NO ESCAPE

Reed dragged me through the silent crowd. No one helped. No one even looked at me. I was invisible again, but this time it hurt so much worse because for one shining moment, I'd been seen. I'd been someone's mate.

And then I'd been thrown away. Again.

He threw me into the dungeon cell so hard I hit the far wall. My head cracked against stone, and warm blood trickled down my neck.

"Enjoy your stay, wolfless." He slammed the door shut. "Alpha's orders."

His footsteps faded. The darkness closed in.

I sat there in the cold, in the dark, and something inside me finally broke. Not my body. That had been broken long ago. My hope. The last tiny ember of hope I'd been nursing for ten years guttered out like a candle in the wind.

And in its place, something else grew. Something sharp and desperate.

I can't stay here anymore. I won't.

If I stayed, they'd kill me eventually. I had to leave. Tonight.

The party would go on for hours. The warriors would get drunk. The guards would be distracted. If I could just get out of this cell...

I looked up at the small window near the ceiling. Too small for a full-grown wolf, but I wasn't a wolf. Just a small, broken girl with nothing left to lose.

Using the wall for leverage, I climbed. My body screamed in protest, but pain was an old friend. The window bars were old, rusted from years of dungeon damp. I grabbed them and pulled. My hands slipped, tearing skin. I pulled harder.

One bar shifted. Then another.

With a screech of metal, the bars came free.

I didn't let myself think. I just moved, hauling myself through the narrow opening, ignoring the way the edges tore at my skin.

I fell out onto the ground outside the dungeon. Free. I was actually free.

For about ten seconds.

Then I heard voices. Guards.

I ran.

Fear gave me strength. I ran through the shadows toward the border. Just had to make it to the border.

"There! The prisoner's escaping!"

No.

I pushed harder, faster, my lungs burning. The forest loomed ahead. Dark, dangerous, and my only chance.

Wolves burst from the pack house, their howls splitting the night. They were so much faster, but I had a head start.

I crashed into the tree line, branches whipping my face. Behind me, the howls got closer.

Please, I begged the Moon Goddess. Please, just let me get away.

A massive dark wolf cut me off. I tried to change direction, but my foot caught, and I went down hard. Teeth closed on my shoulder and bit.

I screamed.

Other wolves circled us. Someone shifted back.

Jaxon.

"Well, well. The murderer thought she could run." His voice was cold, amused. "How pathetic."

He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. "Did you really think you'd make it? You can barely walk without falling over."

"Jaxon, please. We were friends once."

"Friends?" He laughed bitterly. "I felt sorry for you. That's pity, not friendship." He shoved my face away. "You're not worth anyone's mercy."

Alpha Marcus emerged from the shadows. "Caught our escapee, I see."

"Yes, Father." Jaxon wiped his hands like touching me had dirtied them. "What should we do with her?"

"The square. Thirty lashes at dawn."

"She won't survive thirty lashes with silver," a warrior said.

"I know." Jaxon looked down at me with pure hatred. "Good."

They dragged me to the pack square. To the whipping post.

"No," I whispered. "Please."

Warriors tied my hands above my head, my toes barely touching the ground.

"Tomorrow at dawn," Marcus announced to the gathering crowd, "this murderer receives thirty lashes with a silver whip. The entire pack will witness."

Jaxon walked close, speaking low. "I'm going to enjoy watching you break. Watching you scream." His smile was vicious. "For one moment tonight, you mattered. You were someone's mate. And I took that away." He grabbed my chin hard. "Tomorrow, when you're begging for death, remember I'm the one who put you there."

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"Because you dared." His voice was deadly quiet. "You dared to be bound to me. You dared to think you deserved me. A wolfless orphan who murdered her own father thought she could stand beside an Alpha?" He forced me to meet his eyes. "Let me make this clear. I would rather die alone than accept you as my mate. I would rather watch this pack burn than let someone like you disgrace it." His grip tightened. "Tomorrow, when you're screaming and bleeding, I want you to remember that I'm the one who put you there."

He turned to Marcus. "Make sure everyone attends. The whole pack needs to see this."

He glanced back. "Oh, and Kira? Elena and I are announcing our engagement next week. I wanted you to die knowing I chose her over you."

The casual cruelty shattered something inside me.

Marcus leaned in. "You never should have been born. Tomorrow, we'll correct that mistake."

Then they were gone, and I was alone. Tied to the post. Bleeding. Broken. With hours until dawn.

The night was endless. Cold seeped into my bones. My shoulder burned with infection. My wrists bled where the ropes cut.

And all I could hear was Jaxon's voice.

You are nothing.

I'm going to enjoy watching you break.

I chose her over you.

He didn't just reject me. He wanted me to suffer. Wanted me to die knowing I meant nothing.

The boy I'd known was gone. If he'd ever existed at all.

In his place was a monster who smiled while promising my death.

The sky began to lighten.

Dawn was coming.