Chapter 2

The dungeon was devoid of light, filled only with an endless, biting cold and the stench of decay.

I curled up in a corner, clutching my chest entirely as waves of tearing, agonizing pain ripped through me. It was the punishment for having a fated soul bond forcefully severed.

Up there, Kayden was sinking his fangs into Freya's nape. With every fraction of an inch he pierced deeper, it felt as if a chunk of my soul was being brutally torn away.

Sweat and blood mingled, soaking through the fabric of my ceremonial dress. I gasped heavily for air, panting like a dying fish on dry land.

Why... I bit my lip until it bled, refusing to let a single whimper escape.

I used to think that if I was just obedient enough, if I trained relentlessly and brought back the best kills for my parents, they would finally look at me. I used to believe that if I loved Kayden with all my heart, he would be the light in my life.

But I was wrong. In their eyes, I would never measure up to Freya. The second she needed something, I was entirely disposable.

I lost track of how long it had been when the door groaned, scraping harshly as it was shoved open. The glaring light of torches spilled into the room, making me squeeze my eyes shut on instinct.

"Well, well, look who we have here. Our prideful Calamity Dark Moon, groveling on the floor like a stray bitch." A malicious, mocking voice sneered.

I forced my eyes open. It was a few of Freya's lapdogs, led by Buck, a notorious bully in the pack. Armed with whips and iron tongs, their faces twisted into cruel, sickening grins.

"What do you want?" I gasped, leaning against the stone wall as I struggled to stand.

Buck lunged forward, planting a vicious kick straight into my stomach. I let out a muffled groan and crumpled back onto the floor, my insides violently churning.

"What do we want? We're here to teach you a lesson on Freya's behalf, you ungrateful bitch!" Buck crouched down and grabbed a fistful of my hair, forcing my head up. "Freya was terrified by your little stunt on the altar. The binding ritual is complete, but her wolf spirit relies on stability—and yours upset her. Alpha Kayden is absolutely heartbroken over it."

"Terrified?" I barked out a bitter laugh, blood spilling from the corner of my mouth. "She stole my fated mate, and she's terrified? You blind, delusional mutts!"

Buck delivered a brutal backhand across my face. The sickening smack echoed off the walls, leaving my ears ringing fiercely.

"Still running your mouth!" Buck stood up and gestured to the thugs behind him. "Strip her! She doesn't deserve to wear that ceremonial dress anyway. Freya said she fancies the gold thread woven into it. Wants us to rip it off to make a rug for her."

The pack of youths instantly swarmed me, tearing at my dress.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me!" I thrashed wildly, sinking my teeth right into one of their wrists, ripping off a chunk of flesh.

"The crazy bitch bit me!" the man howled in agony, retaliating with a heavy punch straight to my temple.

Searing pain exploded in my head, and my vision tunneled into darkness, yet I stubbornly kept my arms locked over my chest.

The ceremonial dress was shredded to pieces. Left in nothing but my thin undergarments, I was exposed to the freezing air and their filthy, degrading stares.

Another man stepped forward, wielding a pair of red-hot iron tongs. The fiery glow cast sinister shadows across his twisted expression. "The Alpha made it clear. We'd better cripple her wolf spirit core right now."

My pupils constricted in sheer horror. Cripple my wolf spirit core? That would reduce me to a broken shell, weaker than a mere human. Discarded in the extreme, deadening cold of the Winter Pack, I wouldn't last three days.

"Kayden... Kayden ordered you to do this?" I asked, my voice trembling. It felt as though my heart had been plunged into a bath of ice water.

"Spot on. But the Alpha specifically ordered us to leave you with at least one breath left, just enough to hand over to the Winter emissaries," Buck sneered, taking the glowing tongs. "Maeve, blame your own cursed fate. You just had to stand in the way of our Sun."

The blazing iron tongs radiated a terrifying heat as they steadily closed in on me.

I squeezed my eyes shut in total despair. The abandonment by my parents, Kayden's ruthless betrayal, and the sheer cruelty of my pack—all of it crashed down on me like suffocating mountains, crushing what little fight I had left.

If there were gods watching from above, were they completely blind? Or did they simply revel in the mockery of my suffering?

I finally stopped struggling.

Just a fraction of a second before the searing metal branded my skin—

A deafening crash erupted from above the dungeon. Instantly, an overwhelmingly dominant aura swept through the subterranean cellar like a devastating hurricane.

It was a force of absolute suppression.

Clang! The iron tongs plummeted to the floor. The color completely drained from Buck's and the others' faces. The invisible, crushing pressure sapped every ounce of their strength, shutting down any instinct to run. Their legs gave out, dropping them heavily to their knees as they groveled against the floor, violently trembling.

From the darkness outside the cell, the steady, rhythmic sound of footsteps approached. A tall, impeccably poised silhouette stepped into the flickering firelight.