DEREK
Violet fire explodes from Ivy's body and my wolf slams against my ribcage trying to escape.
This can't be happening.
Silver flames pour off her skin like water. Three elders collapse burning and the smell of charred flesh makes my stomach turn. The sacred bonding stone shatters into dust. When the light finally fades Ivy kneels at the altar glowing like she swallowed lightning.
Her eyes are violet. Not the soft amber I've known since we were kids. Bright glowing violet that makes my wolf whimper in terror.
That's not Ivy. That's something else wearing her face.
My father moves through the panicking crowd with the calm of a hunter who just found exactly what he was looking for. He circles Ivy studying her like she's a prize horse at auction.
"The old texts were right." His voice carries satisfaction that makes my skin crawl.
I force myself to step closer. "Father what is she."
"She's exactly what we needed." He gestures at the destruction. At the dead wolves. "This power. Imagine it controlled. Directed. Bred into the next generation."
Bred.
My blood turns to ice. I know what he means. I've heard the whispers about what happens in the breeding cells. Female wolves locked underground. Forced to carry pups for whoever my father decides will strengthen the bloodline. Some of them go insane. Others just stop fighting and become empty shells.
Ivy is still on her knees shaking. The violet glow pulses under her skin and she looks terrified of herself. This is still the girl who used to share her lunch with me when the other Alpha pups said I was too soft. Who cried when she found a bird with a broken wing and made me help her build it a nest.
I can't let my father do this to her.
"Father she didn't mean to hurt anyone." My voice sounds stronger than I feel. "Maybe we can figure out what triggered this. Help her control it."
His eyes snap to mine. Cold. Calculating. "Are you questioning my judgment."
It's not really a question. More like a warning wrapped in words.
My wolf cowers but I push forward anyway. "I'm saying maybe there's another way. She's just scared. If we."
"She's a weapon son. Weapons don't need coddling. They need controlling." He turns to his guards. Six beta wolves built like brick walls. "Prepare the breeding cells."
No.
The word screams in my head but won't come out of my mouth.
Ivy's eyes find mine. Pleading. Desperate. The same look she had when we were eight and the older omegas locked her in the storage shed for two days. I found her then. Let her out. Gave her my jacket because she was shivering.
I should help her now.
My father's hand clamps on my shoulder. His grip is iron. "You understand what needs to happen here. Don't you."
"She's my mate." The words taste like ash. "I proposed to her. The pack witnessed it."
"The pack witnessed her kill three elders and destroy our most sacred relic." His voice drops low enough only I can hear. "If you don't reject her now everyone will think you're weak. That you'd choose an abomination over pack safety. Is that the Alpha you want to be."
My wolf whines. Torn between the girl I care about and the instinct to obey my father's authority.
"I can protect her," I try again. "Keep her in the packhouse under guard. Figure out what she is. There has to be."
"REJECT HER." The Alpha command hits me like a physical blow.
My spine goes rigid. My wolf drops into immediate submission before I can even think about resisting. The command wraps around my throat like a noose. I try to fight it but I'm not strong enough. I've never been strong enough to stand against my father.
My mouth opens without permission.
"I reject you Ivy Sterling."
The words pour out flat and cold. Each one feels like I'm swallowing poison. My wolf howls in protest but the command won't let me stop.
"You are not my mate. You are not pack."
Ivy's face crumbles. The betrayal in her violet eyes cuts deeper than any wound I've ever taken. Tears spill down her cheeks but she doesn't make a sound. Just stares at me like I'm a stranger.
Maybe I am. Maybe I always was.
The guards move forward and grab her arms. She's still weak from whatever happened. Can't even fight back properly as they haul her off the altar.
"Derek please." Her voice breaks. "You know me. We were friends. Don't let him do this."
I open my mouth but nothing comes out. The command still has my throat locked. Or maybe I'm just too much of a coward to admit I could fight harder.
She searches my face for something. Anything. Some sign that I'll help her.
I look away.
Can't watch what I'm letting happen.
The guards drag her past my father and he leans close to say something I can't hear. Whatever it is makes Ivy go pale. She starts struggling then. Really fighting. Her power flickers violet but she's too exhausted to do more than make her skin glow.
They pull her toward the packhouse. Toward the stairs that lead down to the cells that no wolf ever comes back from unchanged.
"Derek help me. Please. DEREK."
My name rips from her throat in a scream that will echo in my nightmares forever.
I force myself to watch. This is my fault. The least I can do is witness what my weakness costs.
The crowd parts to let the guards through. Pack members I've known my whole life. Not one tries to stop them. We're all complicit. All guilty.
Ivy's screams fade as they take her underground.
The command finally releases me and I suck in air like I've been drowning. My father releases my shoulder.
"You made the right choice." He sounds proud. Like I just passed some sick test. "One day you'll be Alpha. You need to understand that sometimes we sacrifice individuals for the greater good of the pack."
Greater good. Right.
I watch the packhouse door close behind Ivy and the guards. Somewhere beneath our feet she's being locked in silver chains. My father will use her. Break her. Turn whatever she is into a tool for his ambitions.
And I let it happen.
"The ceremony is over." My father addresses the crowd. His voice carries absolute authority. "Return to your homes. Speak of this to no one outside pack boundaries. Anyone who disobeys will face consequences."
The pack disperses quietly. Too afraid to question. Too obedient to resist.
Just like me.
I should go to my room. Pretend this never happened. Move on like my father wants.
Instead my feet carry me toward the packhouse. I tell myself I just need to check that she's secured properly. That the guards follow protocol. Any excuse to quiet the guilt eating me alive.
The stairs down to the breeding cells are narrow. Lit by flickering torches that cast dancing shadows on stone walls. I've only been down here twice. Both times my father brought me to show me what happens to wolves who challenge Alpha authority.
Guards stand at the entrance to the cell block. They straighten when they see me.
"Alpha's son." The bigger one nods. "Your father said you might come by."
Of course he did. My father knows me better than I know myself.
"I just want to make sure she's secured." I keep my voice neutral. Detached. Like she means nothing. "Can't have that kind of power getting loose."
"All taken care of sir." He gestures down the hallway. "Cell seven. Double silver chains. She's not going anywhere."
Silver chains.
Every wolf knows silver burns us. It's the one metal that can hurt our kind. Prolonged contact causes permanent scarring. The breeding cells use silver to keep dangerous wolves controlled through constant pain.
Ivy will be in agony.
I move past the guards before they can see my expression. The cell block is exactly as horrible as I remember. Ten cells. All empty except the one at the end. The air smells like fear and old blood.
I stop outside cell seven and my heart drops into my stomach.
Ivy sits on the floor wrapped in silver chains. They circle her wrists. Her ankles. Her throat. Thick heavy links that should be burning through her skin right now.
But they're not.
She's not screaming. Not even flinching. The silver rests against her skin without leaving a mark. Her violet eyes lift to meet mine through the bars.
"Come to watch me suffer." Her voice is hollow. Empty of the warmth I remember. "Enjoy the show."
I can't answer. Can't look away from those chains.
Silver doesn't burn her.
My father was right. Ivy isn't just different. She's something the werewolf world has never seen. Something powerful enough to ignore the one weakness every wolf shares.
And I just handed her over to a man who will use that power for himself.
What have I done.