Chapter 5

I stared at him. "Cassian. And if I won't?"

He gave a cold laugh, his eyes mocking and ice cold.

"Since when do you get a say?"

He flicked a glance at the crowd behind him, and they all started baying.

"You heard the Luna! Strip! Down on the floor!"

"Yeah, lost the shirt off your back and still trying to bargain with the Alpha."

The same rich wolves who used to call me Luna had turned on me, every one of them Aria's now.

My chest seized, the pain going numb.

A wall of pack warriors stood behind me. There was no running.

Cassian was unpredictable. Fight it, and he'd only drag it out. I had to get to my grandmother. My pride didn't matter anymore.

"You'd better keep your word. Let me go when it's done."

I choked it back, slowly stripped, and dropped to the floor.

The whole room sucked in a breath.

A howl tore out of me—the first one—and the place exploded with laughter.

I swallowed the shame and the tears and howled again.

Then someone in the crowd kicked me.

When the last howl came out, Cassian spoke, cold. "Enough."

"Get her out of here!"

I choked back a sob, grabbed my clothes, yanked them on, and stumbled out.

It had started pouring while I was inside. I finally flagged a car and made it to the healer's den.

I ran into the room—and she wasn't there.

I tore the place apart looking for her. Then the doors to the treatment room opened, and the healers wheeled out someone under a white sheet. A hand hung off the edge, and on the wrist was the carved bone band I'd given my grandmother.

Every drop of blood in me froze.

"Grandma!"

I screamed and threw myself onto her body.

The healer let out a long breath. "I'm sorry. We did everything we could. At the end she wanted to see you one last time. We tried to reach you—your line was dead, every time. We had no choice but to start."

I couldn't hear the rest.

The room spun, and I went down.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a bed.

A nurse came in to adjust my drip, worry on her face.

"Miss, I know you just lost someone close to you. But you have to take care of yourself, especially now that you're carrying."

It hit me like a slap.

"What did you say?" I repeated it back, shaking. "I'm pregnant?"

"Yes. Two months along. You really hadn't noticed?"

A shiver ran under my belly. I laid a hand over it and went cold all over.

There was a time I'd dreamed of having his pup. A pup made out of love.

And now, of all times—when Cassian didn't love me anymore—the pup had come.

The door opened.

Cassian walked in, half a cake in his hand.

"Wren, you embarrassed me today." His voice was cold, edged with blame. "Aria's got a good heart. She figured you hadn't eaten, so she saved you some cake."

The hate rose up in me. That cake, picked apart past recognition, was a slap across the face.

"You're not sitting with your grandmother. You're in here faking sick to get my attention?"

"Get out!"

I grabbed the cup off the nightstand and threw it at his face.

He tipped his head and dodged. Something vicious crossed his eyes.

"You don't know a good thing when you've got it. Not even close to Aria."

His face went hard. He turned and slammed the door behind him.

And right then, everything I'd held in broke loose, and I sobbed until I couldn't breathe.

For days, Cassian paraded Aria around, spoiling her rotten.

And I buried my grandmother alone.

The day I put her in the ground, the sky was black with clouds, and soon it was pouring.

While I stood there, Cassian was making a show of buying Aria a diamond nobody else in the world could get.

I went back to his mansion, packed everything that was mine, and moved into a small place out near the pack border.

Cassian realized I was gone and called, demanding to know where I was.

I didn't answer that. I just said, "Cassian, the Trials are over. There's nothing between us."

A day later, he showed up.

He looked at the little room and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Wren, you're living in a dump like this now? You want out of my life this bad—you're playing hard to get."

My face went cold. "It's none of your business. Get out."

The next second his eyes flashed, and he had his warriors grab me.

"Let's go. Aria wants to take you to an auction."