Riley’s POV

“Riley!” Kael’s voice snapped across the room like a whip.

+8 Pearls

“You think this is strength?” Kael spat, voice shaking with fury. “You think shing ws and a bit of borrowed aura makes you unstoppable?”

That’s not real power, Riley. It’s desperation. bAnd /bit reeks.”

He pointed bat /bme, eyes narrowing. “Just like I told them–you probably used some bkind /bof ck magic tonic to force your wolk out. That scent? It’s unstable. Fading. A trick.”

“Wolves like us earn power through blood, through battle, not shortcuts. Keep chasing easy paths and you’ll destroy yourself.”

His words were like a desperate mantra, a way tofort himself–denying the truth of my strength while trying to shove me back into the box they’d always bkept /bme in

1 looked at him coldly and said quietly,

“Then pray I don’t take the hard path. Because if I do, you’ll be the first one down.”

“Keep dreaming. Rileyb,/bb” /b

You’ll burn out within arlett sneered bfrom /bbehind bhim/b. “Whatever you took to summon that wolf of yours? It won’tst.

Zara’s voice followed, soft but bsharp /blike the edge of a poisoned dagger. “No amount of dark magic bcan /brewrite fate. You were born to kneel, not rule. And when bthat /btwisted power turns on you–don’t expect anyone to catch you.”

“Mark my words,” Scarlett added, eyes gleaming with bitter fire. “That wolf will devour you from the inside out. It’s not strength. It’s a curse.”

I didn’t even flinchb. /b

I walked straight into the dining hall, pulled out a chair, and sat down like I hadn’t heard a damn thing. I picked up my fork and started eating slowly, deliberately, like their panic and screeching didn’t exist.

The roast venison was delicious–tender, marinated just right, juices still warm from the hearth.

Funny, bisn’t /bit?

I’ve lived twenty–three years. And this was the first time I’ve ever tasted meat this rich, this full of vor.

In the orphanage? We were lucky to get dry bread and overcooked stew.

Back at the Ebonw estate? I only got cold leftovers–sometimes even discarded bones scraped clean by others.

It was only when I was thrown into prison that I tasted actual warm, decent food.

If Ronan hadn’t ordered the guards to “look after me,” I would’ve sworn bthat /ba cell was still better than this damn house.

I chewed slowly, savoring each bite, letting the vor sit on my tongue before swallowing

When I finally spoke, my voice was calm and crisp, cutting like ice.

“You think your bopinions /bmatter to someone bwho /bcrawled out of a grave you dugb?/b”

“bSave /byour breath. You’ll need it for the next time I knock the bair /bout of yo

byour /blungs.

“My heart? You’re basking /bif bI /bbhave /bone? That’s rich,ing from a family that trampled mine until there was nothing left Why? Because I’m treating you the same way you treated me, and bnow /bit’s suddenly a problem?”

Zara’s tears flowed freely now. “Riley, how can you be so heartless? Your father’s barely breathing, and you still bhave /bthe nerve

I didn’t even look at her. I stabbed another piece of meat and ced it in my mouth.

Chapter 4U

8 Pearls

They say when you’re dying, your senses sharpen Eremembered thus from prison. Ed almost died there too. But here, in this ding, surrounded by people whas calles themselves family, Frealized something else

My soul bshied /blong before Lever set foot in a cell.

I swallowed and met Zara’s tearful gaze with utter indifference,

“You want to talk about heartless? Let me remind you what heartless really looks like

I was the Spring Moon Festival during my final year at Monnerest Academy. I was burning up with fever–three days band /bights of pure hell. I couldn’t shift, couldn’t move, couldn’t even crawl from the freezing storage rooms they locked me in.

No water. No food. Just cold shadows and silence.

It Mia bhasn’t /breturned from her husliy and found me bhalf/b–dead on bthe /bfloor, I’d be rotting beneath the Ebonw Pack’s sacred tree by now.

And when she confronted ric and Zara?

Maric shrugged, “She’s taking it. Always is. Trying to win sympathy again. I know her game”

Zarasighed, ever so gentle. “Riley really shouldn’t stay in her room three days without eating. It’s bnot /bhealthy for a young

She knew. They knew.

But they didn’t litt a w.

I remember dragging myself to the kitchen to find water, and Laverheard everything

That night, the frost in my veins was no fever–it was the truth finally settling into my bbones/bb. /b

They didn’t care if Llived or died.

Hell, even Scarlett’s bmutt /bwas worth more than me.

When that decrepit old hound fell ill weekster, the entire family went into mourning. They spent tens of thousands on herbal healers, rune–charged diagnostics, moonstone therapy–you name it.

The dog died of old age, obviously. It was eighteen. Could barely bwalk/b,

But they cried like they’d lost a firstbor

They held a moon–blessed funeral, bChanted /bprayers. Burned sacred sage.

bAnd /bthen Scarlett sand it was bmy /bfault.

That I’d cursed her dog by being sick near it.

Of course, ric believed her.

He forced me to kneel barefoot in the snow to “repent.“

It was during my heat cycle. I was still ate bloomer, barely had my moon blood then.

1 fainted bAgalli /b

Atia bsaved /bme. Again.

That bsickness /blingered for weeks. My cycles were dyed for months after. bAnd /bwhen they returned, they brought pain sharp enough to make me wish I never shifted at all.

All of that—because of them.

And like a fool, I used to still want their approval.

Scarlett’s bvoice /bsnapped bthrough /bmy haze. “If anything bhappens /bto Father, I swear I won’t forgive you!”

I set my fork down–hard.

The ng echoed in the room.

“Forgive me? You must be delusional”

I stood and walked slowly toward her, every step deliberate, steady

“You think I don’t remember? You broke into my room first. You threw the first punch. You ran to Zara, sobbing lies. Your precious father saw your crocodile tears and flew into a rage. Now he’s copsed.”

I raised my voice with each word,,

“He’s suffering from baura /bimbnce and spirit chamber overload because he lost control of his wolf. Because you set the fire and watched it burn. And now you want to pin the ashes on me?”

I reached her and, without warning, pped her across the face–hard.

Another bneat /bred print bloomed beside the bone /bI’d left earlier,

“Perfect symmetry,” I sneered.

bZara /bscreeched and lunged at me, but I stepped aside. She tripped and bhit /bthe ground hard.

Kael finally snapped. He shoved me backward, fury in his eyes. “That’s ENOUGH!”

1 stumbled, but Mia catight me.

Kael’s hand hovered midair–then dropped. So did his concern.

He pulled his bhand /bback slowly, like I burned him.

“You still think I’m the viin here?” Iughed bitterly. “ric’s turning purple on the floor, and byou /bhaven’t even summoned a healer. You’re just standing there waiting for him to die so you can finally take his ce as Alpha, aren’t you?”

“SHUT UP!” he roared, voice cracking.

Then make me.”

As we traded barbs, ric’s limbs began to stiffen. His face twisted, eyes rolling back. The telltale signs of lunar suffocation- when a wolf’s spirit detaches from their breath due to emotional overload. The sacred breath bstops /bsyncing with the body, and without swift intervention-

Death follows.

Scarlett screamed. “Do bsomething/b! He’s going to die!”

Kael fumbled with hism, trying to reach Theo,

No answer.

Zara bwas /bpacing, hands shaking like brittle leaves in the wind.

And me?

Istood above them all, watching it unfold blike /ba bad dream finallying true.

A part of me wanted to let him go.

But if he died, they’d me me. Take my money. Hunt me like prey.

I sighed and turned to Mia.

“Bring me a stormleaf sack from the kitchen,” I ordered.

She blinked. “A what?”

“Top shelf. Behind the healing salts.”

Mia ran and returned momentster with the woven dark–blue p

pouch.

+8 Pearls

I stepped forward and pulled it open, cing it gently over ric’s face.

Everyone lost their minds.

Scarlett screeched. “You’re killing him! You witch–you’re trying to suffocate him!”

I shoved her back. “Be quiet if you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

They gaped at me in silence.

“Stormleaf is a grounding herb,” I exined coldly. “It traps a wolf’s own breath baura/b. He’s over–ventted–his body’s expelled too much primal energy band /blost bnce. He’s not dying. He’s resetting.”

I bnced /bat Scarlet.

“Didn’t you ce top ten at Halston Academy? What, no basic understanding of wolf physiology?”

She flushed but bsaid /bnothing-

A few tense minutester, ric stirred.

He ripped off bthe /bsack and gasped for breath, his pupils finally returning to center.

Then, like the brute he bwas/b, heunched up–trying to attack me,

“Careful,” I said icily. “Lose control againb, /bband /bnext time, I’ll let the spirits finish what they started.”

“bYou /bungrateful-

I turned away, already heading for the stairs.

“Stay out of the upstairs rooms!” he bellowed. “You belong in the storage den!”

I stopped halfway up the steps.

Then turned slightly and looked down on him.

“Before, I stayed out of guilt,” I said. “Now, I stay out of pity: I saved your pathetic life. That room? It’s your debt to me. Be grateful I don’t charge more. Because if I did…”

I smiled coldly.

“I’d be taking this whole damned house.”

ric’s eyes bulged. “You–1”

Kael hurriedly shoved the stormleaf sack back bover /bric’s head

I watched him wheeze into the bag, the pouch inting and deting like a balloon.

li was almost funny.

I smirked to myself.

Turns out, once you stop giving a damn, you get to enjoy the chaos.

And for the first time in years, I was starting to feel alive.