Chapter 3

The newcomer wore a half-silver mask and a flowing silver robe, intricately embroidered with the distinctive frost totems of the Winter Pack.

A Winter Emissary.

Just by him standing there, the temperature in the entire dungeon plummeted to freezing. White frost rapidly crystallized across the stone walls.

"Is this how the Sunfire Pack treats the tribute offered to my Lord?"

Buck had already wet himself in sheer terror. Groveling on the floor, he stammered, "We were just... just teaching a lesson to a sinner who doesn't know her place..."

"A sinner?" The emissary's gaze fell upon my bruised, battered, and barely clothed body.

He slowly raised his right hand.

An invisible force violently twisted Buck's right arm, snapping it like a dry twig. Jagged, pale bone fragments pierced through his flesh, exposed to the frigid air.

The other thugs screamed and scrambled backward, only to be effortlessly pinned under the boots of several Winter Pack guards who had materialized behind the emissary. The sickening crunch of shattering ribs echoed one after another.

"Filthy mongrels. You dare lay your hands upon Winter's treasure," the emissary stated flatly, as if they had merely stepped on a few insignificant insects.

Ignoring the wailing garbage on the floor, he walked straight over to me.

He unfastened his heavy cloak and draped it over me, wrapping me securely and hiding away all my humiliation and vulnerability.

"I apologize for the fright, Lady Maeve. My Lord has ordered me to take you home."

Home? That single word stung my numb nerves. I looked up at him, my voice hoarse. "Your master... isn't he going to eat me?"

Beneath the mask, the corners of the emissary's lips seemed to curl up in an imperceptible smile. "Rumors from the outside are always steeped in prejudice. My Lord has been waiting for you."

With that, he produced a crystal vial of swirling, silvery liquid.

"Before we leave, you must choose. The Winter Pack accepts no tethered souls. Drink this Elixir, and every memory, love, and agony tying you to the Sunfire Pack will freeze forever."

I stared at the potion without a shred of hesitation.

Why linger? My parents had stripped me of everything, my mate had shattered our bond, and my pack had tortured me.

With a trembling, bloodstained hand, I took the vial and drained it.

An icy yet soothing current instantly swept through my veins, numbing the agonizing backlash of the broken bond. In my mind, Kayden's face and my parents' hypocrisy rapidly faded—freezing into complete oblivion.

"We leave," the emissary commanded.

Meanwhile, the Sunfire Pack's mate-binding banquet had just come to an end.

Kayden had drank quite a bit of wine. For some inexplicable reason, a persistent, gnawing panic clung to his heart.

It felt as if something irreparably precious was draining out of his life forever.

"Kayden, let's go to the dungeon and check on that wretched girl," my father said, walking over to him.

Kayden nodded, following my parents toward the underground cellar.

However, the moment they reached the entrance, Kayden's footsteps abruptly halted.

The lingering chill of extreme frost permeated the air.

"What in the world...?"

The iron door was completely gone, leaving nothing but a gaping, frost-covered hole in its wake.

"Maeve!" The unease at the bottom of Kayden's heart exploded. He charged into the dungeon like a madman.

Maeve wasn't there.

There was nothing but shocking pools of fresh blood smeared across the ground and a discarded, blackened branding iron.

Shreds of torn fabric were scattered everywhere. Kayden stared at those familiar scraps of cloth, his breathing suddenly coming to a dead stop.

It was Maeve's mate-binding dress. Just hours ago, she had been wearing this exact gown, standing on the altar, looking at him with eyes full of utter devotion.

"Wha—what happened here...?" my mother stammered, her face drained of color in absolute horror.

"H-help me..."

A weak, wretched wail drifted from the darkest corner of the room.

Only then did Kayden realize Buck and his thugs were paralyzed on the ground, twitching like dying maggots. Buck's right arm had been snapped entirely backward, with stark white bone jutting out, while half of his body was engulfed in a layer of eerie frost. The others were similarly crippled, their limbs violently broken.

"Buck?!" Kayden violently seized Buck by the collar, his eyes entirely bloodshot. "What the hell are you doing here?! Where is Maeve?!"

Driven completely out of his mind by the agonizing pain, Buck sobbed and howled, "The monsters from the Winter Pack took her! Alpha, we were just strictly following your orders! Didn't you tell us to strip her bare and use the branding iron to cripple her wolf spirit...? We had barely even started when the Winter Emissaries showed up!"

Those words crashed down on Kayden and my parents like a deafening thunderbolt. My parents stood frozen in place, their faces etched with utter shock and absolute disbelief.