Chapter 5

Dustin's voice cracked through the chamber like a whip.

"Enough! Drop the act! Gabriella is timid. Those disgusting scars of yours frightened her so badly she has nightmares every night."

His eyes burned with fury.

"You love putting on a performance so much? Then get the hell out of my territory and stop frightening her!"

He was waiting for me to break.

Waiting for me to beg.

Waiting for me to surrender.

I looked at his rage-twisted face and felt nothing.

My heart was as still as a dead lake.

I didn't argue.

I didn't cry.

"I'm leaving now."

I picked up my traveling chest and walked past him.

Dustin stared after me. When he saw me open the door without the slightest hesitation, his jaw clenched.

He stormed after me and ripped the chest from my hands.

"You really think I won't let you leave, Delia?"

His voice dropped into a growl.

"Let's see which pack in the Southern Territories dares take you in once you walk through those gates."

He hurled the chest onto the stone floor.

The lock broke.

My belongings spilled across the corridor.

Something green flashed among them and skittered over the stones.

The emerald brooch.

The Simmons family heirloom Les had given me.

I bent to retrieve it, but a pale hand reached it first.

Gabriella lifted the brooch toward the torchlight, her eyes brightening.

"What a beautiful brooch."

She turned toward Dustin.

"I love it. Can I wear it?"

Before he'd even answered, she was already fastening it to her gown.

That brooch was the only thing left that truly belonged to me.

I held out my hand.

"I've given her everything else."

My voice turned cold.

"Not this. Give it back."

Gabriella flinched and immediately shrank against Dustin.

His arm wrapped around her.

Anger flashed across his face.

"You gave her the Blood Jade Bracelet. You gave her the ruby earrings. And now you're making a scene over some worthless trinket?"

His eyes hardened.

"Gabriella likes it. Let her have it."

I opened my mouth to refuse.

Gabriella suddenly unclasped the brooch.

"It's all right, Delia. I'll give it back."

Her eyes reddened instantly.

"You can make things difficult for me if you want. Just please stop putting Dustin between us."

She swallowed, her voice trembling.

"You've always cared about wealth more than anything, haven't you? I'll give you all the gold I have."

Her fingers tightened around the brooch.

"I'm not like you. I don't want riches or status. All I want is Dustin's heart."

Tears gathered in her eyes.

She looked every bit the innocent woman hopelessly in love.

And I, once again, looked like the greedy orphan who wanted everything.

Gabriella held out the brooch.

Then her fingers opened.

It struck the stone floor.

The ancient emerald shattered.

Every drop of blood in my body turned cold.

Gabriella covered her mouth.

"Oh no."

She looked down at the fragments.

"You didn't catch it. What a shame. Such a beautiful emerald too."

I stared at the broken pieces.

Something inside me finally snapped.

My hand flew across Gabriella's face.

The slap echoed through the corridor.

"Ah!"

She stumbled backward into Dustin's arms.

The next instant, a much harder blow struck my cheek.

"You have a death wish, Delia!"

My vision went black.

The force sent me staggering sideways.

Then I plunged through the thin ice covering the ornamental spring beside the courtyard.

Freezing water swallowed me whole.

Gabriella's scream pierced the night.

"It hurts! Dustin, it hurts so much!"

He pulled her against his chest.

I struggled beneath the black water, clawing desperately at the broken ice.

Dustin stood at the edge of the spring.

There was nothing in his eyes but fury.

Albert came running at the commotion.

The moment he saw me in the water, his face drained of color.

"She can't swim!"

Dustin didn't move.

His Alpha aura rolled through the courtyard like an approaching storm.

"Anyone who helps her can leave with her."

Icy water flooded my nose and mouth.

Through the broken surface, I saw Dustin lower his head toward Gabriella's swollen cheek and gently blow against it.

His expression was filled with tenderness.

Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her back toward the stronghold.

He never looked back.

Not once.

Strangely, my heart didn't hurt anymore.

I was simply tired.

Tired of all of it.

In the end, Albert couldn't bear to watch.

He ordered two servants to pull me from the spring.

I collapsed onto the frozen stones, coughing up water, my entire body shaking violently.

"Lady Delia, let me summon the healer!"

Albert threw a heavy woolen cloak around my shoulders.

I pulled it tighter, my teeth chattering.

"Thank you, Albert. I'm fine."

I gathered what remained of my belongings and struggled toward the gates.

"From now on, I'm no longer the future Luna of the Delgado Pack."

Albert hurried after me.

"Where will you go?"

"Anywhere."

I looked toward the dark forest beyond the walls.

"As long as it's away from him, anywhere is good enough."

Albert stopped.

Behind me, I heard the old man release a grief-stricken sigh.

The iron gates of the Delgado stronghold slowly closed.

I walked into the howling wind without looking back.

Not at the place where I'd spent five years believing I had a home.

Not at the gilded cage that had imprisoned me for just as long.

Snow swallowed the road beneath my feet.

I didn't know how long I'd been walking when the communication stone inside my cloak suddenly warmed.

Les's voice came through it.

"Sweetheart, I came early. I'm less than half an hour from the Delgado border. Are you ready?"

Snow fell in blinding sheets.

The wind cut through my soaked clothes until I felt as though I were slowly turning to ice.

Still, I kept walking.

My legs grew numb.

Every step felt like walking across blades.

Just as darkness crept into the edges of my vision and my knees began to buckle, the thunder of hooves broke through the storm.

A black carriage drawn by four enormous warhorses burst from the snow.

The driver hauled on the reins.

The horses reared, stopping only a few feet from me.

The carriage door flew open.

"Delia?!"

A man leapt down.

He ran toward me through the snow without even pulling up his hood.

He caught me just as my legs gave out.

The instant Les saw me soaked and half-frozen, my lips blue and my skin mottled from the cold, his eyes flashed crimson.

His wolf was close to the surface.

He tore off his fur-lined cloak and wrapped it around me until the wind could no longer touch my skin.

"Was it that bastard Delgado?"

His voice shook with barely restrained rage.

"Did he do this to you?"

His arms tightened around me.

"I'll tear apart everyone who laid a hand on you."

I sagged against his chest.

"I'm sorry."

My numb fingers curled into his tunic.

"The brooch you gave me. I couldn't protect it. Gabriella destroyed it."

The thought of the Simmons heirloom shattered across the Delgado floor made guilt tighten my throat.

"It's only a thing."

Les didn't even hesitate.

"No matter how precious it was, it could never be worth more than you."

He brushed wet hair from my face.

"If you loved it, I'll have another made for you."

He lifted me into his arms and carried me into the carriage.

Then he climbed in beside me and ordered the driver to make for the Simmons territory at once.

Les pulled me against his chest, removed my soaked boots and stockings, and enclosed my frozen feet between his warm palms.

Heat spread steadily from his skin.

"Don't cry, sweetheart."

His thumb brushed a tear from my cheek.

"I'd hate for my bride to arrive at our bonding ceremony with swollen eyes."

Only then did I realize I was crying.

I raised a hand to wipe my face.

Then I froze.

My eyes widened.

I jerked upright so violently that I nearly struck my head against the carriage roof.

I stared at the man sitting across from me.

At his strong legs.

At the way he'd run through the snow toward me without the slightest difficulty.

"You..."

My mouth fell open.

"Aren't you supposed to be impotent and unable to walk?"

Les went very still.

Outside, the black carriage raced north through the storm, disappearing beneath the snow.

Back at the Delgado stronghold, the atmosphere had grown suffocating.

Dustin sat alone beside the fire in the Great Hall, staring through the tall windows at the falling snow.

His face was carved from stone.

The communication stone in his hand creaked beneath the force of his grip.

Finally, his patience snapped.

He activated it and sent me a message.

"Finished with your tantrum? Then come back. And remember, Delia. There won't be a next time."

He waited.

And waited.

Outside, the gray evening faded into darkness.

No answer came.

No familiar figure appeared beyond the gates.

Dustin abruptly rose and knocked the goblet a servant offered him across the room.

It shattered against the stone wall.

The moon had climbed high above the stronghold.

Nearly four hours had passed since he'd knocked me into the frozen spring.