Alaina’s POV

My vision went black as they shoved me into the car. The air smelled of leather, blood, and Alpha dominance. I curled into a corner, trembling. My wolf was silent and scared.

I couldn’t give them my blood. My body wouldn’t survive it. My wolf wouldn’t either. I had been through so much in prison and I was sure my body couldn’t take any more torture. I couldn’t die yet.

“Alaina,” Justin’s deep voice broke the silence. “How have you been these past five years in prison?”

He looked at me like I was nothing more than a stain on his seat. My wolf whimpered inside me. In that moment, my mind flashed with memories of his betrayal. The thought of it all made my chest ache.

When I didn’t answer, his eyes hardened. “Are you mute now?”

He reached out, gripping my chin. His hand was rough and hot. I could feel his claws threatening to extend. The blood from my forehead dripped down to his wrist.

“Okay…” I whispered.

In my heart, all I felt was hatred and sadness. I despised him. Because of him, prison had been hell. I’d been beaten, starved, and broken. Near my release, one of my tormentors confessed that they’d been paid. Paid by Justin’s men to “keep me in line.”

The man I once loved had destroyed me. I adored this man once. I thought he loved me too. How foolish of me.

He looked at me again, then shoved me back. His eyes were filled with disgust. Those same eyes once held so much love for me.

“Pathetic.” He spat.

I stared at him, empty. Once, he’d been everything to me. Now, he was just another monster with a wolf hiding behind human eyes.

I didn’t love him anymore. I didn’t feel anything at all.

Galfield Hospital

The car stopped. I barely had time to breathe before Justin yanked me out and dragged me across the pavement. His grip burned my wrist. My wolf tried to fight, but she was too weak to surface.

This time, I resisted.

I twisted my arm, trying to wrench free, panic surging through me. “Let me go!” I gasped, digging my heels into the ground. For a moment, I almost slipped from his grasp—but Aaron appeared behind me like a shadow.

His hand clamped on the back of my neck, shoving me forward.

“Don’t make this harder,” he hissed.

I clawed at his arm, trying to break free, but Justin tightened his hold and Aaron forced my wrists together. Cold metal clicked around them—silver restraints. The burn shot through my skin, and I collapsed to my knees in pain.

My wolf whimpered, curling deeper into herself.

Dragging me like a prisoner, they pulled me toward the hospital entrance.

I fell to my knees again on the cold concrete.

“Justin, please,” I begged. “I can’t donate my blood. I’m not healthy enough. Please, I’ll do anything else to atone for my sins. I’ll work for you, pay my debts, anything.”

Instead of bowing my head to the ground like before, I forced myself upright but barely. My body shook violently. Every instinct screamed at me to grovel, but I lifted my chin just enough to show I hadn’t completely shattered. My palms pressed to the concrete. My bound wrists shook but I did not fully lower my head.

This was the most resistance I could afford without dying.

“I’m begging you,” I whispered. “But I… I can’t give blood. I won’t survive it.”

Without a pack, without protection, I was nothing. Just an outcast with a broken wolf.

Justin stared down at me with an unreadable expression, and for a second I thought I saw pity in his eyes. Then it disappeared.

Behind him, Aaron’s cold scent filled the air.

“You owe Danielle this,” he said. “If your mother hadn’t switched her, you’d be dead already.”

I froze. The words cut deep. I looked up at him weakly. “Can I atone in other ways?”

“Do you deserve to?” Justin sneered. “You think five years in jail erases what you did? Have you forgotten your betrayal? You slept with a stranger, Alaina. You shamed me. You shamed our bond.”

My chest tightened. I didn’t want to remember. I couldn’t.

That night had been a setup. It was a trap laid by Danielle and Aaron. They had sent me to another man’s bed and taken pictures. They wanted me ruined, and they succeeded.

To them, I wasn’t family. I was an impostor. A mistake.

And Justin had believed them.

We entered the hospital. The room smelled like antiseptic and pain. Danielle lay pale on the bed, unmoving. Machines beeped softly beside her.

Paul and Jane stood at her side. These were the people I once called “Mom” and “Dad.”

Before I could speak, Jane’s hand whipped across my face. She slapped me hard.

“You shameless thief!” she shouted. Her wolf aura lashed at me. I winced, feeling my own wolf curl up tighter.

“Did she agree?” Paul asked quietly. His tone was cold.

“She has no right to disagree,” Justin said, forcing me down to my knees beside the bed. His grip on my shoulder was iron.

I looked up at Paul, trembling. “Please, sir… I can’t. My body can’t handle it. I’ll die. Let me pay in other ways, please.”

His eyes hardened. “You disgust me.”

I stared at them all, the people I’d once loved, and felt something inside me finally break. Maybe those twenty-one years really had been a dream.

Then Justin spoke again. His tone was cruel.

“Did you forget, Alaina? Five years ago, you gave birth to a bastard. You gave that child away. He should be five years old now.”

My breath caught. My wolf went still.

I looked up at him. My heart was pounding so loud I was sure they all could hear it. He was using my deepest wound against me.

He was forcing me again.

And I realized then that I couldn’t keep running.

If I wanted to survive, I’d have to fight back.