Ch. my pack erased me, the lycan king didn’t 4 my pack erased me, the lycan king didn’t 4

Chapter 4 

Sixty–three missed calls in eleven minutes. 

MOM. DAD. MARCUS. RYDER. MOM. MOM. MOM. 

+45 Coins 

I’d slid my old SIM card into a cheap burner outside the gates of Draven Hall, just to prove to myself nobody cared. 

Then a text came through. From my mother. 

Don’t come home. They’re watching the house. Whatever you do, don’t come home. 

A year of silence. 

And the first thing my mother said to me was a warning. 

Who was watching? Watching for what? 

My blood went cold. Then I turned the phone face–down. 

“She had a year,” I said out loud. “She can have a year back.” 

Because sixty–three calls isn’t love. Love shows up on day two. Panic shows up when someone realizes there’s going 

to be a scandal. 

The gatekeeper took one look at me and laughed. 

“Kitchen staff use the back road, sweetheart.” 

I’m five–foot–four with black hair to my waist and a face that still gets me carded. In wolf form, I’m small and white and fast. People always underestimate the small white wolf. Usually once. 

I handed him the black envelope. 

He read it three times. Then he lifted his radio in a completely different voice. 

“The King’s office. S. Wilde is at the gate.” A pause. “S. Wilde is a woman.” 

Behind me, eleven other recruits climbed out of a black SUV and went dead silent. 

Twelve recruits. Two weeks of trials. At the end, four are sent home and marked as failures in front of every pack on 

the continent. Forever. 

A tall Beta in a gray suit met me in the great hall, holding my file like it might bite him. 

Chapter 4 

+45 Coins 

“Miss Wilde. You’ll be skipping the trials.” He raised his voice on purpose. “Your scores are the highest in the history of the Wardens. Not this year. Ever.” 

Eleven heads turned toward me like I’d stolen their food. 

The worst was Brock Danner. Son of a Pennsylvania Alpha, jaw like a shovel, ego like a landfill. By day three he’d told 

the whole mess hall that the little white wolf only got in because she was warming someone’s bed. 

His girlfriend, Tessa, laughed the loudest. 

I didn’t say a word. I just watched. A year of being invisible teaches you to watch everything. Who lies. Who flinches. 

Who eats alone. 

Brock touched his collar every time he lied. I wrote it down. 

On the last morning, they called us into the throne room. 

The doors opened, and the whole room forgot how to breathe. 

Kael Draven. 

I’d seen photos. Photos didn’t cover it. Six–foot–five. Black hair. A thin silver scar through one eyebrow. And a power coming off him so heavy that every wolf in that room lowered their eyes without meaning to. 

Every wolf except me. 

His eyes moved over the room once and landed on me. 

They stayed one second too long. 

“Four of you go home today,” he said. “The rest will serve the Crown. And one of you will lead them.” 

He read four names. The last was, “Danner.” 

Tessa screamed. Brock dragged her out by the arm, and on his way past he looked at me with pure murder in his eyes. 

I should have paid more attention to that look. 

I didn’t, because the King was still talking. 

“Head Warden,” he said, “is the highest seat at the Council that isn’t mine. I’ve watched you all for fourteen days.” 

He looked at me. 

“Wilde. It’s yours.” 

Chapter 4 

Nobody clapped. 

The room emptied. I stood to follow, legs shaking. 

“Stay,” the King said. 

I stayed. 

+45 Coins 

He walked around me slowly, hands in his pockets, until he stood close enough that I could smell cedar and cold 

mountain air. 

“Enjoy your promotion,” he said quietly. “Miss Ashford.” 

Every drop of blood left my face. 

“You applied under your grandmother’s name. You wrote your essay about a Chronicle with one line in it. I’ve known 

who you are since page one.” 

“Are you going to call my father?” 

“Your father hasn’t called me,” he said. “You did.” 

Then something happened I couldn’t explain. 

His eyes flashed gold. Bright, molten gold, for one heartbeat. His wolf, rising to the surface. 

He turned away so fast it was almost rude, one hand braced against the stone wall. 

“Get out, Miss Wilde,” he said roughly. “Now. Before I forget my manners.” 

Iran. 

I’d find out later there’s only one reason a Lycan King’s eyes turn gold like that. 

And it isn’t anger.