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I searched her gaze for any indication of doubt, but when I found nothing, I let my gaze trail downward. I knew she wasn’t oblivious to the bullying. The number of bruises and scratches that I had come home with over the years provided more than enough evidence. The problem was that neither Mom nor I had the power to do anything about it. Neither of us was high on the pack’s priority list. What hope did either of us have of taking on Troy or Trish—two wolves whose social standing was leagues and bounds ahead of ours?
Mom tried hard to help me fit in. Even teaching me how to garden had been an attempt to make me an asset to the pack, but none of her efforts had panned out. We were fighting a losing battle, and though Mom held onto the hope that the Kings could one day accept a human, I had long since given up. That’s why I can’t give up on my plan to escape. I have to get out of here, whether Mom approves it or not.
“It’s okay, Mom,” I said. “Thanks for explaining the challenge to me.”
She lifted an arm as if to lay a comforting hand on my hair but pulled back with a sigh. “I love you, sweetie.”
“I know. I love you too, Mom.”
Hours later, I was in slightly better spirits. The land was empty of vegetables, and I had just finished tilling the area in preparation for reseeding it. It was a job I had enjoyed even when I was younger because it allowed me to think about the fresh bounty of plants that we’d be able to harvest in a few weeks. The supposed magic in the land was what allowed the plants to grow so quickly and so robustly.
Mom had left me to take the fruit to the root cellar, so I was alone to take care of pressing the new bulbs and seeds into the cool, moist earth. I was so engrossed in the task, immersed in the peaceful quiet of my thoughts, that I didn’t hear the faint sound of shifting soil as someone approached me from behind.
Finished, I straightened, dusting my hands off on my work jeans. I could already imagine the vibrant colors that this next harvest would bring to the lot. It was brown and boring now, but in a few more weeks, that would change—
I froze as I felt heat against my back. I knew it was Troy even before I turned to face him. My shoulder brushed his chest as I moved, and he shoved me away from him. I staggered but stopped short of losing my balance.
“You’re not clean enough to touch me, human bitch,” he snapped.
I stared at him, my blood rushing through my veins. “Why are you here?” I asked.
“What do you mean? This is my territory now. All of this,” he gestured to the field that he had never put even a minute’s work into, “belongs to me. That includes the land, its resources, and everyone living on it.”
I clenched my hands so hard that my palms began to sting again. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t belong to him or anyone, but of course, that would result only in his anger. Troy had been raised by a sexist, domineering Alpha. I understood that as a woman and a human, I would never be viewed as anything more than a plaything to Troy.
“Th-that doesn’t answer my question.”
He sneered at me. “I just wanted to inform you. Think of it as a common courtesy for someone as useless as you. Without anyone to challenge me, it’s a sure thing that I’ll be made Alpha tomorrow night.”
My eye twitched. My body wanted to tremble with fear, but rage filled my chest with fire. Did he go out of his way to tell me that?
“Good for you, Troy,” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “If that’s all you wanted to say, then consider your message received.” I tried to walk past him, but he crowded me.
“I remembered something,” he said. “Your birthday is the day after the challenge ceremony, isn’t it?”
I stiffened.
Troy gripped my arm and pulled me close to him, his grin full of sharp teeth. “You’ll be twenty and of age.”
“It doesn’t matter what age I’ll be,” I retorted. I tried to pull my hand away, but his grip was a vise around my wrist. “It doesn’t affect you because I’m obviously not going to be on your list of future mates.”
He tightened his grip on my arm and snarled, his eyes bright with sudden, wild energy. “You aren’t going to be on anyone’s list, Bryn. Your weak human blood will never be allowed to mix with a wolf’s. I’ll see to that myself.”
What little bravado I’d summoned completely disappeared when he started speaking in that growling voice. In the wake of what he’d just said, I couldn’t hide my terror.
Troy’s tongue snaked out to lick his lips as though he could taste my fear in the air. I felt a bulge in his pants pressing against my thigh. I nearly gagged. I couldn’t escape. I couldn’t pull away. Night Shepherd was supposedly the savage Alpha, but Troy was ready to force himself on me in broad daylight. I clenched my teeth against the overwhelming urge to vomit, my eyes watering from the effort.
Taking my tears as more evidence of my weakness, Troy laughed and shoved me onto the ground. “Make sure you’re ready to ring in your birthday in a way that you won’t forget because it’ll be the last one you see as a free woman. By the way,” he looked me over, “you’re at your most attractive when you’re on the ground and covered in dirt.”
When he walked away, I rushed off the field. I barely made it to the tree line before bile burned up my throat. I fell to my hands and knees and threw up in the grass, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. After I’d emptied my stomach, I sat back. My throat was raw, and my arm was bruised where he’d gripped it, my humiliation complete. And Mom wanted me to find a place for myself under these conditions? There was no chance.
Though pained, though defeated, I closed my eyes and made a wish ahead of my birthday. I didn’t wish for a way to escape. I wished for Troy’s death. I don’t want another wolf to challenge him at the ceremony, I sent to the heavens. I wish that I could be strong enough to challenge him, just to feel the bones in his neck snap between my teeth.
6
NIGHT
Dom and I walked through one of the village boroughs, and I took in the activity of my pack. Before I had taken over, there were much fewer cabins, and interactions between pack members were tense and unfriendly because their Alpha wasn’t doing his job. After I took control, I set the pack on a course to a new order. I galvanized the community and rebuilt the cabins that had fallen into disrepair…and the cabins that had been razed to the ground during the Kings’ violent raid a decade ago—a raid that had resulted in the deaths of many Wargs, including Dom’s siblings.
