Chapter 3 Get Out of the Silver Fir Pack
“Why should I kneel?”
I stood in the rain, watching Celeste grind my dress beneath her shoe.
She laughed.
“Because I threw these things out. If you want them back, you will follow my rules.”
“Then I don’t want them.”
I turned toward the house.
Celeste grabbed my shoulder.
“Stop! You are an orphan with no parents, yet you dare disrespect me?”
I threw off her hand.
“Adrian is no longer the heir, and you will never become the future Luna. Stepping on my clothes only shows everyone that you are a sore loser.”
The servants in the courtyard lowered their heads.
The smile vanished from Celeste’s face.
She raised her hand to strike me.
I caught her wrist and slapped her across the face.
The sharp crack cut through the rain.
Celeste stumbled back two steps, clutching her rapidly reddening cheek.
“You dared to hit me?”
“You attacked me first.”
“Adrian will make you pay!”
“Then let him come.”
“Nora!”
Adrian’s roar came from the doorway.
He strode into the courtyard. The moment he saw the mark on Celeste’s face, he summoned the steward and two guards without asking a single question.
“Strike Nora’s name from the pack registry.”
The steward froze.
“Sir, His Majesty just revoked your status as heir. Shouldn’t we consult the Alpha before doing this?”
Adrian kicked over the wooden trunk on the ground.
“I lost the title of heir, but I am still the Alpha’s son. I have the authority to throw out one low-ranking she-wolf with no family.”
The steward did not dare argue. He opened the registry.
Adrian stared at me.
“Kneel and apologize to Celeste now, and I may allow you to stay.”
“Stay as what?”
“My second mate.”
I almost laughed in his face.
“Your badge was just ripped off, and you still haven’t come to your senses?”
His expression grew darker.
“Cross out her name!”
The pen touched the page, and a line of ink cut through my name.
The steward closed the registry and nodded to the guards. From that moment on, I was no longer a member of the Silver Fir Pack.
I steadied the trunk and rose without bending before any of them.
Celeste mistook my silence for fear.
Adrian finally looked satisfied when the steward put the registry away.
“Be gone before sunrise.”
I did not beg him.
I stuffed the clothes I could still use back into the trunk, forced its broken lid shut, and dragged it toward the gate.
Celeste leaned against Adrian.
“The entire werewolf territory knows you were discarded,” she said. “No pack will take you in.”
Adrian stood beneath the eaves and watched me coldly.
“Once you realize you cannot survive out there, you will come crawling back to me.”
I dragged my trunk through the gates of the Silver Fir Pack.
Rain struck my face, and the road ahead was swallowed by darkness.
Their laughter followed behind me.
The next second, the rhythmic pounding of hooves cut through the storm.
Six black horses pulled a royal carriage to a stop before me. The golden wolf’s head on its door shone sharply in the darkness.
The captain of the royal guard opened the carriage door, stepped out beneath an umbrella, and approached me.
“Miss Nora.”
