Adriana POV:

The oversized shirt did little to ward off the chill as I slipped through the back entrance of the Nichols Pack house. Every shadow seemed to mock me, every creak of the floorboards announcing my shame. All I wanted was to reach my room, to scrub my skin raw until the stranger's scent was gone, until I could pretend last night never happened.

I tiptoed across the grand foyer, my breath held tight in my chest. Just a few more feet.

"Sister, where have you been all night? Julian has been looking everywhere for you."

Isabelle's voice, sweet as poison, cut through the silence.

My body went rigid. I turned slowly, a rehearsed excuse dying on my lips. She stood there, immaculate in a silk morning robe, a picture of innocence with a malicious glint in her eyes. My stepsister. My personal tormentor.

She glided closer, her movements sinuous and deliberate. Then, she made a show of sniffing the air around me, her nose wrinkling in theatrical disgust.

"My goodness," she exclaimed, her voice just loud enough to carry. "What is that smell? An... an Alpha's scent? It's so strong!"

Her performance was perfectly timed. From the dining room, my father, Arthur, my stepmother, Rebecca, and my fiancé, Julian Hayes, emerged. Their breakfast was clearly interrupted.

Julian's handsome face contorted into a mask of fury and revulsion. He strode towards me, his blue eyes, which once held a semblance of affection, now burned with contempt.

My father's face went from ruddy to a pasty white. I could see the calculations in his eyes-the alliance with the powerful Hayes Pack, crumbling to dust before him.

"It's not what you think!" I pleaded, my voice thin and reedy. "I can explain. I—"

"Julian," Isabelle interrupted, her voice trembling with fake sorrow as she turned to my fiancé. "How could she? Our Pack will be shamed by this."

Julian took a physical step back from me, as if my very presence was a contamination. He stared at the man's shirt I was wearing, the faint marks on my neck, and his jaw clenched.

Rebecca, ever the pragmatist, stepped forward. She placed a comforting hand on Isabelle's arm, her gaze cold and assessing as it fell on me. "Arthur," she said calmly, "what's done is done. We cannot afford to disappoint the Hayes Pack."

She gave Isabelle a meaningful look. "Isabelle is a pure-blooded she-wolf. Unlike Adriana, she actually has a wolf. She can stand beside Julian as a proper Luna, not as some defective wolfless girl everyone has been politely pretending to accept."

Her words cut deeper than Julian's disgust. Being wolfless had always been the shame my family kept tucked behind closed doors, the flaw they dressed up with expensive gowns and a respectable engagement. Now Rebecca had dragged it into the light and used it as a knife.

"She can take Adriana's place," Rebecca continued smoothly. "She will join with Julian and solidify our alliance."

My father's eyes lit up with relief. The anger was instantly replaced by cold, hard strategy. It was a perfect solution. For them.

I couldn't breathe. The air was thick with betrayal. They were trading me away, right in front of me, like I was nothing more than damaged goods.

Julian didn't object. Of course he didn't. He looked at Isabelle, at her "purity," at the wolf blood I would never have, and a flicker of relief crossed his features.

Rebecca's attention returned to me, her voice devoid of any warmth. "As for Adriana... while she has been soiled, the scent on her is incredibly potent. The Alpha must be of high standing."

She paused, letting the weight of her words hang in the air before delivering the final blow. "The Alpha of the Montgomery Pack has been seeking a mate. He may be old and frail, but his Pack is one of the most powerful in Crescent Falls."

A cruel smile played on her lips. "Giving Adriana to Alpha Montgomery would be... a productive use of a wasted asset. It could forge a new, even stronger alliance for us."

The name hit me like a physical blow. Alpha Montgomery. The boogeyman from Pack horror stories. A man said to be over sixty, a cruel tyrant whose wolf was so weak he could barely manage a shift. They were sentencing me to a living hell.

"No," I whispered, the word catching in my throat.

The betrayal ignited a fire in my veins. "You can't!" I screamed, my voice raw with anguish. I pointed a trembling finger at Rebecca and Isabelle. "You won't!"

Isabelle hid behind her mother, a triumphant smirk playing on her lips.

My father looked at me, his eyes empty of any paternal love. There was only the cold calculation of a Pack Alpha weighing his assets. He ignored my desperate plea and gave Rebecca a curt nod of approval.

The deal was done.

My own family had just sold me to a monster.

I stared at their smug, self-satisfied faces, a vow of silent hatred forming in the ruins of my heart. I would not go down without a fight. I would never, ever surrender.

Adriana POV:

For a moment, I simply stared at my father, waiting for one last trace of the man I had once believed he was to appear on his face. It never came.

The silence in the room was colder than any scream could have been. I took one slow step toward him, my hands clenched at my sides, my voice low and shaking only at the edges.

"You knew," I said. "You knew what they did to me, and you still decided my body was just another bargain to be made."

Arthur's expression did not soften.

A bitter, humorless laugh escaped me. "I am your daughter. Or did that stop mattering the moment I stopped being useful?"

He looked at me with pure disgust, brushing an invisible speck of dust from his expensive sleeve as if even my words had contaminated him.

"You brought shame to this Pack the moment you walked through that door smelling of another Alpha," he snarled, cold fury tightening every line of his face.

Isabelle, ever the actress, dabbed at non-existent tears. "Sister, please don't shout at Father. He's only thinking of what's best for the Pack."

My head whipped towards her, my eyes burning with a hatred so intense it felt like it could set her on fire. "Shut up! This was your plan all along, wasn't it?"

She flinched, her facade of innocence cracking for a split second before she scurried behind Rebecca for protection.

"How dare you accuse your sister after your own disgraceful behavior!" Rebecca snapped, shielding Isabelle as if I were a rabid animal.

My words were useless. My truth was nothing against their united front. I was the outcast, the sinner, the convenient scapegoat.

My father's patience, always thin, finally snapped. He was done with the theatrics. He wanted this settled.

He drew himself up to his full height, his chest puffing out. The air in the room grew heavy, thick with an oppressive energy. The power of a Pack Alpha, a force I had rarely seen him use with such malice, radiated from him.

He invoked the Alpha's Command.

His voice wasn't loud, but it resonated with an ancient, unbreakable power. "Adriana Nichols. Kneel."

It wasn't a request. It was a physical force. An invisible weight slammed down on my shoulders, trying to crush me to the floor. My knees trembled violently, my body betraying my will. I fought it, digging my nails into my palms so hard I felt the skin break. I would not kneel. I would not submit to this injustice.

But the Command was absolute.

My legs gave out from under me. My knees hit the cold marble floor with a sickening thud that echoed the breaking of my spirit.

Tears of humiliation blurred my vision. Isabelle and Rebecca watched, their eyes gleaming with cruel satisfaction.

My father loomed over me, a merciless judge pronouncing my sentence. "You will marry Alpha Montgomery. That is my command. It is your fate."

I bit my lip so hard I tasted the metallic tang of blood.

The Command receded, leaving me limp and hollowed out. I was dismissed. I stumbled to my feet, my body moving like a broken marionette, and fled to the one place I had left: my room.

I slammed the door and turned the lock, my back sliding down the wood until I was a crumpled heap on the floor. The sobs I had been holding back finally broke free, wracking my body in great, shuddering waves.

A soft tap came from the window.

Through my tear-filled eyes, I saw a familiar figure climbing through. It was our childhood secret entrance. It was Chloe.

My best friend, Dr. Chloe Sullivan, an intern at the Pack hospital.

"Adi!" She rushed to my side, her face etched with worry. "I was nearby and heard the shouting. What happened? Are you okay?"

I collapsed into her arms, the story pouring out of me in a torrent of broken words and choked sobs. The hotel, the betrayal, the command, the sentence to marry a monster.

When I finished, Chloe's arms tightened around me. She swore under her breath, cursing my father and Isabelle with a ferocity that warmed a small, frozen part of my heart.

"I'd rather die than marry that old beast," I whispered, my voice raw. "Chloe, what am I going to do?"

She held me for a long moment, her brow furrowed in thought. I could feel the conflict warring within her.

"There might be... one way," she finally said, her voice barely a whisper. "But it's dangerous, Adi. And without your Alpha's authorization, it's forbidden."

I pulled back, my eyes locking onto hers, searching for any sliver of hope. "What is it? I'll do anything."

"It's called a purification protocol," she explained. "It was developed for wolves who were exposed to an Alpha's pheromones or an incomplete mating imprint without consent."

Her gaze dropped to the bruises visible above my collar. "You don't have a formal mating mark, but his scent is already embedded in your bloodstream and scent glands. If it settles, every wolf who comes near you will read you as claimed."

A wave of nausea rolled through me. "Can you remove it?"

"Only at the hospital," Chloe said. "They would have to give you an intravenous scent suppressant, run your blood through a purification filter, and flush the glands along your throat and wrists with silverwort serum. A controlled moonstone field is used to destabilize the Alpha imprint while the serum breaks it down."

She gripped my hands. "That's why it can't be done at home. Your heart rate and oxygen would have to be monitored the entire time. The procedure can trigger seizures, internal bleeding, permanent scent loss—even damage your ability to carry a child. And because you're wolfless, your body may not recover as quickly as a wolf's."

"Pack law requires the permission of your Alpha or legal guardian," she added bitterly. "Your father will never approve it. I would have to find a healer willing to perform it off the record after hours."

Pain. Blood. Permanent damage.

I didn't care.

All I could see was a chance to erase the stranger's scent before my father used it to chain me to another man.

Hope, fierce and desperate, surged through me.

I gripped her hands, my knuckles white. "As long as it frees me from this, I don't care what it takes. Please, Chloe. Help me arrange it. As soon as possible."