Chapter 5

The night I left Shadowcrest, I burned my identity mark.

From that moment on, I became Clara—and vanished into the border medical outpost.

I used what was left of my medical training to get through the initial screening. The Beta in charge, Beta Mathew, gave me one look and sneered.

“No ID? No records? Fine. Clean the herb storage. Three floors. Finish it in a day.”

I nodded. I just needed to stay.

I worked until nightfall. My hands were full of cuts and thorns. When I was nearly done, he came back.

“You missing some inventory? Stealing already?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Starting tomorrow, you clean sewage tunnels.”

I didn’t argue.

Survival mattered more than pride.

On the fifth night, they came for me.

Alpha Alex himself.

He stood at the gate like a shadow carved from ice.

“This is where you hide? Like a dog licking its wounds?”

Before I could run, his palm struck my neck. Darkness fell.

I woke up in a stone cellar. Shackles on my wrists and ankles. No windows. No sound but my breath.

Later, Omega Isabella arrived.

She wore pristine white. She smiled like a goddess descending to gloat.

“Poor little Luna Evelyn. Change your name all you want—fate doesn’t forget.”

She ordered her guards to lay down a mat of thorns. Then she pointed to her boots.

“Crawl. Fetch them with your teeth.”

I said nothing.

The first lash hit my back. I bit down hard and obeyed.

Blood marked my path across the floor.

She laughed as she left. Like she had won.

I lost track of time.

Until one night, the lock clicked.

Beta Victor burst in, breath ragged, armor slick with melting snow.

“I found proof. Omega Isabella hired feral rogues to start the fire.”

Hope flickered in my chest.

“Shadow wolf Daniel?”

“Imprisoned. But he left clues. Led me to you.”

He pulled a scroll from his coat, handing it over—but the door crashed open.

Alpha Alex’s enforcers stormed in.

The scroll was ripped away.

Beta Victor was beaten down, blood spilling from his mouth.

I was dragged back into chains.

That night, I cried.

Not for Lucas. Not even for Beta Victor.

But for myself.

Because I finally understood.

They wouldn’t stop until I was gone.

But neither would I.

They chained me, humiliated me, tried to erase me.

But I remembered every lash. Every bruise. Every insult.