Chapter 4: HALF HUMAN HALF WOLF

I gently laid Amy on our narrow bed and immediately got to work.

I found warm water, a clean cloth, and a small jar of salve I had traded for two weeks of extra chores, just in case they ever came in handy.

Apparently, today was the day I needed it.

Amy didn’t cry while I cleaned the bruises across her back.

I spoke soft, steady words to her, trying to soothe her as I worked.

All I got from her were small sniffs.

She had gone quiet, tired from all the screaming and crying.

"It’s okay, sugar," I said, gently moving her hair away from her face. "I’m here, and no one is going to hurt you again."

"Alex?"

Her voice was tiny.

I went still.

"Yes, Amy?"

"Why... do they... hate us so much?"

My heart broke into pieces.

How was I supposed to answer that?

How was I supposed to explain what it meant to be human to a seven-year-old who had just been beaten for it?

Before I could find the right words, there was a soft knock on the door.

I stiffened.

For a moment, I thought Luna Elizabeth had come back to finish what she started.

Even Amy trembled beneath me.

I didn’t want to answer.

I didn’t have the strength for another confrontation tonight.

The knock came again.

I forced myself to my feet, deciding to face whoever it was.

When I opened the door, Brennan stood in the hallway with a small bag over his shoulder.

Up close, he looked tired.

Older than the fifty years he was supposed to be.

"Where were you?" I asked.

I didn’t try to hide the sharpness in my voice.

"All this time. Where were you?"

"It’s complicated," he said quietly.

There was guilt written all over his face.

"You have no idea how much we’ve suffered. What we’ve been through."

He didn’t argue.

He didn’t defend himself.

Somehow, that made it worse.

Brennan was the one person who, when we were growing up, never pretended.

He had always looked after us.

And when Father died, he should have been the one to protect us.

"I’m sorry, Alex," was all he said. "I know that doesn’t fix anything tonight. But I’m here now. And I’m not planning on disappearing again."

I wanted to believe him.

But I’d learned a long time ago what promises in this pack house were worth.

I let him step inside.

Just as I was about to close the door, a hand stopped it.

I looked up and saw one of the guards.

"Luna Elizabeth requires you in the hall tonight," the messenger said. "The Gala service. You’re to be ready within the hour."

I wanted to refuse.

More than anything, I wanted to lie down beside Amy and hold her until the world made sense again.

But refusing wasn’t a privilege either of us could afford.

I looked at Brennan, who was now sitting in the corner like a silent, guilty sentinel.

"Don’t leave her."

It wasn’t really a request.

"I won’t," he said.

Something steady in his voice made me want to trust him again, despite everything.

"I’ll be here the whole night. You have my word."

I changed quickly into the only dress I had that was presentable enough for serving in the hall.

It was pale blue, a hand-me-down that had become soft from years of wear.

It was also a size too big.

I had stopped growing into things a long time ago.

Servants weren’t meant to be noticed.

Only neat.

As I laced the dress up, I thought about my mother.

She had loved my father first.

Before the pack.

Before the rules.

Before Luna Elizabeth ever entered the picture.

My father hadn’t been able to marry her.

His pack would never have allowed a human bride, especially not for an Alpha.

So they had lived in secret.

Until he couldn’t do it anymore.

He broke things off with her.

He chose the pack over her, the way Alphas were always taught to choose.

She ran and raised us alone in hiding.

By the time Father found us, she was already dead.

I never knew what made him take us in.

Guilt, maybe.

Whatever it was, he hadn’t wasted much time before marrying Luna Elizabeth.

Not because he loved her.

But because an Alpha with two human daughters and no wife to raise them was a scandal he couldn’t afford to live with.

So Luna Elizabeth came into our home with her own two children from her previous marriage.

She never once let us forget what a burden it had been to raise us.

Father didn’t even last two years after that.

His death had been sudden.

I sighed and pulled myself back to the present.

Tomorrow.

I was leaving this awful place tomorrow.

I’d already made up my mind.

I was going to run with Leo.

Leo was the only good thing that had happened to me since my father died.

He was the son of a wealthy Alpha from another pack.

I’d met him after I joined the pack, and somehow we’d made a pact that we’d be together forever.

He had assured me that even after my father died, he would choose me as his mate in front of everyone.

He was the only boyfriend I’d ever had.

The only other person who made me look forward to waking up in this pack.

It was going to be fine.

I repeated those words to myself as I hurried toward the Gala.

The hall was already full by the time I arrived.

Candlelight filled the room.

Laughter echoed through the hall.

And there was the particular kind of noise wealthy, comfortable people made when they had never once gone hungry.

I slipped in through the servants’ entrance, where I belonged, and took my place near the kitchen door with the other serving girls.

I moved through the crowd quietly, delivering drinks and canapés to the guests.

I kept my eyes down and my tray steady.

But I listened.

The plague affecting the wolves had gotten worse.

They still had no solution.

It didn’t mean much to me.

I was human.

Whatever was hunting the wolves of this world had never once bothered to notice me.

At least, that’s what I thought.

I didn’t know yet how wrong I was.

I refilled another glass and kept moving through the crowd until I saw him.

Leo.

He was seated near the head of the hall in the deep green jacket I recognized.

The same one he’d worn the last time we had kissed.

I felt warm in my tummy.

He glanced up as I passed with my tray.

For one second, our eyes met.

Then he looked away.

I told myself it meant nothing.

Guests didn’t acknowledge servants.

That was simply how tonight was supposed to go.

Besides, no one knew we were still seeing each other.

It was better that we kept it a secret until he was ready.

Then Trent, my asshole of a stepbrother, stood.

The worst of the worst.

And now the new Alpha of our pack.

He rose from his seat at the head of the table, a wine glass in his hand and his perfect smile on his face.

"Before the evening continues," he announced, his voice carrying easily across the hall, "I’d like to share some happy news."

The room quieted.

"My sister, Peaches," Trent continued, "has accepted the courtship of Leo of Ashgrove Pack."

My heart skipped.

"Their mating bond was confirmed just this week."

Applause immediately filled the hall.

Peaches, seated beside Leo, wore a smile so bright and satisfied that it looked practiced.

Leo lifted his glass along with everyone else.

He still refused to look anywhere near where I stood.

The tray slipped from my hands before I even realized my fingers had gone numb.

It crashed hard onto the floor.

Wine spilled everywhere.

Glasses shattered.

Canapés scattered across the floor.

And suddenly, every single person in the hall was looking at me.