Chapter 5

• Dallas’s POV
• Serena lifted her head inside me.
• “He looks at you as if your pain is his concern. That is not normal.”
• I tore my gaze away.
• I couldn’t think about him now.
• I had my own battle to face.
• “Let go of me. What you’re doing violates Pack Law.”
• The Bloodfang enforcers held me tight enough to bruise. Serena paced under my skin, restless and angry, her growl vibrating in my bones. I forced myself to look straight ahead.
• At him.
• Damian Ravenwood.
• The man I once believed in far too deeply.
• My jaw hurt from clenching. “Damian, can you swear on your Alpha core, on your wolf, that Eveline Ashforde is truly Sunny, the designer?”
• My eyes burned, swollen from the long night, but I didn’t look away. Serena whispered inside me, steady and cold.
• Hold his eyes. Make him face what he’s doing.
• He knew these scars.
• He knew what they cost me.
• He was the one who cared for them, tending them with trembling hands and quiet guilt. He once told me no one—no one—would ever hurt me again.
• And now?
• Now he was letting them drag me like a criminal.
• Damian took an involuntary step forward, wolf pushing toward me—
• But Eveline clutched his arm, voice small, trembling.
• “Damian… my stomach hurts. It hurts so much.”
• Her small, trembling voice hit him harder than any command. Serena snorted in my mind.
• Convenient.
• Right. Eveline was dying from Moon-rot. Her wolf was fading day by day. In his eyes, her comfort mattered more than my name, my future, or the years I had stood by him.
• He pushed his guilt down and spoke with a strained, controlled calm.
• “I know my own designer. Eveline Ashforde is Sunny. She is the Bloodfang Pack’s chief designer.”
• Eveline straightened, smug and certain she had won.
• A tear slipped from my eye without my permission. Even after the lies, even after the hidden relationship, even after I had chosen to leave him, some part of me had still hoped he would tell one last truth.
• Serena murmured softly.
• That hope is gone now.
• Damian saw the tear. Something in his aura faltered. Five years together, and I had never cried in front of him.
• But Eveline cut in sharply.
• “What are you waiting for? Check her. Strip her if you must. Do you want me to do it myself?”
• Damian’s voice came out rough. “If you have done nothing wrong, Dallas, the inspection will clear you. The innocent do not fear proof.”
• A laugh escaped my lips. It sounded nothing like me.
• I was on my knees, one strap torn. The scars on my back stood out starkly under the lights, and I heard the uneasy shift from the crowd.
• “Enough! Take her behind the stage and search her!” Damian barked.
• He couldn’t look at me.
• Not stripped bare with my old pain exposed.
• Eveline opened her mouth to press for more, but one glance at Damian’s suddenly cold eyes silenced her.
• Two enforcers reached for me again.
• But I jerked my arm free, wolf aura snapping like ice.
• “No need!”
• Everyone froze.
• “If Alpha Damian believes I require inspection, why hide it backstage? Wouldn’t that fuel rumors? You want me stripped?”
• I lifted my chin.
• “I’ll do it myself.”
• And before anyone could stop me, I hooked my fingers into my gown and ripped.
• The moon-pale fabric shredded in my hands, fluttering to the floor like dying feathers.
• Gasps exploded across the hall.
• Under the bright pack-lights, my near-luminescent skin contrasted sharply with my black undergarments—but it was not my body that stole the room’s breath.
• It was the scars.
• The deep, ridged lash marks clawing across my back and legs—the ones no wolf could forget once seen.
• “Oh moon above… what did she go through?”
• “What kind of torture is that?”
• Reporters smelled blood—figurative and literal—and cameras flashed in rapid bursts.
• But I ignored them all.
• My eyes locked onto Damian and Eveline.
• “There,” I said, voice steady, “nothing left on me but what my body carries. If Alpha Damian or Miss Eveline still believe I stole something, please—search me yourselves.”
• Damian’s eyes darkened.
• Eveline stared, stunned, then her lips curled into venom.
• “So, Dallas—five years ago you were kicked out of the Frostclaw Pack for sleeping around with rogue wolves. Mother and Father couldn’t tolerate your disgrace, so they exiled you. And now you stand here flaunting the evidence? Shameless!”
• The crowd turned vicious in an instant.
• “What? She earned those scars from… that?”
• “So young and already that corrupted?”
• “No wonder Frostclaw didn’t want her.”
• Eveline’s smile sharpened.
• Serena growled so loudly inside me it felt like thunder.
• Lies. All of it.
• Damian’s head snapped toward me. His eyes burned with judgment.
• “So that is the truth behind your scars.”
• If looks could kill, his gaze would have shredded me.
• My wolf growled softly, but I smiled instead.
• “Eveline, do you truly think that because no one witnessed what you did five years ago, you can twist the story as you please?”
• She stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
• I lifted my wrist and showed them the bracelet.
• “The Beloved series bracelet. You say you designed it. Then tell me its hidden function.”
• Her expression cracked. Panic showed before she could hide it.
• Damian watched her more closely now, uncertainty creeping in.
• “Enough,” he said. “Eveline owes you no proof. Return the bracelet and leave peacefully. We will overlook your behavior.”
• His tone carried benevolence as if he was offering mercy.
• The word overlook almost made me laugh again.
• “I can’t overlook it. Not anymore.”
• I tapped the bracelet twice.
• A soft click sounded.
• The diamond shifted. Pale blue light rose into the air and formed a projection, Frostclaw-style and unmistakable. It spread across the main screen on stage.
• The hall fell silent. Not a single breath moved.
• The truth they buried began to unfold in front of them.
• Serena’s voice filled my mind.
• Let them watch.