Chapter 4

“Drink it.”

The next morning, Marcus slammed a bowl of dark liquid in front of me.

My sense of smell had mostly deteriorated, so I couldn't tell what it was.

But its color and texture were identical to the "supplement" I’d been given every morning for three months.

Combined with my recent symptoms—loss of smell, inability to summon my wolf, and full-body sluggishness—the truth was glaringly obvious.

Fine, black sediments rested at the bottom of the bowl.

I looked up at him. He didn’t flinch.

“Drink this, and I’ll let you leave here alive.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat opposite me. “You can live in the cabin near the border. Someone will deliver food and supplies to you every month. It’ll be enough to keep you alive.”

Keep me alive.

When the Blood Ridge Pack attacked years ago, it was my father who saved the entire Shadow Fang Pack.

The post-war reconstruction, the supply lines, the warrior training—my father handled all of it.

Marcus owed everything he had to the Silver Creek Pack.

And he repaid me with wolfsbane.

“And if I don’t?”

He took a sip of his coffee. “If you don’t? You can still try to leave. But you won’t make it out of this territory. Your wolf will get weaker by the day, and within a month, you’ll be completely crippled. You won’t even be able to stand. How far do you think you’ll get?”

He set his cup down and locked eyes with me. “Luna Elena, you overestimate yourself. What do you think you have? Your father’s name? That might work on other lands. But in my Pack, I make the rules.”

Catherine walked out of the kitchen with plates.

Fried eggs, toast, fresh orange juice.

She placed a plate in front of Marcus, and another in front of Liam.

There was nothing for me.

“Alpha Marcus, have some breakfast.” She sat right next to him.

At this table. In my seat.

Victoria came downstairs, glancing at the bowl on the table. “Drink up, Luna Elena. The sooner you drink, the sooner you find peace. Look at you now—no money, no power, no allies. Why keep struggling? If you refuse, don't blame me for being harsh. Strip away your father's connections, and what do you actually have left?”

Marcus leaned back, crossing his legs as he watched me.

I knew that expression all too well. It was a confidence born from his very bones.

He was certain I would drink it. Certain I had no leverage. Certain he had won this game.

“Luna Elena, you don’t have to drink. But once you leave the Shadow Fang Pack, you are nothing.” He smirked as he said those words.

Right then, my phone rang.

The screen lit up—it was my father.

I didn't have time to answer.

Because in the exact same second, Marcus’s phone rang too.

Marcus frowned as he answered. The voice on the other end spoke only one sentence.

I couldn't hear what was said.

But I watched his face.

The color drained from it, layer by layer.

He put his phone down and stared at me, his lips trembling, unable to make a sound.

Victoria’s phone connected too, and someone was shouting on the other end.

Her face instantly crumpled. “What do you mean all supply lines are severed? What do you mean their warriors have completely withdrawn?”

Catherine stood there holding the child, her smile frozen, completely clueless about what was happening.

I picked up my phone and answered. “Father.”

My father’s voice on the other end was calm. “My daughter, it is done.”