The Broken Wolf

Prologue - Bianca

Nothing. He'll probably do nothing.

It's stupid to cry over it. To cry over what my Mate will think of it all. The idea of Roderick not wanting me—I can't tell anymore if it pains me because I love him or if it frightens me to think I'll belong to his father more than I already do.

I've never felt so confused and afraid and alone. Overwhelmed by the loneliness and the abuse that I can't think straight other than the fact that I'm some prisoner here. I must be, right? This isn't...living.

If it is, then what am I worth? Nothing more than my name. Nothing more than my father's daughter. That's what they all say when they're hurting me. When they're raping me. The only one who's somewhat 'nice' is Ulrik. But even he tells me he wants the Fenmont and Olieman name to merge.

Now he gets that. He gets to have what he wants. And I'm just...nothing. A means to an end. A young production factory to create a whole litter of Fenmont and Olieman children.

Name has meaning here. It has too much meaning and unfortunately, Fenmont is highly esteemed.

Run, my wolf growls in my mind. Bianca, listen to me. You are better than this. More than this.

I take a breath. That more feels so far away. I look back at what I used to be. Strong and stubborn and never one to back down. But that's been chipped away. I can't imagine ever being that girl again because I've dwindled into nothing. The last shred I had of it was shattered today when I saw those two lines.

What if he's right? I ask her. What if I'm nothing but—

My pretty little girl.

I begged so much. I cried a ridiculous amount. I think it made them more excited. So, I stopped all together. Now I'm silent because I'm not allowed to make noise. They'd make it hurt more if I made sounds.

Whatever little strength my wolf has, she injects me with it. Reminding me of who I am. Of what my name means. Of the ancestry that runs in my blood. How many people I've fought and battled. How I earned my place in the Sál. How I took everything I wanted.

My wolf growls instantly, You are not his pretty little girl. You are a Fenmont. We are Fenmont's. He wants to break you.

He has. He has broken me. Today was the last straw that broke me. Everything my wolf has been protecting me from—every touch and caress and sound has been pushed back by her.

But realizing something is growing inside me—something that I didn't want—it's crashed everything she's worked hard to push back. A broken dam just wrecking through me. The pressure of it far too great to hold back.

I don't know where to go. Who to go to. My mother will be ashamed and angry of me and my father...can I really look him in the eyes? Can I truly face him? After all the love he showered us in...I can't bear the shame of it.

Alex. Alexander would never judge me.

Alex.

I could have sworn he was here today. I think he was. He must have been because Ulrik was upset. And yet, sometimes I feel like I see Alexander when he's really not there. I'll look out the window and watch the shadows. Praying it's him using his training to look for me.

But why would he? I've pushed him away. Farther away than anyone else. I've called him a freak, I've beaten him, I'm the reason he would come home and have no friends. Only Roderick ever saw a shred of goodness in Alex—goodness I haven't let myself believe exists anymore because my mother believes he's poison.

If I was Alexander, I wouldn't care for me either. I would leave me here to rot and die away. Even I know he owes me nothing.

But if he was here today, he sounded worried.