Bella was excited. Her heart raced with a joy she hadn't felt in years, maybe ever. After going through the Grimroot pack ritual, she was no longer bound to Cleopatra.
No more responding to that woman's every whim, enduring her cruelty, or watching her commit one sin after another. She was a member of the Grimroot pack now. Free.
She stood outside the shaman's cave, waiting for the allocation and registration process to finish, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. The air smelled different here, cleaner, untouched by the rot of the Western Tribe. She allowed herself a small smile, the first real one she'd managed in months.
Then something yanked her off her feet. The force dragged her across the ground like she weighed nothing. She tumbled through the dirt, the world spinning, and before she could get her bearings, a slap cracked across her face hard enough to send her sprawling.
