CHAPTER TWO- CAST AWAY.

~Ava~

SPLASH!

Cold water slammed into my face like a punch from the dead. I gasped and jerked awake, nearly tumbling off the stone floor. My wrists shot up instinctively—then were yanked back, the bite of metal searing into my skin. The chains rattled around me, mocking, echoing off the dark walls.

My chest heaved. Short, sharp breaths fogged the air. The cell was dark and damp, the kind of silence that feels alive, waiting, listening.

“Who’s there?” My voice cracked despite my attempt at firmness.

Nothing.

Only the cruel, steady drip of water.

I shivered as the cold slid down my neck, soaking my shirt until it clung to my skin. Forced to blink through the haze, I tried to make sense of the shadows around me: rough stone walls, a barred window high above, and the faint, sharp scent of rust and decay.

Something moved near the door.

Not the wind. Too deliberate. Too smooth.

My pulse spiked. “Show yourself!” I shouted, trying to force strength into my voice.

No reply.

Then the figure stepped out.

Tall. Black-cloaked. Still as death.

The air shifted, colder and heavier, pressing against my lungs. My heart lurched, then pounded like a drum.

“W-what do you want?” I stammered.

Still silence.

A glint of silver caught the faint light from the window—a bracelet. And a flash of red. A knife.

My stomach dropped.

I stumbled back, chains snapping taut with a metallic clank that made me flinch. My heart thudded painfully.

“Please… don’t…” My words fell apart.

The figure tilted her head, slow, deliberate, studying me. Pale, sharp eyes. Frost eyes. Eyes that didn’t blink before killing.

I swallowed, throat tight. “Who are you?”

No answer.

Another step. And then another. Each measured. Controlled. The scrape of boots on stone sounded like thunder in the stillness.

My knees weakened, trembling. “Please…”

She lifted the knife.

My chest froze.

Then, footsteps. Slow. Echoing. Beyond the door. Keys jingling faintly.

Her eyes flicked toward the sound, sharp, assessing. In a heartbeat, she vanished, swallowed by the darkness.

Gone.

Who wanted me dead this badly?

“Get up! You’re being called!” A guard’s voice snapped through the darkness, dripping with contempt.

I blinked up at him, still on the cold floor, chains clinking with each movement. His stare offered no sympathy—only disgust, like I was dirt beneath his boot.

When I hesitated, his hands gripped my arms and yanked me to my feet.

“Move.”

I stumbled as he dragged me down the corridor. My feet scraped the stone, numb, barely lifting. I felt like a body being hauled, not a person. The walls blurred. Torches flickered like dying stars, mocking the heat I no longer felt.

The heavy doors groaned open.

Inside, the council chamber brimmed with faces I once trusted.

“She must be cast out of the pack!” an elder thundered, hammering a gnarled hand on the oak table. “This abomination defies our code!”

Murmurs swept the room like wind through dead leaves.

“Yes, Alpha Kieran,” a younger voice added, venom sharp. “She is a threat to us all. To our children.”

I looked up. Kieran.

He had once made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered. Silent promises carved into my skin. But now, he didn’t meet my eyes.

“She’s half-human, half-werewolf,” another elder sneered. “She shouldn’t even exist.”

Agreement rippled through the council.

“Alpha Kieran,” a cold, deliberate voice said, “if you cast her out, she may return. I advise ending this now. Kill her before she brings ruin.”

My breath caught. Kill. The word wrapped itself around my chest, a vise of iron. I searched Kieran’s face for the faintest sign of hesitation. A tremor. A spark of the man I once knew.

He stood slowly. Silence fell like a weight across the chamber.

“She… will be cast out.”

Steady. Cold. Final.

“From this day forward, she is no longer part of this pack.”

He didn’t look at me.

I didn’t speak. Couldn’t. My heart screamed silently.

The guards stepped forward, gripping my arms tighter. Still, he didn’t intervene.

Even the one person who could have—chose not to.

Dragged out of the chamber, I let my head fall forward, hair veiling my face. Not to hide tears. To bury the last shred of hope that I had ever belonged to his heart.

But somewhere deep inside, I made a vow:

I will not disappear. Not quietly. Not without a fight.