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My mate. My precious little mate laid before me in her wolf form, but something was terribly wrong. Her wolf was way too small. The fur on her body was patchy, and her bones looked malformed. The wolf looked sickly, and it broke my heart in a million pieces. Even her eyes were disfigured.

What happened to her wolf? Why was she so damaged? Was it from years of not shifting into her wolf, or was it something more. I looked to my father, distressed. I needed his advice. His thoughts. He was the only one I trusted to figure this out.

The scent of my mate's blood filled the air, sharp and metallic, as her fragile wolf form collapsed onto the stone floor.

Her ribs protruded beneath patchy fur, her breathing shallow and uneven.

Every instinct in me screamed to gather her into my arms, to shield her from the horrified stares of the pack.

But I couldn't move.

Because what lay before me wasn't just a weak first shift.

It was a broken one.

"Father," I choked out, my voice raw.

Garmon stepped forward, his Alpha aura pressing down on the clearing as he examined Elaine's wolf. His golden eyes darkened with something I'd never seen in him before—dread.

"This isn't from dormancy," he murmured, running a careful hand over Elaine's malformed shoulder. Her wolf whimpered at the touch, her disfigured eyes—one gold, one still hazel—squeezing shut.

Liana pushed through the crowd, her healer's instincts taking over. She pressed her palm to Elaine's chest, then recoiled with a hiss. "Silver."

The word hit me like a bullet.

"No," I snarled, dropping to my knees beside my mate. "That's impossible. She's never—"

Then I remembered.

The way Elaine had flinched when her grandmother's silver locket brushed her skin. The blistering rash she'd gotten from a friend's bracelet. The allergy her human doctors had dismissed as a quirk.

Not an allergy.

Poisoning.

Someone had been dosing her with silver. Slowly. Systematically. For years.

Rage burned through my veins, my vision tinting red. I turned to my father, my wolf surging to the surface. "Who would do this?"

Garmon's gaze flickered to the tree line—where the rogue's howls still echoed. "Someone who knew what she was."

A growl ripped from my throat. The rogues hadn't just been tracking her.

They'd been waiting.

Waiting for her wolf to wither. Waiting for her to be weak enough to take.

Elaine's wolf let out a pained whine, her skeletal body trembling. I gently gathered her into my arms, my heart shattering as she instinctively nuzzled into my chest. Even like this—broken, hurting—she sought comfort from me.

Liana pressed a vial of dark liquid into my hand. "Mountain ash and wolfsbane," she said quietly. "It'll counteract the silver long enough for her to shift back."

I tipped the brew between Elaine's jaws, stroking her throat to help her swallow. Her breathing eased slightly, but her wolf form didn't change.

"She's too weak to reverse it," Liana admitted.

I clenched my jaw. "Then we do it for her."

Before anyone could stop me, I sank my teeth into the scruff of Elaine's neck—right where an Alpha forces a submission. Her wolf went limp in my arms as I poured every ounce of my strength into her, commanding her body to obey.

Shift back.

For one terrible second, nothing happened.

Then—

A scream.

Elaine's human form writhed in my grip as bones snapped back into place, her patchy fur receding into skin. When it was over, she collapsed against me, her body slick with sweat, her breaths coming in ragged gasps.

Her eyes fluttered open—hazel, thank the moon—and found mine. "D-Dominic?"

I crushed her to my chest, my voice breaking. "I've got you, little wolf."

Over her shoulder, my father's face was grim. "The rogues will come for her again. Now that they've scented her weakness—"

"Let them try," I snarled.

Because I would tear apart anyone who'd hurt her.