacrifice the memories attached to the bond.
All of them.
Even Leo.
My heart stopped. To forget Eli... meant I had to forget my son.
"No," I wept. "I can't lose him twice."
*To avenge him, you must survive,* the wind whispered. *To survive, you must forget.*
I stood up. My hands were shaking, but my resolve was iron. I would not be Eli Stark’s victim. I would be his reckoning.
I walked to the altar.
"I accept," I whispered.
From the shadows of the temple, a figure emerged. He was huge, towering over seven feet. His energy was not just Wolf; it was ancient. Lycan.
"Are you sure, little wolf?" his voice was deep, like thunder rolling over hills.
I looked up. I recognized him from the history books. Casey Long. The Lycan King.
"Help me," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "Help me kill the woman I was."
