The Innocent Traitor: Dying for the Alpha's Sin

Ericka POV:

The next morning, I knew I had to sever the emotional tie. If I didn't, the pain of the rejection would kill me before the silver did.

I crawled to the corner of the attic where I kept an old shoebox. Inside were photos of us-me, Fitz, and Caleb-from when we were children. Before the accident. Before I gave my wolf to Fitz. Before Caleb became Alpha.

We were smiling. Caleb had his arm around me.

I took a lighter I had found in the kitchen trash. With trembling hands, I set the edge of the photo on fire.

"Goodbye," I whispered, watching Caleb's smiling face turn to ash.

"What are you doing?"

Hailie's shrill voice made me jump. She stood at the door, her eyes widening as she saw the small flame. A wicked idea seemed to cross her face.

She kicked a pile of old newspapers near the rug toward me. Then, she kicked the burning photo onto them.

The dry paper caught fire instantly. The flames licked up the curtains.

"Fire! Fire!" Hailie screamed, but she didn't run. She stood there, smiling. Then her eyes glazed over-she was mind-linking. Alpha! Help! Ericka is trying to burn the house down! She's trying to kill me!

"No!" I tried to stomp out the fire, but I was too weak.

Moments later, Caleb burst into the room. He didn't ask questions. He didn't look at the evidence. He saw Hailie cowering in the corner (fake tears streaming down her face) and me standing near the flames.

"You insane bitch!" Caleb roared.

He grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall. The back of my head cracked against the plaster.

"You try to murder your future Luna?" he snarled. "Because you're jealous?"

"She... she started it..." I gasped, clawing at his hand.

"Liar!"

He dragged me out of the smoke-filled room, down the stairs, and into the basement. He threw me into the pack's sauna room.

"Since you like heat so much," Caleb hissed, "let's see how you handle this."

He turned the dial all the way up. But he didn't stop there. He grabbed a bundle of dried herbs from a shelf-Wolfsbane-and threw it onto the heater rocks.

"Enjoy your penance."

He slammed the heavy wooden door and locked it.

The heat rose instantly. But it wasn't just the temperature. As the Wolfsbane burned, it released a thick, purple-tinged vapor.

Wolfsbane is a neurotoxin to werewolves. It paralyzes the lungs.

I curled into a ball on the wooden bench, coughing violently. The air felt like broken glass in my throat. My vision blurred. I couldn't breathe. My chest heaved, but no oxygen came.

Caleb... please... I tried to mind-link him, but the connection was dead silence. He had blocked me.

I lay there for what felt like hours. The heat was blistering, drying out my skin, while the poison shut down my nervous system. I was suffocating on dry land.

Just as the black edges of death began to close in, the door opened.

Splash.

A bucket of ice water hit me.

The thermal shock was agonizing. My body convulsed, and I went into immediate shock.

Hailie stood there, empty bucket in hand, looking disappointed that I was still moving.

"Oops," she giggled. "Caleb said to cool you down."

I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I just lay on the wet floor, twitching, praying for the Moon Goddess to just take me.