Riley's POV The moment the blade touched Scarlett's scalp, I saw her whole body jolt like she'd been struck by lightning. It was as if the cold steel wasn't just shaving away her precious hair-it was scraping straight down into her soul. "Please! No! Don't-!" she screamed, thrashing in pure desperation. Her cries echoed off the stone walls of the grand banquet hall, sharp and raw like a wounded animal. The sound might've made others flinch, but I stood firm, unmoved. I had been silent too long. Too many days, too many years. And tonight, I wasn't going to look away. One lock at a time, her long, glossy black hair fell to the floor-those perfect strands she used to toss with pride every time she humiliated me. She treated them like a crown, a symbol of her status and superiority. But now, scattered at her feet, they looked more like the ashes of a fallen empire. Scarlett writhed and fought against the guards holding her, but their grips were iron-clad. Her wild movements earned her a nasty scrape on the scalp, and blood trickled down the side of her face. It trailed over her pale skin in a crimson arc, as if marking her defeat for all to see. Her scream-high-pitched and broken-split through the air. But I didn't flinch. I didn't blink. I didn't feel sorry. Not for a single second. This was justice. The room had gone deathly still. Those who once laughed at my humiliation now looked like ghosts, pale and shaking. Especially the women who had struck me alongside her. They stood frozen, unable to look away from the brutal scene, terror etched deep into every line of their faces. Scarlett's beauty was her power. And I had just taken it from her with a single nod. I didn't enjoy cruelty for cruelty's sake-but in this world, wolves only understood power. And if I didn't make an example of her now, they'd do it to me again. Across the room, I saw Lady Lee-once smug, now hollow-collapse to the floor. Her legs gave out beneath her, eyes wide and vacant like her soul had fled the room. It probably had. Then, chaos erupted. Ronan Duskcliff-Scarlett's supposed "protector"-charged through the crowd like a rogue without a leash. "Stop! Stop it now!" he roared, eyes wild.He only made it halfway before Duke slammed a foot into his chest, sending him flying backward. He crashed to the floor with a thud that made the chandeliers rattle. In a blink, two of Lucien's men had him pinned down, face to the cold marble. He shouted and thrashed like a madman. "Lucien Duskgrave, how dare you treat Scarlett like this! I won't forget this!" he bellowed, rage clouding every word. Lucien didn't even glance his way. I did. And when he realized his words hadn't rattled Lucien, he turned them on me. "Riley! She's your sister! Your own blood! How can you just stand there and let them do this to her?! What kind of person are you?!" I tilted my head slightly, looking down at him with a calmness that must've driven him insane. "It's been over a month, hasn't it?" I said softly. "Your sister, Tessa... she should be able to speak by now. Did she not tell you who hurt her? Or did you never give her the chance?" His eyes went blank. The truth hit him harder than any punch ever could. He had exiled his own sister, shipped her off to another country-just so he wouldn't have to hear the truth. Just so he could keep believing that what he did to me was justified. Coward. "You don't want answers, Ronan. You want comfort," I whispered. "But you don't deserve it." He snapped again. "I once considered making you my fiancée. A union between Ebonclaw and Blackmaw was meant to be. How foolish of me to ever think you were the one I'd choose!, Riley! And you-you're flaunting yourself with another man like some shameless whore!" I almost laughed. "Fiancé?" I echoed. "Is that what you call yourself now?" His words couldn't touch me anymore. I looked at him and saw nothing. Not even hatred. Just a pathetic, powerless man who thought he could shame me back into submission. "You want me to stop?" I asked coldly. "You want me to protect her? After what she did to me?" His expression twisted in disbelief, but I didn't wait for a reply. Lucien's voice broke the tension. "Too loud."Duke didn't hesitate. He ripped off one of his socks and shoved it into Ronan's mouth without so much as a blink. The sight was almost comical-this once-proud heir gagging on the stench of his own desperation, restrained like the beast he truly was. He gurgled and thrashed, but the guards held him down like he weighed nothing. He couldn't spit it out. Couldn't scream. All he could do was watch-watch as Scarlett's hair was stripped away strand by strand. She collapsed when it was done, nothing left in her expression but hollow shame. Blood dried on her scalp, and the air grew colder. And then, silence. I turned my gaze slowly toward the four wealthy women who'd helped Seraphina beat me. They shrank back, huddled behind their mates like cubs behind a den wall. I could smell the fear pouring off them. One of them stammered forward, her voice cracking, "Alpha Duskgrave-we didn't know she was your woman. If we had known, we never would've-" I stepped forward before she could finish. "So if I weren't his, it would've been okay?" My voice was calm. Even. But each word sliced like a claw. She flinched, eyes wide. "N-no, I mean... we just-" "You think rank makes abuse acceptable?" I said. "You think I was less deserving of respect because I had no pack? No title?" They had nothing to say. And that was the worst part. Because it was true. They wouldn't have cared if Lucien hadn't claimed me. If Matriarch Duskgrave hadn't wrapped me in that ceremonial cloak. In their eyes, power was the only shield worth recognizing. But that was over. I wasn't hiding anymore. I wasn't weak. And tonight, the Stormridge Pack learned what happened when you strike a white wolf and leave her breathing. You don't get forgiveness. You get fire.