The leash jerked tight, dragging me forward with brutal force. My neck snapped back, my body slamming into the pavement as the car pulled away.
It hurt–every bone in my body felt like it was coming apart–but at least it tore me out of that man’s filthy grip.
I collapsed on the floor, too weak to scream as the car kept moving and I was dragged behind it like some dying animal.
My skin scraped against the road, shredding flesh from bone. Blood trailed in long smears behind
- me.
From the window, Mila leaned out, laughing hysterically as she watched me bounce and flail behind the car.
The world blurred. My ears rang with a high–pitched buzz. Lights flickered across my vision, growing fainter with every breath. For a moment, maybe longer, I thought I really would die there on the street.
The car finally stopped.
The door swung open, and Carter stepped out casually. He looked down at me–bloodied, trembling, barely alive–with a bored expression.
“Harper,” he said, voice cold and detached. “You’d better get it through your head–those days of acting high and mighty? They’re over.”
“You’ll keep paying for what you did to Mila, Until she’s satisfied.”
My throat tightened. I couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe. All I could do was gasp like a dying thing at his feet.
Tobias, Carter’s former Beta, finally stepped forward–unable to keep watching in silence.
“Alpha, if you keep this up, she’s going to die,” he said, voice tense. “She needs a pack doctor, She won’t survive another day.”
Carter frowned, clearly annoyed by the interruption.
A pause. Then he snapped, “You’re getting really mouthy lately. Lock her up in the storage room and lock the door.”
“Carter, don’t be mad…” Mila clung to him, her voice sugary sweet as she wrapped her arms
around his.
“I went too far. I know I did,” she pouted. “But she hurt me so badly… I just wanted a little justice, that’s all…”
Chapter 4
His anger melted instantly.
Carter lifted a hand and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re not wrong, Mila. 1 promised I’d make you happy–and I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
With that, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs, murmuring sweet nothings about their upcoming trip to France.
The rest of the pack stood silent, heads lowered, no one daring to meet my eyes.
I tried to lift my head, but my vision swam. Everything was tinted red–my own blood trickling into my eyes. Even the light looked gray.
This time, I really didn’t think I was going to make it.
All I could see in my mind… was Landon.
If he knew what had happened to me–what I’d become–his heart would break.
And the worst part? The cruelest irony?
It wasn’t until this moment–on the brink of death–that I finally understood.
Besides my parents, the only person in the world who had ever truly loved me… was Landon.
I thought I was dying.
But I was wrong.
Because Tobias–bless his soul–waited until Carter left the pack and quietly carried me out of the storage room, smuggling me to the pack hospital.
He’d once owed me a favor. And he couldn’t bear to let me die like that.
With the last shred of strength I had, I grabbed his phone and dialed the only number I could
remember.
“Landon… I need your help…” I croaked.
Meanwhile, across the ocean, Carter sat in a luxury villa in southern France, staring blankly out at
the sea.
He hadn’t intended to kill me.
He just wanted to put me in iny place–for Mila’s sake.
Still, guilt gnawed at the back of his mind. Eventually, he picked up his phone, intending to call Tobias and tell him to let me out. Maybe have a doctor check on me.
But before he could dial, Mila wrapped her arms around his waist, her eyes watery
Chapter 4
“I was locked in that water cell for five days straight… with broken bones,” she murmured. “And I
was still fine…”
Her voice trembled. Fake. Rehearsed. But Carter drank it in like gospel.
He hesitated… then set the phone down.
“She’ll be fine,” he told himself. “We’re heading back in two days. She can wait until then.”
Just as he leaned in to kiss Mila’s forehead, his phone rang.
It was Finn.
“Alpha! You need to come back now!”
Carter frowned. “What is it?”
“Several allied packs just canceled their contracts. Word is… the Bloodmoon Pack’s declared war on
us.”
