The guards secure new chains around me and bolt them into the concrete anchors on the other side of the cell. Once they leave, Darius pulls a chair over to me.
“Now,” he says as he sits down, “let’s try this again. Who sent you?”
I open my mouth to answer, to tell him everything, but the pain behind my eyes flares immediately. I push through it, trying to force the words out. “The—”
Agony explodes in my skull. I scream, my vision going white.
Darius’s eyes narrow. “Interesting.” Turning toward the door, he calls out, “Guards! Interrogate the other prisoner. Full measures.”
“No!” I thrash against the new restraints. “Don’t—”
The screams start again before he even turns back around. He leans forward in his chair, studying me like I’m a particularly fascinating specimen.
“I’ve been looking into Anne’s past,” he says casually, and the shift in topic makes my breath hitch. “If she was willing to help you harm her friend, then she must have a history of being a traitor.”
“That’s not—”
“Her childhood neighbors have had plenty to say about her,” Darius continues, his voice almost pleasant. “Always causing problems for the pack. Making trouble. It’s not a far stretch for her to side with a spy, is it?”
“It’s not true!” The words burst out of me. “She was never a troublemaker! Whoever told you that is lying! She was well-liked in our neighborhood—”
I freeze, realizing what I just said.
Our neighborhood.
Darius’s expression shifts. “I thought you had amnesia.”
Fuck. I clamp my mouth shut, but the damage is done.
“If you’re faking it,” Darius says, his voice deadly quiet, “then Anne must know. I’ll get the answers out of her one way or another.”
The screams echo down the corridor, and I can’t take it anymore. Can’t let her suffer for my lies. I force myself to speak,pushing through the pain from the conditioning. Blood trickles from my nose as something tears inside my head.
“Anne had nothing to do with this!”
Darius leans forward, sensing victory.
“The Covenant”—I gasp from the pain—“took me during the war…ten years ago.”
The words come out strangled, each syllable agony. I steel myself and push harder, blood now dripping from both nostrils.
“You call me a traitor? My pack sold me off!” The words come faster now, fueled by rage and pain. “I suffered for ten years! I have every right to seek revenge!”
“What are you talking about?” Darius’s voice sharpens. “Who sold you?”
“Your father!” I spit the words at him. “The previous alpha. The Covenant contacted him. Made him an offer.” Blood is in my eyes now. I fight the pain. “Said they’d pay him to forget about me, to stop searching. Called it compensation for his lost pack member.” My head is pounding like it might split open. “He took the money. Sold me to them. So, don’t talk to me about betraying my pack when my pack sold me first!”
Darius stares at me. “Have you lost your mind? Why would my father sell you? That makes no sense. Why would this organization, this Covenant, even want you?”
I laugh, the sound hollow and bitter. “They showed me the records. The payment transfers. The agreement. Your father’s signature.”
Darius looks unconvinced. “Why, though? Why would he feel the need to sell a teenager? What was your worth to the Covenant?”
I don’t have any answers. “How am I supposed to know?” My voice is harsh as I cough up blood. “This pack betrayed me. I should have just taken Anne and left. Even if it meant I would—”
I cut myself off, the pain too intense for me to breathe.
Darius is silent for a long time. Then, he says quietly, “I went through everything my father did when I took over. I don’t recall any mention of you. But I’ll check again.” He walks to the cell door before turning to look back at me. “I am a fair alpha. I would never agree to sell a packmate even if the whole pack had to go into battle to retrieve them.”
