Lilith stood outside Alpha Garrett’s office at seven fifty-five AM and tried to stop her hands from shaking.
It didn’t work.
She’d barely slept. Had woken up at five, gone through the motions of washing her face in the communal bathroom, changed into the only clean clothes she had left....a simple grey shirt and black pants that had seen better days. Her hair was pulled back in a braid. Her raw hands were wrapped in strips of cloth she’d torn from an old shirt because she couldn’t afford bandages.
She looked exactly like what she was.
Oga. Broke. Desperate.
The door to Garrett’s office was solid oak with the pack crest carved into it....a wolf’s head surrounded by pine trees, the symbol of Shadowre. She’d been through this door a hundred tis growing up. Her father had worked closely with the Alpha. She’d spent countless afternoons sitting in the waiting area doing howork while her father finished etings.
That felt like a lifeti ago.
Now she stood here as a summoned oga, not a welcod daughter.
The clock on the wall ticked to eight AM.
She knocked.
"Enter," ca Garrett’s voice from inside.
She pushed the door open.
The office looked exactly the sa. Large mahogany desk dominating the space, bookshelves lining the walls, the massive window behind the desk overlooking pack territory. Garrett sat behind that desk now, his expression unreadable, his posture rigid.
He wasn’t alone.
Two other n sat in the chairs facing his desk....pack council mbers, she recognized. Elder Thomas and Beta Carson, the man who’d taken over her father’s position and moved into their house.
All three of them looked at her when she entered.
None of them looked happy.
"Close the door," Garrett said.
She did.
"Sit."
There was one chair left, positioned slightly apart from the council mbers. She sat in it and folded her hands in her lap to hide how badly they were shaking.
Garrett studied her for a long mont. His eyes moved over her....taking in the weight she’d lost, the exhaustion in her face, the wrapped hands she couldn’t quite conceal.
Sothing flickered across his expression. Too fast to identify.
"Do you know why you’re here," he said finally.
"No, Alpha."
He leaned back in his chair. "The Blackwood pack has sent word."
Her blood turned to ice.
Garrett watched her reaction with those sharp Alpha eyes that missed nothing. "I can see you understand the significance of that."
She said nothing. Didn’t trust her voice.
"Two months ago," Garrett continued, his voice carefully controlled, "we branded your father a traitor. We demoted you and your mother to oga status. We did everything the Blackwoods demanded to prove we weren’t defending Victor’s actions." He paused. "It wasn’t enough."
The room was completely silent.
Elder Thomas shifted in his seat. Beta Carson stared at his hands.
"The Blackwood triplets....Nicholas, Sebastian, and Lucian, have assud full control of their pack following their father’s death," Garrett said. "And they’ve made it very clear that they hold Shadowre partially responsible for what happened at that treaty eting."
"But we weren’t..." Lilith started.
"It doesn’t matter if we were or weren’t," Garrett cut her off sharply. "What matters is perception. And the Blackwoods perceive that Victor, a high-ranking mber of this pack, betrayed an alliance and got their Alpha killed. They want restitution."
Restitution.
The word hung in the air like a blade.
"What kind of restitution," she said quietly.
Garrett’s jaw tightened. "They’ve given us two options. Option one: they co to Shadowre themselves and extract paynt in whatever form they see fit. Which likely ans the complete destruction of this pack and everyone in it."
Lilith’s stomach dropped.
"Option two," he continued, "we send them what they’ve requested. As paynt for Victor’s cris against the Blackwood pack."
She already knew what he was going to say.
She could see it in his eyes. In the way Elder Thomas wouldn’t look at her. In the tense set of Beta Carson’s shoulders.
"They want you," Garrett said flatly. "The traitor’s daughter. They want you delivered to the Blackwood estate to answer for your father’s cris."
The words landed like physical blows.
She sat there, trying to process them, trying to make them make sense even though they already made perfect terrible sense.
"For how long," she heard herself ask.
Garrett looked at her. Sothing almost like respect flickered across his face at the fact that she’d asked the practical question instead of breaking down.
"One month," he said. "You will go to the Blackwood estate and remain there for thirty days. During that ti, you will be...." He paused, choosing his words carefully. ".....at their disposal. To do with as they see fit. Paynt for the debt your father’s actions created."
At their disposal.
She understood what that ant.
She wasn’t stupid.
"And after the month?" Her voice ca out steadier than she felt.
"After the month, if you survive it, you’ll be released back to Shadowre." Garrett’s voice was flat. Emotionless. "The debt will be considered paid. The Blackwoods will leave this pack alone."
If you survive it.
The words echoed in her head.
"What happens if I refuse," she said.
Elder Thomas made a sound. Sharp and disbelieving.
Garrett’s expression didn’t change. "If you refuse, the Blackwoods have made it very clear they will consider it an act of war. They will co here. They will destroy this pack from the ground up. Every man, woman, and child. No survivors. No rcy." He leaned forward slightly. "Is that what you want, Lilith? Do you want the complete annihilation of Shadowre on your conscience?"
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