Riley’s POV

Alpha ric was btrembling/b.

His fists clenched tightly on the edge of the table, chest heaving with each ragged breath as if trying to hold back an explosion.

+B Pearls

Across from him, Luna Zara had broken into tears, her face pale with distress. Her hand clutched her chest as she sobbed.

“Riley,” she choked out, voice cracking with pain, “that’s not true… Your father band /bI–we had you because we loved you. You have to believe that”

Iughed.

It wasn’t augh filled with joy. It was cold, hollow. A sound scraped from the bottom of a ruined heart.

“Love?” I echoed.

I gestured to my head, where fresh gauze still clung to a crusted wound. “I walked in like this. bMia /bnoticed. And yet the two people who in bto /blove me didn’t say ba /bwordb./b”

My voice rose, sharp and unfiltered. “Not one of you asked what happened. You just sat there. Eating, Laughing, bJudging /bme.”

My eyes burned bas /brage swelled in my chest.

“Has it been ten minutes? Maybe more. Ten minutes since I walked through bthat /bdamn door. And not one of byou /basked about my injury.”

“Did you not see it?” I snapped. “Or did you just choose not to care?”

I turned my re on Luna Zara, watching her flinch beneath it. “You say you love me–but you stood there and watched them ruin me. I blost /bmy hearing. My leg. My kidney. My future. You let it happen. You let it all happen and now you say byou /blove me?”

My words echoed off the walls like des, cutting through the airb, /bslicing straight into their polished lies.

L

“Where was your love when I was locked away like ba /brabid stray?” I shouted. “When I was dragged into that courtroom. already convicted by your silence?”

Tears finally spilled from my eyes, hot and unstoppable, clouding my vision.

Luna Zara took a hesitant step forward, her arms slightly extended like she wanted to embrace me.

bI /bstepped bback/b.

She froze mid–step, her eyes flickering bdown /bto the bgauze /band the blood staining my clothes, her breath catching like she’d bonly /bnow realized I wasn’t bluffing.

Kael narrowed his beyes/b, bscoffing/b.

“Well, that bexins /bthe dramatics,” he muttered. “So that’s why you’ve been ying the victim tonight. A little blood to gain. attention! You’ve really lost your edge, Riley.”

Hisugh bwas /bbsharp/b, bgrating/b. “You’re not fooling anyone with this poor–little–me act. Stop trying to manipte everyone.”

una Zara’s expression faltered. She looked between me and Kael, visibly

y torn.

“Kiley, is that true?” she asked softly, brows furrowing “Did you were you just trying to scare us?b” /b

bAlpha /bric scoffed bfrom /bthe head of the table, his voice thunderous. “Typical. A wolf can’t change its blood. No matter how well we braise /bher, she still reeks of the rogue blood she was raised bin/bb./bb” /b

And just like that, I froze.

3:15 PM

Speed 8+

For a moment, my brain didn’t process what I’d heard. I stood there bin /bstunned silence, the words crashing into me like ba /bfrozen tide.

Maniptive. Attention–seeking. Worthless.

That’s all they saw when they looked at me.

Not a daughter. Not a victim. Not a girl who’d been mutted and left for dead.

Just an inconvenience..

A mistake.

My spine stiffened, and I swallowed back the sob rising in my throat.

“Think whatever you want,” I said, my voice cold, steady, almost detached. “I’m done trying to exin myself to people bwhot /bnever really wanted me.”

I turned ommy heel and walked toward the side hallway, toward the old storage room I’d imed because bno /bone else in this house wanted to see my face.

“Stop right there!” Kael snapped.

His voice cracked like a whip, the force of an bAlpha/b–in–training trying to reim controlb. /b

I stopped. Slowly turned.

The look I gave him must have hit its mark, because for the first time tonight. Kael faltered. His mouth opened, then closed again, like he forgot what he was about to say.

I stared at them all–at Alpha ric’s cold fury, at Luna Zara’s crumpled disappointment, at Scarlett’s tremulous concern- and 1 saw them for what they were

bNot /bbfamily/b.

Not Pack

Just strangers who shared my blood but not my pain.

Scarlett clung to bLuna /bZara’s arm. “Mom… her eyes… they’re scary.

Zara patted her daughter’s bhand/b, her own face bpale/b. “She’s not the same girl we brought back. Something’s bchanged /bin her.”

“She’s feral.” ric spat. “Ungrateful. If I had known she’d grow into this, I’d have left her in that Rogue camp to rot.”

“ric!” bZara /bsnapped. “She’s still your daughterb./b”

“I gave her too much grace, that’s the problem!” he roared, the sound echoing down the corridor like a whip crack. “She needed discipline from day one! If I’d set the rules, she wouldn’t be this wild!”

I heard it all. Every bword/b.

Even bas /bI shut the storage room door bbehind /bme, their voices still rang in my cars.

I slid down bagainst /bthe door, body trembling, arms wrapped tightly around myself.

The broom /bwas pitch–ck. Cold, Smelled of cedar and bdust/b.

I curled into ba /bbball /bon the thin cot, burying my face in my knees as tears streamed freely down my cheeks.

So this bwas /bbwhat /bit felt like.

To realize home was just another cage.

They’d carved out a bspace /bin the Ebonw manor for me, sure–but bnot /ba ce in their hearts. Not really.

I wasn’t Riley, their bdaughter/b.

I was a walking reminder of a mistake they regretted iming.

I cried until my bthroat /bbburned /bband /bmy shoulders ached.

Eventually, the sobs softened, my body gave into exhaustion, and Iy bt /bon the cot, staring into the void above me.

Sleep pulled at my edges like a tide, but it offered no peace.

bIn /bmy dreams, the prison came back.

The fists. The boots. The pain.

My voice cracked as I screamed in my sleep.

“Help me. bMama/b, please. bMama/b…”

But no one came,

Except…

A hand. Warm, Gentle. Calloused.

Someone was stroking my back.

“It’s alright, pup. You’re safe

bnow/b…

Mama’s here”

That bvoice/b. It wasn’t bLuna /bZara’s,

It was older, Softer. Full of quiet love.

Miab. /b

Even bin /bmy dream, I leaned toward the sound, toward thefort. My muscles loosened slightly, the screams died on my lips.

Somewhere far away, I felt her hand keep patting my back, slow band /bsteady.

bWhen /bI woke, bthe /blight bthrough /bthe small window was pale and blue.

I sat up slowly, bdazed /band hollow.

For a split second, I thought I’d dreamed the whole thing–that Luma Zara had held me and whispered soft things.

But no.

1 let out a soft, bitterugh.

Even in dreams, I couldn’t pretend she loved me.

Only bMia /bever stayed.