Chapter 146

Chapter 146
Warning: this chapter may contain sensitive scenes.

Sofia Bliss. 

I think several days had passed.
Maybe a week.
Possibly more.

The truth is… I no longer had any sense of time. All that silver was destroying my senses, draining everything I had, leaving me exhausted and hollow. There were moments when I no longer even knew who I was.

I was still locked inside that closed room, inside the same giant cage they had thrown me into on the day everything collapsed.

My arms were still shackled in those silver cuffs—cold, heavy, painful—cutting into my skin day and night.
My legs, after days of forced obedience, had been freed. But what difference did it make? What was the point of having them free if I could barely stand?

The collar…

The collar never came off.

It stayed there, tight against my neck like a leash. Refusing to let me breathe, refusing to let me forget even for a single second.

Inside me, everything was tangled.
A storm of emotions, all twisted together.

So much rage, so much hatred… this burning urge for revenge.

All mixed with grief, sadness, and a silent fear I could no longer push away.

They had taken Letícia.

It had been a while. Or maybe days. I didn’t know. I only knew that, ever since then, I had been completely alone. And I asked myself over and over what they had done to her—what they planned to do with me.

Every time I closed my eyes, trying to rest for even a moment, their names came back to me. All of them. Those who had done this to me, to my mother, to Adrian… to everyone I loved.

This couldn’t end like this.
I couldn’t let them win.

Even if I didn’t know how, I knew I had to do something. Anything. Because staying still, waiting… was dying slowly.

The wolf inside me still existed.
Or… whatever was left of it.

Crushed. Suffocated. Silenced by the pure silver that coated that entire room. The bars, the cuffs, the collar—everything crafted to weaken me. To make me docile.

But it still felt the moon.

And that night… it felt stronger.

It was a full moon.

I knew.
My entire body knew. Even exhausted, starving, even weak, something deeper pulsed through me.

The day they had been talking about had come.

The day of the ritual.

Earlier, the same maids had come back. Eyes lowered, hands trembling, steps quick. They came to wash me, change my clothes, just like the other days.

But this time… something was different.

The dress was completely red.

When I saw the fabric, my chest tightened. It was a deep, vivid red, and I knew that color meant much more than simple aesthetics. So I fought with whatever scraps of strength I had left. I shouted. I tried to pull my arm away when one of them came too close.

She hit me.

Not hard—it felt more like a slap meant to force me to face reality. Then, when we were alone for just a second, she whispered, her voice broken, a purple bruise visible on her cheek:

“Please… cooperate. I’m not doing this because I want to.”

That was the moment I understood.

I wasn’t the only victim.
Letícia wasn’t the only one.
There were many others trapped in this hell—people who obeyed out of fear, because they were hostages just as much as I was.

So I didn’t fight anymore.

I accepted the dress.
I stayed silent.

But not because I accepted any of it—
but because I was saving everything for the right moment.

Afterward, they left me alone again.

I barely ate. Only a few bitter teas, ordered by Janine—my “grandmother.”
She said they would help with fertility. That they would prepare my body.

Even if I wasn’t fertile, the tea would force my cycle to come “one way or another.”

I tried spitting it out in the beginning.
I threw it away when I thought no one was watching.

They noticed—
And they hurt Letícia.
They hit her right in front of me,
so I swallowed it.

All of it.

I was trying to sleep, my body heavy, my mind slow, when I heard it.

The door.
And the soft chime of bells.

My eyes opened slowly, and then I saw—
a line of men entering the room.

All of them dressed in black.
All of them are wearing masks.

One.
Two.
Three.
Five.

My whole body froze.
My heart took off like a gunshot.

''What is this? Who are you?'' I asked, trying to push myself up.

Were they really trying to turn this into some kind of grotesque theater?

I looked harder, scanning their faces behind the masks.

Where was Luke?
Where was that bastard Edgar?

Then more men entered.

These weren’t masked.

I recognized them the second I laid eyes on them—
I remembered the day of the meeting I attended with Adrian.

They were from the Council.

My grandmother was with them.

And then, Luke…

Luke was there.

I recognized him even hidden among the masked ones.

''So this is the girl?'' an old man said, his voice rough, carrying a cigar in his hand.
He approached slowly, analyzing me carefully. 
''The one who caused all this mess… I didn’t get the pleasure of meeting you properly before…''

Nausea flooded me.

''Yes, Governor,'' Janine replied, her voice sweet and obedient. ''And now, as we said, we will be taking possession of her.''

''Last time, you weren’t so willing to share your plans,'' the old man continued, smiling crookedly.
''But now… presently that Luke is the Supreme Alpha. You saw. Everything becomes much easier when you have allies on your side.''

What?
What were they talking about?

Last time?
Were they talking about my mother?
Was the council involved in this from the very beginning?

''The ritual must happen,'' he said.
''Only then will the true next Supreme Alpha be born. And we won’t need these useless games anymore.''

He laughed.

''And it’s ironic, isn’t it? Before, when it was Serena… you wanted this only among yourselves… within the family.''

My blood turned to ice.

My mother—
She tried to run from all this.

And now I was here.

''She looks beautiful,'' the old man said, staring at me. ''Well… now it will be fairer. Five men. Members of the five most powerful families of our kind. They will all have their chance.''

Five families?
What?
What the hell was he talking about?''

A strong dizziness hit me; my vision darkened.

''The next pure Alpha will be born into whichever family the Moon chooses,'' he finished.

No.
No, no, no.

That—

Five men.

They were saying that… that…

I forced myself to stand, legs shaking, silver burning through my skin from the inside.

''No,'' I said, my voice hoarse, broken. ''No. I’m not taking part in this. Never.''

The masks stared at me in silence.

''No one is touching me,'' I continued, feeling my eyes burn but refusing to let tears fall.
''No one. Not with these shackles, not with this collar, nothing. I won’t let it happen.''

My body might have been weak.

But my will—
my dignity—
was still alive.

''I… won’t allow it.''

Even if it was the last thing I ever said.