The smell of crushed pine and burning cedar pulled me from the dark.

My spine burned. I arched off the mattress, a harsh groan tearing from my throat.

Large, calloused hands pressed my shoulders down into the pillows.

"Stay still," Elias commanded.

I blinked against the dim light. Log walls surrounded me. A fire crackled in a massive stone hearth.

"Where are we?" I rasped.

"My cabin. Deep in the borderlands." Elias grabbed a damp cloth from a wooden basin. "Turn over."

I obeyed, gritting my teeth as a sharp spasm rocked my shoulder blades.

He pressed the cool cloth to my bare back. A freezing, numbing sensation seeped into my skin, instantly dulling the fire in my bones.

"You passed out in the hallway," Elias said. "Your friend Maya tried to fight off the campus medics. I stepped in."

"Why?" I asked, gripping the edge of the heavy quilt.

"Because the academy doctors would have locked you in an observation cell," he replied. "They treat bond mutations like a disease. I treat them like weapons."

I rested my chin on my forearms. "Kai said I belonged in the gutter."

Elias paused. The cloth hovered over my skin.

"My brother is a coward," Elias stated. "And you are a fool for believing a single word he ever said."

I stiffened. "I loved him."

"You loved a script." Elias tossed the rag into the basin. It hit the water with a loud slap. "Sit up. Look at me."

I pushed myself up, pulling the thick quilt over my chest.

Elias dragged a wooden stool to the edge of the bed. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His gray eyes locked onto mine, completely devoid of pity.

"I am going to tell you the truth," Elias said. "And you are going to listen without crying."

I lifted my chin. "I am out of tears."

"Good." He tapped his fingers against his knee. "Kai never felt the mate bond."

The words hit me. I did not flinch.

"He told me the Moon Goddess paired us," I argued, though my voice lacked conviction.

"He lied," Elias said, his tone steady and merciless. "Six months ago, the pack elders told Kai he lacked the ancestral backing to take the Alpha title. He needed a relic."

"The Lunar Amulet," I whispered.

"Exactly. Your family holds the last one." Elias tilted his head. "Do you really think it was an accident that he bumped into you outside the archives?"

My stomach twisted. "It was pouring rain. He offered me his umbrella."

"He checked the weather forecast," Elias corrected. "He waited in the administration building for two hours until you walked out."

I stared at him. The memories I had cherished—the foundation of my entire relationship—began to warp.

"The late-night study sessions?" I asked, my voice hardening.

"He paid the librarian to keep the east wing open," Elias answered. "He needed you isolated."

"He gave me his jacket when I shivered."

"Scent marking," Elias countered. "He coated you in his scent so no other wolves would approach you. He needed zero competition while he ran his con."

My hands formed fists under the quilt. My nails dug into my palms.

"What about the letters?" I challenged, testing the limits of the lie. "He wrote me handwritten letters every week."

Elias scoffed. "His Beta drafted them. Kai copied the words. He complained about his hand cramping."

"The promise ring?"

"Bought by Sloane," Elias replied. "She picked it out because it matched her favorite necklace."

A cold, sharp clarity washed over me.

The hollow ache in my chest stopped throbbing. The desperate, clinging girl who had sobbed on the courtyard cobblestones was gone. Dead.

I did not feel heartbroken. I felt stupid. And I felt a burning, absolute rage.

"Sloane knew everything," I stated. It was not a question.

"She helped him plan it," Elias confirmed. "They laughed about your texts in the pack house. They mocked your devotion."

I closed my eyes. The last thread of my pathetic, romantic fantasies snapped. It was not a severed mate bond. It was a cheap string of lies.

"All of it," I said, opening my eyes. My voice dropped to a flat whisper. "Every touch. Every promise. A transaction."

"A heist," Elias corrected. "He played the perfect prince, and you handed over the keys to your kingdom."

I threw the quilt off and swung my legs over the side of the bed. The cold floorboards shocked my bare feet.

"Where are you going?" Elias asked, standing up.

"Back to the academy," I said. "I am going to rip his throat out."

Elias let out a short, rough laugh. It was the first time I had heard him make a sound that wasn't a threat.

"Sit down, Mercer. You wouldn't make it past the tree line."

"Watch me." I took a step forward.

A blinding spike of pain drove straight down my spine. My knees buckled.

Elias caught me before I hit the floor. His massive arms wrapped around my waist, hauling me flush against his chest.

"I told you," he murmured, his jaw brushing the top of my head. "You are mutating. The rejection broke your human shell."

I pushed against his leather jacket, trying to stand on my own. "Make it stop."

"It has to run its course." He steered me toward a tall, antique mirror standing in the corner of the room. "But I can show you what you're becoming."

He turned me around to face the glass.

I stared at my reflection. My face looked paler, sharper. My eyes, usually a soft hazel, now flashed with rings of pure, glowing gold.

But that was not what made my heart hammer against my ribs.

I turned slightly, looking over my shoulder at my bare back.

Right beneath my shoulder blades, the skin had split. Two jagged, obsidian-black bone ridges jutted out from my spine, piercing the flesh. They were not bleeding. They pulsed with a faint, shadowy energy.

"What is that?" I breathed, reaching a hand back.

Elias caught my wrist before my fingers could touch the bone.

"That," Elias said, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror, "is the mark of an Alpha-killer."

I stared at the black ridges. The fear I expected to feel never came. Instead, a dangerous thrill curled in my stomach.

"Can you teach me how to use it?" I asked.

Elias dropped my wrist. He crossed his arms over his chest, a slow smirk spreading across his face.

"I thought you would never ask."

He walked over to a heavy wooden trunk at the foot of the bed and kicked the lid open. Metal clanged against metal.

"We start tonight," Elias said, pulling out a pair of silver-bladed daggers. "Kai thinks he stole your power. We are going to show him he just unlocked it."

I turned away from the mirror and faced him.

"I don't just want the Amulet back," I said, my voice echoing in the quiet cabin.

"What do you want?" Elias asked, tossing one of the daggers onto the mattress.

"I want his crown."

Elias picked up the second dagger. He tested the edge against his thumb, drawing a single bead of blood.

"Then we are going to need to break a few more of your bones," he said.