121

Nina

I couldn’t contain my scream as the pain tore through me.

“That’s more like it,” Jack murmured, satisfaction darkening his features. “Now tell me, Nina. Was it worth it?”

Tears blurred my vision, but I lifted my chin, forcing a smirk onto my lips despite the agony. “You tell me, Jack. Does this make you feel powerful?” I let out a shaky breath, my voice dripping with mockery. “Or does it remind you that you once loved me?”

“Really?” His smirk turned cruel as he plunged the silver blade deep into my chest, stopping just short of a fatal wound. My scream echoed off the walls, raw and primordial. The pack’s cheers rose around us like a grotesque chorus, celebrating my torment.

“Scream more,” he snarled, twisting the silver deeper. My body obeyed, another agonized cry ripping from my throat. This pain was beyond anything I could contain, beyond anything I could fight.

“It hurts so much. Please.”

“Tell me, why did you choose to hurt me despite how much I loved you, Nina? Why did you choose to kill me?”

Another scream answered him before I could speak. “Talk!”

“I’ll talk,” I gasped. “It was because... I thought you didn’t deserve me. I deserved more.”

“What?” The color drained from his face, his eyes going blank with shock. “You wanted to kill me because of that?”

“Yes, since you aren’t an alpha, but a lowly beta,” I spat out, venom dripping from every word. “And you think you deserve me?”

My cruelty lingered in the air like poison, eradicating any trace of mercy in his eyes. At that instant, I realized I had sealed my fate and perhaps revealed the true monster between us.

A thunderous roar suddenly cut through the crowd’s bloodthirsty chorus. I trembled as Jack’s mother stalked forward, power and fury radiating from her every movement. Her eyes burned into mine with pure hatred.

“You said my son is lowly,” she snarled, her gaze filled with hate. “How dare you look down on my son?”

“I’m sorry,” I gasped. Blood streamed down my body, the silver preventing my wounds from healing.

“Your father was nothing but a rogue, your mother a beta’s daughter. And you, a mere rogue’s offspring, dare to look down on my son? My precious son?” Her voice dripped with venom. “You never deserved Jack.”

A slow, satisfied smile spread across her lips as she grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking my head back so hard that a sharp cry escaped me before I could stop it.

She maintained her brutal grip despite my weakened state. Blood covered me, pooling beneath my body, yet not one face in the crowd showed a flicker of mercy.

“I’m sorry, please forgive me,” I begged. My pleas only excited the crowd further, their celebratory howls growing louder. “Forgive me, mother.”

“Mother?” she scoffed, her voice thick with disgust. “I’m no mother to a bitch like you. You’re my mortal enemy.”

Pain was my new reality.

I had barely been able to catch my breath after Jack’s torment when his mother stepped forward, her presence suffocating.

The woman who had hated me from the moment I arrived, who had looked at me as though I were filth under her heel.

And now, she had free rein to do whatever she pleased with me.

“You thought you could betray my son and get away with it?” she hissed, her voice sickly sweet.

I glared up at her through the strands of hair that had fallen into my face.

The pack members surrounded us, their eyes alight with satisfaction. They wanted to see me suffer. To see me break.

His mother crouched beside me, tightening her grip until I felt my scalp burning. “Your father killed my best friend,” she whispered, her breath warm against my ear. “You carry his blood, his evil. Tell me, do you think he’ll come to save you?”

A knife flashed in her hand. Silver. My wolf howled in fear as she pressed the blade against my collarbone, dragging it down just enough to slice through my skin. Fire exploded through my nerves, and I sucked in a sharp breath.

“Don’t kill me.”

“I won’t,” she smirked, tightening her grip. “Well, not yet.”

The world began to swim before my eyes. My strength was draining away with each drop of blood. I didn’t want to die. Not like this. Someone, anyone, please save me.

“Ple—” The word died on my lips as darkness rushed in, swallowing me whole.