Chapter 6

The hidden door in the partition swung open slowly. A figure stepped out.

Gold in his clothes. Authority in his face.

The Alpha King.

The room went completely silent.

Cain's face went gray. His knees gave and he hit the floor.

The Alpha King looked down at Cain.

"Well done, Alpha Sterling."

His voice was quiet. It made everyone in the room go rigid.

"Well done indeed. Abandoning your post."

The Alpha King's gaze swept across everyone kneeling on the floor. He let out a quiet cough.

The door burst open. A full unit of Elite Enforcers flooded in, filling half the room in seconds.

The Alpha King spoke. "Execute all the warriors who abandoned their posts."

The warriors exploded.

"Alpha King, mercy!"

"Alpha King, we only followed Alpha Sterling's orders. He's the one who commanded us—"

"Please, Alpha King!"

The Enforcers didn't listen. Two per warrior, they grabbed them and started dragging them toward the door.

Screaming and begging filled the room. Some threw their heads against the floor. One reached out and grabbed at the hem of my dress, and an Enforcer kicked his hand away.

I watched them get hauled out one after another. The room emptied by half.

The Alpha King's eyes moved to Vivienne.

Vivienne had gone white.

The Alpha King's tone was almost thoughtful. "Under Pack law, what is the penalty for a Gamma who forfeits her honor before Bonding?"

Vivienne threw herself into frantic bowing, blood from her forehead smearing the floor.

"Alpha King, please. I've served this Pack. I saved Alpha Sterling's life three times. I—"

The Alpha King cut her off. "Serving the Pack earns you the right to abandon your post? Serving the Pack earns you the right to shave the head of a Whitmore daughter?"

"And you call that service? What is the penalty for a warrior with an inflated ego?"

Vivienne opened her mouth. Then closed it. She had no answer.

The Alpha King didn't look at her again. "Send her to the border labor camp."

Vivienne's face turned blank.

"No—"

She screamed, and the sound ripped out of her. She dropped to the floor and crawled toward me on her hands and knees, seizing the hem of my dress.

"Elara. Elara, please—"

Vivienne looked up at me, tears streaming down her face.

"I was wrong. I was completely wrong. I should never have touched your hair. I should never have said those things. I'll — I'll shave my head. Right now. You do it. Shave as much as you want."

Vivienne pulled the blade from her side and shoved it into my hands.

"You do it. Take whatever you want. Just please don't send me to the labor camp—"

I didn't take it. I let the blade fall to the floor.

I looked down at her. "You told me earlier my survival instincts were a two-faced pack girl routine. What would you call this?"

Vivienne's entire body was shaking. She couldn't get out a single word.

The Enforcers stepped forward and dragged her up off the floor.

As they pulled her out through the door, she kept looking back at me.

What started in her eyes as begging became hatred. Then it became despair.

Cain never looked up at Vivienne once.

The Alpha King looked at Cain. "Put Cain Sterling in the dungeons. Awaiting further judgment."

The Enforcers moved in and hoisted Cain up.

They were pulling him toward the door when he suddenly looked back at me.

"Elara."

I didn't respond.

Cain looked like he still had something to say, but the Enforcers had already dragged him out.

The room finally went quiet.

The Alpha King glanced at me and sighed. "You've been through a lot."

I shook my head. "I appreciate your concern, Alpha King. I'm all right."

The Alpha King nodded, said nothing else, and left with his Enforcer escort.

Dorian was waiting in the corridor, leaning against a stone pillar.

He was still turning that dart in his fingers. When he saw me come out, he put it away.

"All done?"

I nodded.

He looked at me and smiled. "I thought you might go soft for a moment there."

I looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Cain Sterling," he said. "If you'd asked the Alpha King to go easy on him, he probably would have."

I looked back at him. "I wasn't going to."

Dorian raised an eyebrow.

I'd read the gesture Dorian made earlier — it told me the Alpha King was inside the Manor.

Which was why I was surprised. But the moment I decided to walk into that room with Cain, I'd already accepted that everything that followed might push him beyond saving.

Because I hated him.

I hated him for taking the real heart I'd given him and doing whatever he wanted with it.

I hated him more for grinding my dignity into the floor and walking over it without looking back.

If I hadn't switched the Bond, today's escort party would have been those few sorry servants coming to collect me for Sterling Pack — as a secondary mate.

I looked toward the dark outside, and said it again. "I'm not going soft on him. Not ever."