Chapter 3

I didn't even have time to hide the humiliation of losing control of my own body before a new memory surfaced on the water mirror above.

In the image, a heavy chain crusted with dried blood hung around my neck. I was tied to a corner of the dungeon like a dog.

Two rogue wolves beat and kicked me, trying to force me out to "feed" the high-ranking vampires waiting outside.

I refused. So they wrapped a slab of cold iron in thick vervain cloth, pressed it against my chest, and smashed it with a hammer, over and over, the fabric muffling any visible bruising.

Once. Twice. The dull ache that bloomed deep in my bones was worse than any open wound.

Below the altar, a young wolf's voice trembled as he spoke.

"That's… that's the Heart-Shattering Punishment. Assassins use it specifically to destroy a werewolf's regeneration ability. Leaves nothing on the surface…"

The wolf beside him shifted uneasily, skin crawling.

"Lilia looks like a victim too."

"How could she possibly be working with the vampires?"

Morwenna's voice cut through the crowd, sharp and grating.

"Shut your mouth!"

"Low-ranking wolves are experts at this kind of cheap sob story!"

"This is nothing but a fabricated illusion, staged to buy her sympathy!"

Kai's eyes blazed red. His fingers trembled as he wrapped them around my throat.

His fangs hovered a hair's breadth from piercing the skin of my neck. I could feel their cold edge pressed right against my pulse.

"Even after all this, you still won't tell me the truth?"

"You think showing me this garbage is going to make me go soft on you?"

"Dream on."

"A heartless creature like you doesn't deserve an ounce of sympathy."

My lips parted, but nothing came out.

Some things weren't worth saying. He wouldn't have believed them anyway.

The water mirror above flickered violently, and the memory shifted again.

In the image, I was wrapped in a scarlet silk dress that barely covered anything, standing in front of a mirror, painting my lips a vivid red.

The entire plaza erupted at once.

"I knew it! She's been faking the whole time!"

"Takes a few hits and suddenly she's rushing to please the vampires!"

I shook my head desperately, trying to shake the memory loose.

But it wasn't mine to control anymore. The scene shifted.

Serena lay pinned to a cold stone slab, surrounded by vampires with twisted, monstrous faces.

Dark poison marks spread across her body, crawling all the way up to her throat. She sobbed like her heart was breaking.

The vampire count leading the group clamped a hand over her mouth, a cruel smile curling on his lips.

"Her blood's been tainted by the poison. Worthless to us now."

"So either you make up her share with your Omega blood."

"Or I feed her to the hellhounds."

In the memory, I lunged forward, throwing myself over Serena, begging through tears.

"Please, just give her the antidote."

"I'll stay in the fighting pit. I'll do whatever you want."

"I'll earn back her ransom myself!"

Countless images flashed by in rapid succession.

I choked back the nausea as they drained my blood, the cold needle sliding into my vein like it was gnawing straight through my soul.

After each fight, I dragged my battered body to kneel at the count's feet, begging for nothing more than better herbs for Serena.

Around the altar, dead silence. Then it broke into a wave of stunned gasps.

"Goddess above… she was sacrificing herself to save Serena!"

"How could someone like that possibly be a traitor?"

"The Alpha's been torturing her this whole time, and this is how she repays kindness with cruelty—"

Morwenna let out a shriek and violently shook my broken body.

"It's fake! It's all witchcraft, an illusion!"

"She's acting! This is all a performance!"

"If she actually cared about Serena, she never would have protected those vampires in the first place!"

"Any normal werewolf would've gone insane after being tortured like that by vampires!"

"Look at her—she's still perfectly alive, isn't she!"

The most hardline wolves in the crowd were riled up all over again, hurling curses at me, calling me a witch who deserved to rot in hell for tricking them with sorcery.

Kai's face had gone ashen. His eyes stayed locked on the memory hovering above us.

He turned on me, his voice cracking in a way I'd never heard from him before—almost feral, almost broken.

"Who is worth this? Who is worth betraying me, betraying this entire pack, just to protect them?"

"I gave you the Alpha's mark!"

"Why isn't it you lying in that bed, dying instead of her!"

He wiped the corner of his eye fast, like he was trying to bury that flicker of weakness before anyone could see it.

When he looked at me again, his gaze had frozen back over.

"Push the power higher. Don't stop."

"We're not ending this until I get the truth."

The witch doctor's face twisted with dread, her voice shaking.

"Alpha, Lilia's soul has already reached its limit…"

"If we keep expanding the extraction, her mate bond will rupture. She'll suffer brain death…"

Kai's eyes turned lethal. He snatched up a silver blade.

Without a shred of hesitation, he drove it into the back of my skull, using it as a conduit to channel more power.

The cold silver sinking into bone wiped out almost every sensation I had left.

"She's in bed with vampires."

"She deserves whatever comes to her."

The regression stone let out a piercing whine, like it was trying to tear my soul apart at the seams.

My limp body convulsed like I'd been struck by lightning. I couldn't even scream anymore.

Above us, the memory in the water mirror twisted and warped once more.