Chapter 5 Banished To The Water Dungeon

• POV: Chloe
• Marcus didn't have the deranged, murderous frenzy on his face from my past life. Instead, his bloodshot wolf eyes held nothing but desperate, humble panic.
• He carefully guarded the unconscious pup on the cot and looked at Damian, who was straightening his clothes.
• "Alpha... Alpha Damian. My son took the medicine the Healing Center prescribed, and he won't wake up. Could you please check if it's the wrong prescription?"
• In a flash, the fragmented rumors from my past life pieced themselves together.
• After the truck crash, whispers flooded the pack's dark web: Marcus, a decorated scout, went rogue because his only son—whose mother died in childbirth—died from a minor infection. The Pack Hospital prescribed him medicine laced with forbidden suppressants. He begged for justice, but the pack elites covered it up. Driven mad, he became a rogue and orchestrated the ultimate revenge...
• Lightning struck my brain. I couldn't stop myself from asking:
• "Which doctor signed off on that prescription?"
• Marcus looked at me, confused by my bloody state, but answered honestly. "It was... Chief Medic Vivian."
• My blood turned to ice.
• The unanswered questions from my previous life were laid bare in all their bloody, cruel truth!
• Why did the meticulous Damian take the fall for a medical malpractice suit? Why did the Pack Court seal the files?
• Because Vivian wrote that fatal prescription!
• Damian took the blame to save her reputation and career, and in doing so, triggered Marcus's suicidal revenge that cost me my legs and my dignity!
• The pup on the bed was breathing by a thread. A terrifying bluish-black web of veins crept up his skin.
• "That's lethal anaphylactic shock triggered by silver suppressants!" I forced the words out.
• Damian's face hardened. As an Alpha, he recognized the fatal markings instantly. He stepped forward to examine the boy, but a hand in a white velvet glove yanked on his tactical vest.
• "It's just a normal reaction from a trace amount of calming herbs in the purifying poultice!"
• Vivian's eyes were red, her voice shaking with righteous indignation. "Damian, are you doubting my prescription too? Are you questioning my professional integrity as Chief Medic?"
• Fat tears pooled in her eyes. She bit her lip, looking like the whole world was conspiring against her.
• Damian's hand froze mid-air.
• He hesitated for a fraction of a second. Then, the hand that was meant to save the pup slowly dropped back to his side.
• "I trust Doctor Vivian's judgment."
• My blood boiled in reverse.
• Even if this man didn't love me anymore, I had never denied his sense of duty to his pack members.
• But now, for a few of Vivian's cheap tears, he discarded the absolute bottom line of protecting a pup!
• Two lifetimes of blood feuds and bone-deep despair erupted like a volcano. I pointed straight at Vivian's face and screamed:
• "Professional?! Is leaving a silver-coated tube inside a warrior's gut your definition of professional?!"
• *BOOM!*
• The words dropped like a boulder into boiling oil. The dozens of patients and guards in the hallway erupted!
• "She left silver tools inside someone?! Is she a healer or an assassin?!"
• "Oh Goddess... she signed my prescription too! No wonder my wound keeps festering!"
• "Hmph, Chief Medic? She practically lives in the Alpha's office. Pureblood or not, she's just riding the Alpha's coattails..."
• All the color drained from Vivian's face. She trembled violently, shot a terrified look at Damian's darkening face, covered her face, and ran out of the lobby sobbing.
• Marcus snapped out of his daze. A feral, predatory light exploded in his eyes. Without a word, he snatched up his dying pup, shoved through the crowd, and sprinted frantically toward the Neutral City hospital outside our borders.
• Watching Marcus disappear, a breath I didn't know I was holding escaped my lungs. At least in this life, that child had a chance.
• But the next second, several Black Guard enforcers swarmed the lobby. Catching the icy command in Damian's eyes, they pinned my wounded arms behind my back and slammed me face-first into the unforgiving alloy floor!
• *Thud!*
• My knees smashed into the ground, tearing my wounds open again. Blood soaked my pants.
• Damian stood above me, his gray eyes devoid of warmth, radiating a brutal, executioner's chill.
• "Get on your knees and apologize to Vivian."
• "Why the hell should I apologize?!" I ground my teeth together, craning my neck to glare at him with bloodshot eyes. "Which word I just said was a lie?!"
• Seeing my absolute refusal to submit, the corner of Damian's mouth curled into a horrifying, arctic smirk.
• "Good. You have a strong spine."
• "Chloe is maliciously inciting a riot and publicly framing a high-ranking Medic. Under wartime treason laws, strip her of all privileges and throw her in the silver-lined dungeons. Let her cool off."
• The words struck me like lightning. I stared in disbelief at the face of the man who once swore to protect me for life.
• I was thrown into the freezing, damp underground cells. The suppression runes burned my *Inner Wolf*, and interrogators pounded my mind with Alpha aura, trying to force a confession.
• Twenty-four hours later, unable to forge any evidence and pressured by a routine inquiry from the Neutral City embassy, they were forced to release me.
• When I stepped out of the black site, a guard threw my belongings at my feet.
• I picked up my screen. My comms chip had been violently ripped out. All my identification and pack registries tying me to the Nightshade Pack had been permanently deleted.
• A bone-chilling cold seeped from my soles into my marrow.
• To cover up Vivian's scandal, to sever my voice entirely, Damian was truly capable of such ruthless cruelty.
• I didn't shed a single tear. I didn't walk back to the Pack House to demand answers.
• I flagged down a high-speed hover-cab heading straight for the border airport.
• *The world is vast, Damian. May we be like the sun and the moon—never crossing paths again until the day we die.*