Chapter 4

Everything went dark.

My legs buckled. I stumbled.

When reason came back, my hands were locked around Serena's throat and I wanted her dead.

"Ivy! Stop it! What are you doing?"

"Ivy! Have you lost your mind!"

The light was sharp. Bodies moved around me in a blur.

Cain's furious face filled my vision.

Someone slapped me across the face, once and then again.

My hands still didn't let go.

My mother pried at my fingers, tears running down her face.

"She hasn't had it easy either, you can't do this to her."

My father stood to the side, adding his voice to hers.

"Serena is your Pack sister. You shouldn't treat her like this."

The pale, bloodless face of my pup flickered in front of me for a moment, then shifted into Serena's face — hateful, triumphant.

I couldn't hold back anymore.

I swung my hand hard across Serena's face.

The crack of the slap rang out at the same moment something kicked into my chest, and I flew backward and hit the ground.

Pain exploded through my ribs.

Agony mixed with red, and everything went under.

I heard nothing.

I could only see the shoes on Cain's feet.

They were the formal shoes I had searched the entire territory to pick out for him — the ones that had witnessed his vows and the red that had come to my face.

Now he was wearing them to walk into my home with someone else, and he had stepped across my body.

I gasped for air.

"Why... did you take my pup's heart?"

A flash of guilt crossed his face, but it passed quickly, replaced by self-righteousness.

"Serena saved my life once. Giving her pup a heart isn't more than I owe her."

Maybe.

But who would repay my pup?

I dragged myself forward, my blood-covered hand grabbing the leg of his trousers.

I tilted my head up, and looked him in the eye.

"Did you ever consider... you got it wrong?"

"The one who saved you, who gave you half her blood, who carried you on her back in the heat until she reached the hospital — what if that wasn't Serena?"

"What if it was me?"

"What did you say?"

Cain grabbed my arm, his grip crushing.

I pulled free and laughed.

"Don't believe me? Go to the hospital and check the records yourself."

"With your position in this Pack, finding out the truth is simple enough."

Cain stared at me, his face cycling through something fast, and he took a step back.

His eyes visibly reddened and went wet.

After a while he forced himself to steady, and asked me once more.

"Is what you're saying true or not?"

"How could it be you? How?"

I held his gaze as hard as I could, watching that panicked, unraveling expression take hold.

And I said nothing more.

Why give him an answer?

What's more unbearable than a blade hanging right above your head?

If he sent someone to the Iron Territory Medical Center, they'd find even more interesting things there.

While Cain's shouting turned desperate, something let go inside me, and I blacked out completely.

In the dream, everything was strange and bright.

Cain and I were back six years ago.

I had just graduated. My first love had left for abroad without warning.

I hadn't found my way out of the grief yet.

That was when I found Cain, broken and failing, lying at the base of a hill.

His body was covered in marks from being dragged across gravel. Several bones were broken.

I put him on my back and stood on that empty stretch of road, waving with every bit of strength I had.

Hoping someone, anyone, would stop and get him to the hospital.

No one did.

Cars screamed past, one after another.

His blood-covered face was inches from mine. His breathing barely existed.

I set my jaw and carried him forward, one step at a time.

When I got to the hospital I was drenched in sweat and nearly passed out on my feet.

The operating room doors had just closed when they opened again.

A nurse told me he'd lost too much blood and needed a transfusion.

If I'm honest, by that point I'd already started regretting getting involved.

I nearly walked away.

But then, in all the chaos, I caught sight of his face — cleaned up now, and it looked like the face of the person I used to love.

Something irrational kept me rooted to the spot.

I gave half my blood.

The last thing I remembered from that day was calling Serena.

By the time I fully came to and went back to find Cain, I heard he'd been moved to another facility by his family.

After that came years, and then a meeting I hadn't expected.

I don't know how Cain later came to believe Serena was the one who saved him.

It didn't matter.

What mattered was this.

My pup was dead.

My home was destroyed.

The ones responsible were Serena. And Cain.

They'd been living without consequences for five years. It was time for them to answer for what they'd done to me and to my pup.