As he spoke, the pack members in the sanctuary finally snapped out of their shock.

"See? I knew it. She's just putting on a show. There's no way that lunatic would actually reject the Alpha."

"Of course not. Her wolf is practically useless. She can't survive without the Alpha's mark."

"Look at her. She's about to have another one of her episodes..."

Every word was laced with malice, every wolf waiting for me to make a fool of myself. Countless needles of scorn pricked at me. Just like all the times before, not a single wolf believed me. My dormant wolf struggled in agony, wanting to fight back, but it was powerless.

I clenched my fists. Beneath my torn sleeve, the old scars on my wrist gleamed silver in the moonlight. I opened my mouth, wanting to prove this wasn't a game, that this time, I was determined to reject him for good.

But my father's Beta authority exploded like a thunderclap, forcing every lower-ranking wolf in the sanctuary to their knees.

"Guards, throw her in the silver cells! Let the silver cleanse the rot from her very soul!"

The silver cells—a hell reserved for traitors. He didn't care one bit about his own daughter's dignity, or even her life.

"I didn't push her..." My voice trembled as I repeated the words, but no one was listening.

Two guards rushed forward and grabbed my arms. I instinctively tried to back away, but a rough hand seized the back of my neck.

"No... let go..."

I thrashed, my nails digging bloody gouges into a guard's arm, but my desperate struggle was cut short as a silver-laced baton slammed into the back of my head. Silver poison flooded my nervous system, and the searing pain blurred my vision.

In the last moment before darkness took me, I saw Zander approach.

He waved the guards away. For one insane second, a spark of hope flared—he was going to help me. But then he held out his hand, not to me, but to the guard. "Give me the key," his voice was ice. "I'll lock her in there myself."

That tiny, foolish spark of hope was instantly extinguished. It was laughable that even now, I could still hold on to such a fantasy.

I should have known long ago that to him, my pain was nothing more than an irrelevant, tiresome show.

When I woke up, a hellish agony consumed me. I was lying on a cold stone slab.

The walls around me were covered in ancient silver runes that slowly leeched into my body. Every breath was like swallowing shattered glass.

Silver dust floated in the air, seeping into my lungs. My wolf howled in despair, but I couldn't make a sound. My skin began to blister, and the blood in my veins grew thick and sluggish, as if it were freezing solid.

I can't... die here...

I gritted my teeth, using my last ounce of strength to drag my body toward the heavy silver door. My fingers were charred black, my nails peeling away from the raw flesh beneath. A trail of blood and pus marked my agonizing path.

But I kept knocking.

Once. Then again.

"Help... me..."

My voice was a hoarse rasp, like the death rattle of a wild animal.

But outside the door, there was only silence.

After what felt like an eternity, I heard a familiar voice.

"Sister, are you all right?"

"How pitiful."

It was Vivian's triumphant voice.

"I brought you some tea," she said, crouching down in front of me. "With honey. It used to be your favorite."

"I've lost my memory. I don't remember what I like."

"That's right," she smiled. "You've forgotten everything. Isn't that wonderful?" Her voice was as sweet as ever, but it sent a shiver down my spine. "Sister, do you know what's happening outside? Everyone is celebrating my nomination as the new Luna candidate."

I bit my lip, the taste of blood flooding my mouth.

Her tone suddenly turned vicious.

"Do you know what today is?" she asked, setting the teacup on the floor. "Three years ago today, you were rescued. It's a shame, really. No one else seems to remember that... unfortunate day you were returned to us."

I watched her, still silent.

"Do you know how happy I was when you were kidnapped?" Her eyes shone with a manic light. "I'll let you in on a little secret. It's a pity, really. You missed all the fun I had planned for you with the Blood Fangs."

"But you just had to come back."

She stood up, looking down at me. "But this is better, I suppose. Now, in everyone's eyes, you're just a lunatic."

She hadn't planned on letting me come back... She had arranged the fun...

So even that, all of it, was tied to Vivian.

My mind roared with a sudden, explosive pain. I tried to stand, but my legs were weak. I couldn't make a sound.

"What good is a bloodline? What good is status? Don't you see? The purification rite, the blood you gave me—it's all mine now. Your precious Moon Goddess blood has been transferred to me, and you're nothing but an empty vessel, a husk. In the end, I still get to climb to the throne over your corpse, don't I?"

"Don't worry," she purred. "Soon, my mission here will be complete."

I wanted to grab her arm, to demand an answer for everything, but just then, her communicator chimed. She deliberately put it on speaker so I could hear every word.

"Vivian? How are you feeling?" It was Zander's voice.

"Zander..." Vivian's voice instantly became frail and helpless. "It hurts so much... the silver poison is still in my system..."

"Wait for me. I'm coming back right now."

The connection cut out, and the silver cell was plunged back into silence.

I lay limp on the floor, the light of the silver runes illuminating my paper-white face. Fragments of sealed memories began to flash through my mind.

I saw myself being dragged into the dark dungeons of the Blood Fang Pack, their claws leaving scars on my body that would never heal.

I saw them chain my limbs with silver, forcing me to kneel like the most wretched slave.

I saw them brand my back with a mark of humiliation, a scar that still ached to this day. Years of inhuman torture, forced to crawl before them, to lick their boots, to endure humiliation after humiliation.

And when I finally fought my way back to my pack, the look in Zander's eyes wasn't sympathy. It was disgust. He was repulsed by my defiled body, by my shattered wolf, by the neurotic fear that had become a part of me.

I saw him hold a grand ceremony for Vivian's wolf awakening, personally anointing her with the Moon Goddess's blessing.

I saw him dance with her under the full moon, as if she were his true fated mate.

I saw him gently stroke her cheek, the smile in his eyes as warm as a spring thaw.

And me? I could only hide in the shadows, watching as everything that should have been mine was stolen, one by one, by the very person who had orchestrated my downfall.

The silver poison ate at my bloodline, killing my wolf piece by agonizing piece. But a strange thing happened. As my wolf died, so did the crushing weight of my emotions.

The pain, the love, the despair—it all began to cool. All of it was being purified into ash by the silver poison.

I held up my hand and watched as a faint green flame flickered at my fingertips. It was the sign of a wolf's essence burning away completely.

"Good," I let out a soft laugh, the sound echoing in the empty cell. "Burn. Burn it all away."

"And take this pathetic love with you."

In a haze of consciousness, I heard footsteps. Not Vivian's light tread, but a steady, powerful rhythm.

"Luna." A man's voice, low and unfamiliar, came from outside the cell. I struggled to open my eyes and saw a folded piece of paper slide under the door.

"The Elder asked me to give you a message—a phoenix must be reborn from the ashes."

The footsteps quickly faded.

I trembled as I crawled toward the paper. Unfolding it, I saw it was a secret letter, handwritten by Elder Grayson himself:

Ember, the power of the bloodline within you is far greater than you imagine. The Moon Goddess's gift would not be wasted on a mere mortal.

While the silver poison tortures your wolf, it is also purifying the impurities from your soul. When you walk out of this place, you will be truly reborn.

Remember, you are not some abandoned stray. You are a warrior forged in the Goddess's own fire.

I clutched the paper, the despair in my eyes slowly being replaced by a steely resolve. You have to live, Ember. You have to make every single one of them pay.

I don't know how long passed before the door to the silver cell was thrown open. Zander stood in the doorway, his silhouette tall and imposing. I couldn't make out the expression on his face.

"One minute you're playing the martyr in a silver cell, the next you're running to an Elder for pity. What is your game, Ember?"

There were a thousand things I wanted to say, a thousand explanations I wanted to give, but suddenly, it all felt pointless. Meeting his mocking gaze, I kept my voice low. "It wasn't intentional. The silver affects my wolf."

"Unstable?" Zander sneered. "I thought you had amnesia. Shouldn't you be telling me you don't even know who you are?"

He was right. I really couldn't remember anything.

I couldn't remember the girl who was tortured to the brink of death in the Blood Fang dungeons.

I couldn't remember the humiliating nights spent chained in silver, forced to beg for mercy.

I couldn't remember returning to the pack, covered in scars, my wolf broken, and still offering myself humbly to this Alpha.

I couldn't remember how, for three long years, my shattered wolf had sensed his tenderness for another, how my broken heart had endured his cold rejections, again and again.

But I didn't say a word of it.

The irony was, even with amnesia, my love for him hadn't been completely severed. His pheromones could still make me feel like I was suffocating.

I couldn't imagine how the girl who clawed her way back from hell, only to fly to him like a moth to a flame, had endured that suffocation for three long years. She knew despair better than anyone, yet she still chose love.

But the woman I was now just wanted to escape.

"Do you think a little pity from Grayson will change anything?" His pheromones washed over me, heavy with an Alpha's authority. "Don't forget, I am the Alpha of this pack."

Silver laurel leaves drifted past the window. I suddenly remembered the last line in my diary:

If one day I no longer love you, it can only be because my heart has died.

Thinking back now, the Ember who wrote that line had probably died long ago, in the countless nights she was ignored, in the helpless agony of being called a "lunatic."

Three years of being mated, and the number of days he had spent by my side could be counted on one hand.

I was used to it. I simply waited in silence for my departure papers to be approved.

During those days, Vivian's social media feed was a parade of their happiness—the northern snowfields, a moonlit ancient castle, a secret hot spring...

In every photo, the tenderness in Zander's eyes was a blade twisting in a wound I no longer felt. The caption read: He promised to show me the world.

I calmly closed the feed, as if I were looking at a stranger's life.

Three days later, Chloe's mind-link finally came.

A travel pass for the neutral territories, documents for my new identity, and an ancient parchment contract for the formal severing of a mate bond.

Without a moment's hesitation, I signed my name. A drop of my blood fell onto the parchment and was instantly absorbed. An ancient magic began to stir, and the contract gave off a faint silver glow.

Back at the villa, I sealed everything in a manila envelope and handed it to Marcus, Zander's Beta.

"Get this to your Alpha for me."

Marcus didn't look closely or ask any questions. He just nodded and took it. "Of course. I'll deliver it right now."

I took out my communicator and sent one last mind-link to Zander.

"Goodbye, Zander. From this moment on, we are nothing to each other."

"By the way, I left something for you with Marcus. Make sure you look at it."

His reply came quickly, his tone as dismissive as ever.

"Stop playing these childish games, Ember. I don't have time for your theatrics. Come back when you're done throwing your tantrum."

I shook my head and a dry, humorless laugh escaped my lips. It didn't matter. He would find out soon enough.

A car was already waiting for me at the end of the road. I got in, took a deep breath, and headed for the neutral territories.

Through the car window, I watched the lights of the Crescent Moon Pack fade into the distance.

The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror. "My Lady? Are you sure? One last look?"

"There's nothing left for me to see," I said, closing my eyes and leaning back against the seat.

Goodbye, Mother and Father.

Goodbye, Zander and Vivian.

Goodbye to the weak, humiliated girl I used to be, and to all the pain of my past.

"The only way I'm going is forward."