★Nuel's Pov★
The crowd's attention snapped to us the moment we entered.
Unfortunately, the road I was being led down passed right beside the pack's square.
Dozens of eyes seared into me, shifting away from the horror they had just been watching and fastening onto me instead.
Each step in those cursed heels felt like a noose tightening around my throat. They slowed me down, made my movements clumsy and almost humiliating. And in that slowness, I was forced to meet the stares—the sneers, the hatred etched into their gazes, sharp enough to peel my skin.
If eyes could kill, I would have been ash already even if it was just from one person. . Their glares alone carried enough venom to drag me into an early grave.
I knew why they looked at me that way. To them, I wasn't just a stranger. I wasn't even myself. I was her—the daughter, the sole surviving child of the Alpha who had slaughtered their families. I was the face of the enemy, walking through their territory untouched, shielded only by the decree of the Alpha Council.
That was the only thread keeping me alive. Without it, they would have ripped me limb from limb before my feet even touched Northern soil.
I lifted my chin, forcing my posture to mimic strength. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. This was what my sister would have done, and tonight, I wore her skin. And I will live as her until the rogues come for me, until they pull me out of this charade.
Still, the weight of the massacre pressed on me.
Yes, my father's hands were drenched in their blood, but weren't they partly to blame as well?
The truth was bitter, but I knew it. The massacre had been born of a land dispute. And in our world, weaker packs who lacked the strength for war had only two choices: they could bow to the Alpha Council and plead for aid, or they could surrender and forfeit.
That pack had chosen neither.
They knew they didn't have the power. They knew war would crush them. Yet they lunged headfirst into destruction, dragging my father into it. If they had yielded, if they had waited—perhaps none of this would have happened.
Especially because fate had already been on their side. Their son, once grown and powerful, had reclaimed the land anyway. Their vengeance had come in time.
If only his parents had been patient instead of rushing into the jaws of a battle they could never win.
I was led to the grand hall and told to sit.
The men turned to leave, and I battled within myself to speak out.
It wasn't as if I had a choice.
"Are you going to leave me like this?" I asked sharply, my voice carrying across the hall even though they were almost at the door.
They paused and so did the man who had sat beside me in the car.
I raised my hands, showing him they were still bound.
"My father's beta gave the keys to you," I reminded.
"It's not like I can run away. I'm literally in the northern territories, where will I be able to run to without your men finding me?" I added, forcing my voice to remain steady.
He held my gaze for a long while before finally walking back toward me. His hand hesitated in his pocket, then he pulled out the key and unlocked the cuffs.
"Thank you," I whispered, the words carrying more emotion than I wanted.
I received kindness from a northerner. Something I never thought possible.
If this had been my father's pack, I wouldn't have dared spoken. I would have been silenced with a slap and punished for my audacity.
But here, I had been freed.
He said nothing else and turned to leave, making me the lone figure in the empty grand hall.
I looked around me, lost in the intricacies of the space. The upholstered chairs, the golden trims, the polished floor reflecting faint light from the chandeliers. Behind the dais stood two massive frames—portraits of a man and a woman. The slain Alpha and his Luna. Parents to the new Alpha.
They loomed over me from where I sat. Their eyes seemed to follow, a reminder to all who entered of what had been taken and what remained.
And I wondered—what if the roles had been reversed? What if it had been my parents slaughtered, my pack massacred? Would I have become stronger, hardened like him? Would the moon goddess had rewritten my fate and given me a wolf?
That thought clung to me until a cold wind swept across my skin. Then a voice, colder than the wind itself, shattered the silence.
"Staring at the sins of your father, I suppose?"
I turned.
A figure emerged from the shadows, approaching me, his alpha aura forcing me to bow but I held my resolve not to. She was famous for her wolf, I can't bow to an alpha wolf that she had to. I reminded myself as my breath caught.
I had expected a scarred monster. A man shaped by battle, hardened by rage, bearing the visible wounds of surviving a massacre. His skin roughened by blood and grief.
But what stood before me was nothing like that. He was young and handsome. Terrifying not because of scars but because of how breathtaking he was, sweeping me away that all I could look at was him.
And his eyes—those were what rooted me in place.
He gripped my chin, harsh and unyielding, forcing me to meet his gaze. His fingers pressed against my cheeks as he turned my face side to side, inspecting me like prey.
"Didn't think your father would truly send his precious daughter," he mocked, a low, chilling laugh breaking from his lips as he confirmed my identity.
I swallowed hard, unable to respond.
But I forced defiance into my eyes. If my sister were here, she would have done that. She would hold her ground, no matter the cost. So I tried to mimic her again.
His grip released—and his hand lashed across my face.
The sting burned, my head snapping to the side. A wince escaped me, unmasked. Pain always found me easily; even the smallest blows broke me more than they should.
"I've heard how rude and spoiled you are," he sneered, grabbing my chin again, forcing my face upward. His voice dripped with venom. "That will change soon. Because I am going to break you. Break you until you no longer recognize yourself in the mirror. Until there's nothing left of who you are."
His words cut sharper than his slap, and for a moment I could hardly breathe.
Suddenly—the doors burst open.
Another cold gust swept through the hall and the man who had freed me earlier rushed inside, his urgency breaking the tension.
"Alpha!" he called out, his voice tight with panic. "There's an emergency! Rogue wolves are attacking the pack!"