Chapter 4

Echo POV:

"Get off me!" I tried to shove her away, but the lingering effects of Sam's Alpha Command made my limbs feel like they were moving through molasses.

Lily was an Omega-physically weak-but she was desperate, and I was suppressed. She jammed the bread against my lips.

"Eat it, you useless cow!" she shrieked.

I clamped my mouth shut, turning my head. Crumbs fell onto my lap. My skin blistered where the bread touched my cheek. *It was a high concentration. Pure extract.*

"Stop!" I gasped, finally shoving her back. She stumbled, hitting her hip against the granite island.

She looked at me, then at the knife block on the counter. A wicked idea formed in her eyes.

"You want to play the victim?" she sneered. "Let's give Sam a show."

She grabbed a serrated steak knife. Before I could move, she slashed the blade across her own chest.

Blood-bright red and smelling of copper-sprayed onto her white dress.

"AHHHHH! SAM! HELP ME!" Lily screamed, dropping the knife and collapsing onto the floor, writhing in fake agony.

"What have you done?" I whispered, horrified.

Thundering footsteps on the stairs. Sam burst into the kitchen.

He saw Lily on the floor, covered in blood. He saw me standing over her, crumbs of the poisoned bread on my lap.

"Echo!" Sam didn't ask questions. He didn't sniff the air to realize the blood was from a superficial cut. He just reacted.

He lunged at me. His hand wrapped around my throat, lifting me off my feet. He slammed me against the wall.

"You monster!" he spat, his saliva hitting my face. "You tried to kill her!"

"No... Sam... the bread..." I clawed at his hands, but my airway was closing. Not from his grip, but from the Wolfsbane dust I had inhaled. My throat was swelling shut.

"Save... me... Sam..." Lily moaned from the floor. "She... she tried to force feed me..."

"I've got you, baby," Sam dropped me like a sack of garbage. I hit the floor hard, gasping for air that wouldn't come.

He scooped Lily up. He looked down at me, his eyes full of hatred.

"If she dies," Sam growled, "you die."

He turned and ran out of the house, heading for the pack hospital.

I was alone.

My lungs were burning. My vision blurred. *Wolfsbane.*

I crawled. I dragged my body across the kitchen floor, my fingernails scratching against the tiles. I had to get to my room.

My father. He had given me a vial years ago. *Universal Antidote.* A rare elixir from the Royal alchemists.

I pulled myself up the stairs, step by agonizing step. My wolf was fading.

I reached my room. I knocked the jewelry box over. The small crystal vial rolled out.

I uncorked it with my teeth and drank.

It tasted like liquid fire.

I convulsed, coughing violently. Black bile spewed from my lips as the antidote purged the toxin. *I lay there for an hour, shivering, my body weak and trembling. The antidote worked, but it didn't erase the damage. I felt like I'd been beaten with iron rods.*

I sat up, wiping my mouth.

The love I had for Sam didn't die slowly. It was murdered on the kitchen floor.

I forced myself to stand, using the dresser for support.

I walked to the closet. I took the wedding photo of us-Sam and me, smiling under a flower arch. I smashed it on the floor.

I stumbled to the backyard. The rose garden. Sam had planted these roses for me. Every rose was a day he would love me.

I grabbed a canister of gasoline from the shed. My hands shook so hard I spilled half of it on my boots.

I doused the roses. The fumes burned my nose.

I lit a match.

*Whoosh.*

The flames roared to life, consuming the flowers, the trellis, the lies.

I stood in front of the fire, swaying, the heat drying the cold sweat on my skin.

A convoy of black SUVs pulled into the driveway. The doors opened, and six warriors in full tactical gear stepped out. They wore the crest of the Royal Northern Pack.

*One of the warriors rushed to catch me as my legs finally gave out.*

"Princess Echo," he said, supporting my weight. "We are here."

I turned to the house. I pulled a piece of paper from my pocket-a standard Rejection Letter I had printed out.

I signed it with a shaking hand. *The warrior took it and pinned it to the front door with a dagger.*

"Let's go," I rasped.

I didn't look back.

*