The air held a thick metallic odor that overpowered the normal smells of pine and earth. I stumbled through the grand estate corridors with my bare feet slipping on the cold marble floor as my breath caught in my throat. The silence was worse than the darkness. It felt unnatural, suffocating. Something was wrong.
I entered the main hall while my heart raced so intensely I feared it would burst out of my chest. The floor held my mother sprawled out while her white dress bore crimson stains. My father stood next to her with his eyes open yet void of life and his body maintaining its warmth. A sob choked me as I fell to my knees, my shaking hands reaching to touch them.
No. No, no, no.
A shadow moved. A footstep echoed in the vast hall.
I turned abruptly and gasped for breath in ragged bursts. My older brother Viktor stood there with a face that appeared frozen like stone. The blue eyes that matched mine revealed nothing but icy fury.
His voice flowed with poison as he said, "You." “You did this.”
I blinked before my head began to shake as I searched for words. “W-what? No! I—I just found them like this! Viktor, you have to believe me!”
A growl rumbled deep in his chest. “Lies.”
“Viktor—”
“Silence!” His voice snapped through the air before we realized we weren’t alone. The pack was here. Suspicious glares of anger and revulsion came from dozens of eyes pointed at me. Thousands of serpents moved through the crowd as whispers spread around them.
“She killed them.”
“She wanted their power.”
“A traitor.”
“No!” I shrieked, scrambling to my feet. The strength in my legs faded,, and tremors ran through my entire body. “I didn’t—Why would I do this?”
But I saw it in their eyes. The decision had already been made.
“Shackle her.” Viktor’s command was swift andand merciless.
Strong hands seized me from behind with unrelenting force. The freezing metal handcuffs tightened around my wrists,, causing me to scream as the silver burned my skin. A sharp burning sensation spread like liquid fire through my veins in an instant. I heard my wolf making a soft cry within me,, yet I sensed her fading strength. Something was wrong.
I thrashed. “No! Stop! You know me! You know I would never—”
Viktor moved closer while he quieted his speech so only my ears could detect it. “Your wolf won’t save you now, sister. The Elders have already decided your fate.”
Terror stole my breath. “What are you talking about?”
He smiled. It was slow, cruel. “You’re going to be punished. You have lost your place within our group.
The world tilted. I experienced myself being pulled forward while the pack's faces blurred before my eyes as tears streamed down my cheeks.
The Elders were waiting.
They shackled me to the stone platform situated in the heart of the clearing. Light from the torches produced wavering shadows while the assembled wolves displayed serious expressions. Ancient magical forces pulsed throughout the night and sent shivers through my body.
The oldest and most feared Elder, Reinhardt, moved forward from the group. His creased face showed no emotion while his voice remained constant as he spoke. The court has formally charged Leonie Wagner with the homicides of Alpha and Luna Wagner.
My throat tightened. “I’m innocent.”
His gaze bore into mine. “The evidence says otherwise.”
My voice broke as I exclaimed, "There is no evidence!" “You’re just taking Viktor’s word for it?”
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Viktor stood silently at the back of the room with his arms folded as he watched with contented eyes.
Elder Reinhardt acted as though my words never reached his ears. Anyone who commits treason against our pack faces execution as their penalty.
A gasp rippled through the pack.
I screamed "No!" but my attempts to break free from the chains proved useless. “I didn’t do this! Please, listen to me!”
Reinhardt lifted a hand, and silence fell. The council extends mercy to you because of your heritage.
I swallowed, my heartbeat deafening.
Elder Reinhardt declared that my wolf would be taken from me. Your duty will be to serve the Nachtwald Pack as their servant. You will be nothing.”
The threatening words hit me as if I had been handed a death sentence.
I had heard of this punishment before. Being parted from one’s wolf represented a fate even more devastating than death itself. It was agony. It was emptiness. It was becoming nothing.
“No,” I whispered. “Please.”
Viktor’s lips curled. “Do it.”
The air became heavy with magic that pressed down oppressively. The chanting of the Elders blended into one powerful sound that surrounded me with invisible chains. An intense pain erupted within my chest and tore my soul apart. A howl of raw grief from my wolf filled the air before she slowly vanished from view.
I screamed.
I experienced a sensation of being ripped to pieces while something essential was being torn away from my core essence. My fingers dug into the stone below me while my body shook uncontrollably. And then—
Silence.
I fell to the ground while struggling to breathe through the emptiness that chilled my body. My wolf was gone.
The crowd was silent. I was silent.
I felt…nothing.
Viktor knelt next to me,, delivering his words in a quiet, taunting murmur. “You belong to me now, little sister.”
His words reached my core,, and tears flowed from my eyes.
What specific suffering had he arranged to subject me to?