Chapter 1 The Celler

LIRA POV

The cellar door shrieked open above me like a wounded animal.

I pressed my back against the cold stone wall, silver chains burning against my wrists as I recognized those heavy footsteps. Elder Garrick always walked the same way—slow and deliberate, like he had all the time in the world to make me suffer.

"Look at you," his voice carried down the wooden stairs as he descended. "Cowering like the worthless creature you are."

I kept my eyes down as he approached my cage. Twenty years of this had taught me that looking at him directly only made things worse.

"The crops are failing again." His boots stopped in front of the iron bars with a dull thud. "Three pack members fell ill with fever this week."

My stomach twisted. I knew where this was going.

"It's your fault, isn't it?" He rattled the cage door, metal scraping against metal. "Your cursed blood poisoning everything around you."

"I haven't done anything," I whispered to the floor, my voice barely audible.

"Don't lie to me!" His hand shot through the bars, grabbing my chin and forcing my head up. "You bring nothing but misery to this pack. Your very existence is a blight."

His fingers dug into my jaw until I whimpered. The scent of old tobacco and hatred filled my nostrils.

"Please, Elder Garrick." I tried to pull away from his grip. "I'll be quieter. I won't"

"Won't what? Won't breathe? Won't it exist?" He released my face with a rough shove and spat through the bars. "You should have died with your cursed mother."

The saliva landed on my cheek, warm and humiliating. Tears burned my eyes, but I didn't wipe them away. Movement only encouraged him.

"The pack would be better off if you'd never been born." He unlocked the cage door with a rusty key, the metal scraping ominously. "Maybe I should put everyone out of their misery right now."

Terror shot through me as he stepped inside the small space. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The silver shackles kept me chained to the wall.

"You're nothing," he hissed, shoving me hard against the stone. "A wolfless freak who brings bad luck wherever she goes."

My shoulder hit the wall with a sickening crack. Pain exploded through my arm.

"Say it," he demanded, leaning closer until his breath hit my face. "Tell me what you are."

"I'm nothing," I sobbed, the words tasting like poison in my mouth.

"Louder!" His hand raised threateningly.

"I'm nothing! I'm cursed! I'm worthless!" The words tore from my throat.

"That's right." He shoved me again, harder this time. "Remember that."

My head snapped back and connected with the jagged stone wall behind me. White light exploded behind my eyelids as pain split my skull like lightning.

The last thing I heard before darkness claimed me was Elder Garrick's satisfied grunt as he locked the cage door and climbed back up the stairs.

When I woke up, my head throbbed like someone was hitting it with a hammer. Blood had dried in my hair, making it stick to the stone wall. I tried to sit up but the world spun sideways.

How long had I been unconscious? Minutes? Hours?

Then I heard a victory howl that shook dust through the rotting floorboards above me. I pressed deeper into my corner as my pulse quickened with fear. Twenty years of imprisonment had taught me to recognize the sounds of violence above.

But this was different. This wasn't pack discipline or dominance displays. This was a systematic slaughter.

"Selwyn?" I whispered to the darkness.

My wolf stirred slightly, like a sleeping creature turning over. For months now, Selwyn had been more active, pacing restlessly as if sensing change coming.

Heavy footsteps thundered across the main hall directly above. Shouting voices, then wet gurgling sounds that made my stomach turn. Someone was dying. The irritating scent of blood seeped through wooden planks.

Thud. A body hit the floor. Thud. Another corpse dropped.

My breathing came in short gasps. In twenty years, I'd never heard sounds like this. My silver shackles grew hot against my wrists as fear spiked through my system.

"Please, Alpha Kael!" a voice screamed above. "We can explain."