Chapter 9 The healers worked for five long hours in the Moonlit Infirmary , When they emerged , Vivian all but leapt forward , her eyes wild . " well ? Tell me ! is that cripple finally dead ? " The healer froze . In all his years serving the packs , he had never heard such words from a mother's mouth . ii " He lives , " he answered . " But the wolf - blood in his mind is shattered . He will never rise , never shift . He will need care for the rest of his life . " Vivian's face twisted . For a heartbeat she looked almost relieved , but when she realized Ethan had survived , her fury returned tenfold . She glared at the healer as though he had betrayed her by saving him . By dawn , the truth was everywhere . Nathan's recordings spread like wildfire through the Pack Net . Within a single day his following grew to over a hundred thousand . His clips of Vivian's beatings , her curses , her shrieks - they trended across both the human internet and the wolves ' private channels , pinned to the top of the feeds for three straight days . The comments seethed with rage : " She's no mother , she's a monster . " " This isn't discipline . It's attempted slaughter of her own pups . " " If the Wardens won't act , the pack will . Track them . Expose them . ** 1 know where Edward works . Men like him should be gelded and cast out I scrolled lazily through the feed , the comers of my mouth curling . Two days later , the fury spilled into the streets . A crowd cornered Edward outside his pack office . Fists rained down until blood covered his face . His Alpha employer , humiliated before the cameras , declared his expulsion on the spot . A disgraced wolf , dismissed from his post , marked with shame he fled back to his ancestral den . Across the lane , for once , silence . A few nights later , as I left for work masked and hooded , I crossed paths with Vivian . Wide - brimmed hat , dack veil , eyes darting with paranoia. She scurried down the street like prey . I followed . She slipped into a cosmetic surgery clinic - the very one where I worked . From the monitors , I watched her consultation unfold . " I want a new face , " she hissed . " Change me so no wolf will ever recognize me again . " It was no surprise . Without disguise she couldn't even buy food . At taverns , wolves dumped broth on her . At the market , vendors pelted her with rotten eggs . Strangers left animal carcasses and dung at her door . She was unraveling- " Miss , such a procedure requires- " the consultant began , but her comm rang , and she straightened at the voice on the other end . " Yes , Director ... understood . " The order had come from me . I wanted to see just how far Vivian would fall The plan was drawn , the cost laid bare . Chapter " Two hundred and eighty thousand . " Vivian's cry split the room . " What ? " " Of course , if you only wished for minor adjustments , a single eye procedure would " No ! " she snapped . " I need a whole new face . I must become someone else . " Her desperation reeked through the walls . " Can you arrange installments ? A loan ? " The consultant's silence was answer enough . I smiled in the shadows . By the time I returned home , a loan card - stamped with a red wolf sigil of the pack's shadow - brokers - was already waiting in my pocket . Vivian was running from her shame . I would make sure she ran straight into her own ruin .