I stormed out of the study, ripped off that damned black lace, and drove to the bar at the edge of the territory.

Alphas and Betas kept trying to talk to me. I ignored every last one of them and drank myself numb, one glass after another.

The alcohol blurred my vision, but the pain in my chest was a blade that stayed sharp.

Two years. Two years of intimacy, warmth, and possession — and I had been nothing more than his experiment while he "tried someone else."

"Another bottle."

The bartender hesitated. "Miss, you've already had quite a bit—"

"I said another bottle."

Through the haze, the bar door swung open. A familiar Alpha scent drifted in, and my wolf came alive instantly.

Kieran.

He was wearing a black shirt, his expression cold.

I lifted my head, squinting through blurred vision toward the entrance. When I saw the figure beside him, my glass nearly slipped from my fingers.

It was Melody Ashford. My half-sister.

She was in a white dress — gentle and delicate — head slightly bowed, nestled against his side.

My nails dug into my palm. She and her mother were the two people I despised most in this world.

When I was two years old, my mother died on the battlefield protecting my father Marcus during a territory war.

Three months later, Marcus brought home his mistress Vivian, along with their three-year-old illegitimate daughter, Melody.

Marcus claimed my mother had used her family's influence to force him into the marriage. That his heart had always belonged to Vivian.

But I knew the truth. My mother was the daughter of the former Ashford Pack Alpha. Marcus had pursued her himself. After they married, she gave up her right of inheritance to let him become Alpha.

She gave him everything. She died for him.

And in less than three months, he married his first love and made her his new Luna.

Now I watched Kieran pull out Melody's chair for her — that careful, considerate attention he had never once given me.

He never held my hand in public. Never stood by my side at pack gatherings.

I had convinced myself he was just cold by nature, that he didn't like showing affection in front of others.

Only now did I understand. His tenderness had always belonged to someone else.

My heart felt like it was being carved out with a silver blade, cut by cut.

I stood up and stumbled toward the exit.

"Well, well. A lady this drunk — want us to walk you home?" Three rogue wolves closed in around me.

"Get lost." I laughed coldly.

"Ooh, feisty." The one in front reached for my shoulder.

I needed to hit something.

I shifted into my white wolf and launched myself at the worthless bastards. My claws found flesh almost immediately.

But something was wrong. These rogues had come prepared — their claws were coated in silver dust.

The burning hit me fast. My movements slowed.

One of them seized the moment and sank his teeth into my shoulder. Blood ran through my fur and dripped to the ground.

Then that familiar Alpha scent came closer. I raised my head and, through the blood and haze, saw Kieran.

He stood at the edge of the crowd, moonlight falling across his sharp features.

He was looking at me. Worry and fury flickered across his face — like he was about to push through.

Our eyes met. One second. Only one second.

"Kieran, I'm scared." Melody's voice floated up, soft and fragile. "These rogues are terrifying. Did you see someone you know?"

Kieran stopped. He looked away. "No. Don't be afraid. Just some rogue wolves fighting — nothing to do with us."

Then he wrapped an arm around Melody and walked away without looking back.

I stood there, frozen.

Stray wolves with nothing to do with him.

Two years. In his heart, I had always been nothing more than a stray wolf with nothing to do with him.

I wanted to laugh, but blood and tears ran together down my face.

I drove the three rogues off with everything I had left, then collapsed from the silver poisoning.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in the healing center.

My body felt like it had been taken apart. The silver was still moving through my blood, the burning spreading from my shoulder to my limbs.

The door opened. Footsteps approached, carrying that familiar cedar scent.

Kieran.

He walked to the bedside, a delicate crystal bottle in his hand. "Moonlight herb. For silver poisoning."

I kept staring at the ceiling. Didn't look at him.

"Let me change your bandages." He moved to step closer.

I jerked away, twisting my body to avoid his hand.

The movement was too fast. My shoulder wound tore open with a searing pain.

I bit down on the inside of my cheek and laughed coldly. "What are you doing here? Come to check on a rogue wolf?"

Kieran's eyes darkened, those ice-blue irises fixed on me.

"If I don't come to see you," He paused. "who else will?"

That hit harder than any wound. It cut straight through.

Because he was right.

My mother died fighting to protect my father on the border. My father brought home his mistress and her bastard daughter.

That place called home had stopped belonging to me a long time ago.

It was Kieran who had given me the illusion — two years of making me feel like I still had someone, like I could lean on him.

Until last night, when he walked away with Melody. Until he called me a rogue wolf with nothing to do with him.

I forced my pride upright and stretched my mouth into something like a smile. "There's no shortage of young, strong Alphas lining up to check on me."

I held his gaze. "Kieran. What I said last night about having feelings — that was just playing along. Did you really think I liked you? You were convenient. Now I'm bored of it. We're done."

I tried to look fierce. I tried to make my smile sharp enough to cut.

But my eyes had already gone red.

Kieran stared at me for a long moment, his expression cooling degree by degree. "Is that so."

A nurse knocked and entered. "Alpha, Miss Melody is outside asking for you."

"Go be with your true love!" The words came out louder than I intended. "Get out of my sight!"

Kieran was quiet for a few seconds. "I came because Emily asked me to check on you."

He said it, then turned and walked out.

I laughed. Laughed until my whole body shook, laughed until the tears came. "Don't worry, I'm not deluded enough to think otherwise."

Kieran stopped in the doorway. He frowned and looked back at me — the first time he had ever seen me cry in front of him.

He seemed to want to say something. His lips moved. But in the end, nothing came out.

The door closed.

I sank back on the hospital bed. Tears ran silently — for a long time, until my eyes were dry and raw and there was nothing left.

In the days that followed, I changed my own bandages.

The silver burns made me sweat through the pain. I gritted my teeth and cleaned the wound myself, applied the moonlight herb, came close to passing out more than once. But I didn't call for help.

At night when I couldn't sleep, I scrolled my phone.

Somehow I kept landing on Melody's social media — those carefully staged photos where Kieran was peeling apples for her, making breakfast for her, Melody leaning softly against his shoulder.

Her caption read: "The best Alpha gives you the whole world's tenderness."

I stared at those photos until my chest ached in waves.

But I didn't cry. I told myself I would never shed another tear for Kieran Frost.

A week later, I was discharged. The silver poisoning had mostly cleared, but the scar on my shoulder remained.

Like a brand. A reminder of how stupid I'd been.

I went to the edge of the territory and knocked on the witch's door. "I need a potion — one that alters a wolf's scent and severs all bloodline ties."

The witch studied me, eyes wide. "Are you sure? Once you drink this, there's no going back. Your pack bond will break. Your bloodline connections will vanish. Even your wolf's scent will change. It takes effect in two weeks, and there's no antidote."

I didn't hesitate. I tilted my head back and drank it in one go.

It was bitter. Bitter like all the tears I'd ever swallowed.

Two weeks left. The family. Kieran. I didn't want any of it anymore.

After drinking the potion, I drove back to the Ashford pack estate.

My stepmother Vivian was standing in the foyer. The moment she saw me, her expression curdled.

"Out all night. You're exactly like your shameless mother." Her arms were folded, her voice razor-edged.

I set down my luggage, looked her in the face, and slapped her.

The sound rang clean and sharp through the foyer.

Vivian screamed and clutched her cheek, staring at me with a mix of fury and fear.

"A rogue she-wolf who destroyed someone else's mate bond." I said it quietly. "What gives you the right to lecture me about anything?"

Footsteps thundered from upstairs. Marcus came rushing down to steady Vivian. "You come home and start trouble the second you walk in? You've disrupted this whole pack!"

I watched him rush to that woman's side and felt nothing but contempt. "Give me my share of the pack's assets, and I'll leave this territory for good. You'll never see me again."

Marcus's expression immediately shifted to concern. "What are you talking about? This is always going to be your home."

I laughed like I'd heard a joke. "Home? The day my mother died, I stopped having one."

Marcus went rigid.

"Name your price," I said. "I want what's mine."

He was quiet for a long time, then let out a theatrical sigh. "What are you so upset about this time? Fine. We'll give you half a million to clear your head, take a little trip."

"You only became Alpha because my grandfather founded this pack. My mother gave up her right of inheritance to put you on that throne." I smiled without warmth.

Marcus's face changed. He glared at me like I'd touched something forbidden.

"She used her life to bring you home from that border battle and let you keep your Alpha title. And now you're here living off her pack, keeping your mistress and your bastard daughter in her father's estate — and you're going to pay off her daughter with half a million dollars?" I kept going, not giving him the chance to interrupt.

Marcus's face had gone red. "How much do you want?!" he shouted.

I pulled documents from my bag and set them on the coffee table. "One hundred million dollars and half the territorial rights."

Marcus shot to his feet. "You're insane! You'd gut the entire pack! Absolutely not!"

I walked to the window and looked out at the night.

"My mother told me, before she died, that there's a forbidden ward buried beneath this territory." My voice stayed light. "If it's activated, the entire pack is destroyed."

The sharp intake of breath behind me was satisfying.

"She said she set it up to protect against rogue invasions." I turned to look at them. "Funny how it turned out to be useful for something else entirely."

Marcus's fingers began to tremble.

"So. Either you sign." I said it calmly. "Or we all die here tonight."

"You wouldn't dare—" Vivian shrieked.

"I'm leaving this territory anyway. What exactly do I have to lose?"

Marcus stared into my eyes for a long moment, his hands shaking, then picked up the pen and signed.

I lifted the document and checked the signature.

"What a coward." I let the smile show on my face. "My mother's biggest regret in life was probably marrying you."

"You—" Marcus pointed at me, his finger trembling too hard for him to finish the sentence.

I didn't give him the chance. I turned and headed for the stairs.

"Your sister is bringing her Alpha mate home tonight," Marcus said, forcing down his rage. "I've prepared a welcome dinner. That's Kieran Frost — Frost Pack's Alpha. Don't you dare make a scene."

I stopped on the stairs.

My hand tightened on the banister.

That fast. Kieran was coming tonight, and he was coming as Melody's mate.

I was about to move when the front door opened.

Melody walked in on Kieran's arm, all smiles.