Chapter 9

I didn't move.

He kicked me in the knee,and the pain sent me sprawling to the ground.

I pushed myself up and began to crawl across the gravel-strewn yard.

The sharp stones dug into my knees,and sweat beaded on my forehead.

“Slow down,”Damian said from behind.“Don't let Selena fall.”

Selena smiled sweetly,pulling me through mud puddles and up stone steps.

Cold sweat ran down my face.My knees wouldn't stop shaking.

When we were some distance from Damian and Kyle,Selena suddenly leaned in and whispered in my ear:

“Ilara,I hate you.I wish you were dead.”

“Years ago,you escaped from my family and reported us to the Wolf Council.You got my father judged and exiled to the Frozen Lands,never to return.”

My world stopped.

That trafficker…Selena's father was a traitor from the Shadow Wolf pack.He captured and sold cubs from all packs.

I saw him murder a cub who resisted,just for crying at night.

Afterward,he smiled at the rest of us and said,“Anyone else cries,you'll go join him.”

The day I escaped,he found me and chased me across two mountain ranges.

I jumped into a frozen river,and he stood on the bank throwing giant rocks at me until I was bleeding and half-dead.

And my parents adopted his daughter.

My brother cherished her.My fiancébetrayed our vows for her.

Selena was still talking.“I'm not afraid of you telling anyone.No one will believe you.I'm just telling you this to make you sick.”

She laughed wildly.

I snapped.I lunged up,grabbed the chain from her hand,and wrapped it around her neck.

“Your father murdered cubs!”

My eyes burned.“That cub was only a month old!”