Jasmine's POV

The shackles bit into my wrists before I even understood what was happening. "Jasmine Bridge." Father's voice cracked across the workshop like a whip.

Two enforcers had my arms before I could set down the herb bundle I'd been sorting. "You're coming with us. Now."

"What's going on?" I tried to twist free, but their grip only tightened. "Father, what did I do?"

He didn't answer. He hadn't been the same father since Mother died and he remarried. The stepchildren his new wife brought with her had become his favorites—especially after I turned sixteen and still hadn't shifted. After that, I might as well have been invisible to him.

They dragged me through the pack house halls, past doors that opened just enough for frightened faces to peek out, then shut again just as fast. Nobody wanted to be seen looking at me.

By the time we reached the Great Hall, my knees were scraped raw from where I'd stumbled on the stone steps. The hall was packed.

"Where is she?" Alpha Marcus Thorne stood at the center, his jaw tight enough to crack. "Where is Cecilia?"

"I don't know." The words came out steadier than I felt. "I haven't seen her since dinner last night."

"You're lying." My father, Beta Lucien, crossed the floor in three strides, and the back of his hand caught my cheek hard enough to spin my head sideways. The hall didn't even flinch. "You expect me to believe she vanished the night before her wedding, and her own sister knows nothing?"

"Stepsister." The correction slipped out before I could stop it, copper blooming on my tongue. "And yes. Because I don't."

"She's always been jealous of Cecilia." That was Damon, my evil stepbrotehr, lounging against a pillar like this was entertainment. My stepbrother had never once looked at me with anything warmer than contempt, and tonight was no exception. "Just like her mother was jealous of mine. Some things run in the blood."

"Don't talk about my mother."

"Why not?" He smiled, slow and cold. "Everyone in this hall remembers what she was. I'd say you're doing a fine job carrying on the family tradition.”

Something ugly twisted in my chest, but I didn't get the chance to retort.

The doors at the far end slammed open hard enough to rattle the windows, and the entire hall fell silent in the space of a single heartbeat. Lucas Thorne, son of Alpha Marcus, walked in like the temperature dropped ten degrees with every step.

He was supposed to be getting married tomorrow. Instead, he looked like he wanted to tear the building down stone by stone. His eyes found me immediately, locking on with a focus that made my stomach drop.

"You." His voice was quiet. That was somehow worse than shouting. "Where is my bride?"

"I already told everyone—I don't know."

"Funny. You don't look like you're trying very hard to remember."

He nodded once at the enforcer beside the wall, and before I understood what was happening, a bucket of ice water hit me full in the face. I gasped, choking, hair plastered across my eyes. The cold dragged a sound out of me.

"There." Lucas crouched slightly, tilting his head to study me like I was a puzzle he found mildly interesting. "Memory's clearer when you're cold. Try again. Where is she?"

"I don't—" Another bucket. This one caught me across the shoulder, soaking through to my skin, and I dropped to one knee on the stone floor, shaking. "I don't know. I told you. I don't know."

"You were the last person to see her." He crouched in front of me now, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him despite the water running down my neck. "Either you tell me where she is right now, or I promise you, what happens next will make you wish for something as simple as death."

"Maybe," I said, voice shaking but clear enough to carry, "she just couldn't stand marrying a man who thinks threats are how you talk to people. Did you ever consider that, Alpha Heir?"

His pupils contracted sharply. Gold flooded through them in an instant, raw and animal. The grip on my jaw tightened until I thought the bone would snap.

"Say that again."

"Lucas." Alpha Marcus's hand landed on his son's shoulder, voice dropping low. "Don't waste your strength on her. Lock her up. We'll have an answer ready before the wedding."

An answer. I understood exactly what that meant—find a scapegoat, put this whole mess to rest. And there was no one in that hall better suited for the role than me: an Omega with no wolf, no allies, not even a father who could be bothered to look at her.

I clenched my fists at my sides, hidden in my sleeves. My mother had told me, before she died, that everything would change the day I turned eighteen. Fine. Until then, all I had to do was survive.

**

The dungeon was cold despite the hot weather outside. I sat on the damp floor with my knees pulled to my chest, staring into the darkness. Hunger gnawed at my stomach. And my wrists still ached from the shackles. Hours had passed since Lucas ordered me thrown in here. No one had come. Not even my father.

Footsteps echoed in the corridor. I lifted my head and caught a voice I recognized. The elders were talking. My father was with them.

"The bride's disappearance can't just be swept under the rug," one elder said. "It makes the Alpha Heir a laughingstock."

"Alpha Marcus wants a solution," another murmured.

"Executing that mouthy Omega might be enough to settle the Alpha and his heir."

I sucked in a breath. I knew exactly which Omega they meant. I hadn't imagined they'd actually want me dead over Cecilia's runaway before the wedding.

"What do you say, Beta Lucien? She's your daughter, after all, prisoner or not."

My chest tightened. Then I heard my father answer.

"If that's what the pack requires, I have no objection."

I went rigid against the bars, unable to move. Something deep inside me cracked open. For years I'd told myself there had to be a reason he treated me the way he did—that he must love Damon and Cecilia more because of something I'd done, something I could fix.

Now I understood the truth. He didn't care whether I lived or died.

When the footsteps finally faded, I sank to the floor. And in that moment, I made up my mind. I was getting out of here.

An hour later, I was crawling through an abandoned drainage tunnel beneath the pack grounds. Mud caked my hands and knees; filthy water soaked through my clothes. I didn't care. I just kept moving.

I squeezed through the narrow opening and stumbled out into the forest.

The second fresh air hit my lungs, my heart nearly stopped. Someone was standing a few feet away. Lucas. Moonlight fell across his dark hair as he leaned against a tree, arms crossed, like he'd known exactly where I'd come out.

"So you really did help Cecilia run." His voice was almost conversational. "Why else would you take the same escape route she did?"

"No." I shook my head desperately. "I didn't help anyone."

I turned to run, but I had no wolf—there was no way I could outrun a grown Alpha Heir. Lucas closed the distance in seconds, his hand closing around my throat and slamming me back against the nearest tree. Pain exploded through my spine.

"Who gave you permission to turn your back and run from me?"

The world tilted. My feet left the ground. The air vanished from my lungs in one rush. Panic clawed up my chest. I couldn't breathe.

Lucas's eyes were full of something close to hatred. "None of you respect me at all, do you? Both of you two sisters just want to run."

Then—his hand suddenly let go. I crumpled to the forest floor, coughing violently. Lucas stood over me without a word, and a slow, cruel smile spread across his face.

"Killing you like this would be too merciful."

Before I could react, he grabbed my arm and hauled me upright, dragging me the entire way back to the council hall and throwing me down in front of all the elders.

"The wedding proceeds as planned." Lucas's voice carried through the room. "If Cecilia doesn't come back, this bitch can pay the debt in her place."

My heart stopped. "What? I never agreed to this!"

Lucas struck me across the face. "A prisoner doesn't get a say."

I turned to my father. "Father…"

Something flickered across his expression. Beside him, Damon's smirk vanished for the first time all night. "This isn't exactly appropriate—"

But my father cut him off, bowing slightly to Lucas. "As you wish, Alpha Heir. This is her honor."

Bitterness rose in my throat. I hadn't expected him to abandon me like this. Again and again.

Lucas yanked me against him like a broken doll. I felt his breath against my ear, and there was nothing gentle in it at all.

"Trust me, Jasmine." A chill ran down my spine. "Becoming my bride will be worse than living in hell."