Emilia's POV

Brandon staggered back, hand flying to his reddening face. "What the fuck-"

The second slap hit even harder.

"That's for lying to me for a year," I said, my voice shaking with fury. "For making me believe you cared about me. For being a fucking coward who couldn't even break up with me before shoving your dick into my sister."

"You crazy bitch!" Brandon lunged toward me, but I was already moving.

I grabbed Linda's designer purse from the nightstand and flung it at his head. It connected with a satisfying thud.

"We're done," I said coldly. "Don't ever speak to me again. Don't look at me. Don't even breathe in my direction. You disgust me."

I turned to Linda, whose smirk had finally faltered.

"And you. Congratulations. You've won the grand prize-a cheating coward with a small dick and no future. I hope you're very happy together."

I didn't wait for a response. I spun on my heel and walked out, slamming the door behind me hard enough to rattle the frame.

My father's office was on the first floor. I stormed through the hallways, ignoring the curious stares of lingering guests, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I didn't bother knocking. I shoved the door open.

Alpha Henry sat behind his desk, Dorothy perched on the edge beside him. They both looked up, startled.

"Emilia," my father began. "What are you-"

"Did you know?" I demanded, my voice raw from everything I had just swallowed and everything I could no longer pretend not to understand. "Did you know Brandon was cheating on me with Linda?"

Alpha Henry only leaned back in his chair and looked at me with the tired impatience.

"Sit down, Emilia."

"No."

My answer was sharper than I expected, and the silence that followed made Dorothy lift her brows.

"Did you know?" I asked again.

This time, my father did not bother to lie.

"Yes."

The word hit harder than finding Brandon in Linda's bed.

"You knew," I whispered.

"Brandon is a talented warrior," my father said coldly, as if that explained everything. "He is one of the most promising wolves in this generation, and the pack has invested too much in him to waste his future on sentiment."

For a moment, I could only stare at him, because I had come into this room expecting anger, perhaps even disappointment, but not this calm, practical cruelty that treated my heartbreak as nothing more than poor strategy.

Then he said the thing he had clearly been waiting to say.

"You failed your Awakening."

The room went still.

"You were given twenty-two years, Emilia," he continued, his voice hardening with each word. "and yet after all that time, you are still standing here exactly as you began."

[Wolfless.]

[Useless.]

[Unwanted.]

He did not need to say the words aloud.

I heard them anyway.

"So that's it?" I asked, my throat tightening around the question. "Because I didn't shift, Brandon gets to betray me, Linda gets to humiliate me, and you get to pretend none of it matters?"

"Linda has a wolf," Henry snapped. "Linda has value. Brandon needs a mate who can stand beside him, bear strong heirs, and strengthen this pack. Not you."

"If I was such a disappointment," I said slowly, "then why did you have me at all?"

His expression changed. "Watch your tone."

"No," I said, and once the word left me, everything I had buried for years began to rise with it. "If you hated my mother so much, why chose her? If you hated what I was, why let me live here for twenty-two years begging for scraps of approval you never planned to give me?"

Dorothy's face cooled. "That is enough."

Henry slammed his hand against the desk. The sound cracked through the office.

"I chose this pack."

That was when I saw the black envelope.

Dorothy picked it up from the desk with graceful fingers and placed it where I could see the silver wax seal pressed into the paper.

The Simons crest.

My blood turned cold before she even spoke.

"Linda received an invitation from the Simons family," Dorothy said gently, and the sweetness in her voice made my stomach twist. "But after discussing it carefully, your father and I have decided that you will attend in her place."

For a few seconds, I could not make sense of the words, because the Simons family was not merely powerful or wealthy; they were feared, whispered about, avoided by every family with daughters old enough to marry.

And Alpha Sebastian Simons was the worst of them.

Six brides.

Six funerals.

"You want me to replace Linda," I said, each word colder than the last, "because you're afraid he will kill her."

"No one said that," Dorothy replied.

But my father's thoughts moved through my mind with brutal clarity.

[Linda is too valuable to risk.]

"It is a duty," my father corrected. "The Simons alliance can save Frostridge pack."

"And if I die?"

Neither of them answered.

They did not need to.

My father's thoughts answered for them.

[If she dies, we lose nothing.]

For a moment, the office seemed to disappear around me, and all I could feel was the horrible clarity of finally knowing my place in this family, not as a daughter, not even as a shame they wished to hide, but as a body they could send into danger because no one would mourn the loss.

I stepped back.

"No."

Henry's eyes narrowed. "Emilia."

"No," I repeated, louder this time. "I won't go."

His Alpha aura filled the room, heavy enough to press against my bones. "You have spent your entire life receiving this pack's mercy. Now you will repay it."

"Mercy?" I laughed, though my chest felt like it was breaking open. "You call this mercy?"

"I call it obedience."

Then he looked past me.

"Guards."

The door opened before I could reach it, and two warriors seized my arms from behind with enough force to make pain shoot through my shoulders.

I kicked, twisted, screamed, and when one of them dragged me backward, I sank my teeth into his wrist with every bit of rage I had left.

He cursed, his grip loosened.

For one wild second, I was free.

Then something slammed into the back of my head.

Pain burst white behind my eyes, the floor tilted beneath me, and as darkness began to drag me under, I heard my father's thoughts one last time, calm and relieved in a way his voice had never been.

[Finally.]

[That problem is taken care of.]

The dark closed in.

And in the last fading corner of my mind, I understood.

No one in Frostridge pack expected me to survive.

They had already abandoned me to death.

Emilia's POV

The scent of roses and expensive perfume hit me first.

My eyes fluttered open to find myself staring at an ornate ceiling with intricate moldings. The bed beneath me was obscenely soft.

Where the hell was I?

I sat up too quickly. My head spun, the sedative still clinging to my system. The room around me was massive-easily twice the size of my bedroom back at the Frostridge pack house. Everything screamed wealth: silk curtains, marble floors, a chandelier that looked like it belonged in a palace.

Then I caught sight of myself in the full-length mirror across the room.

They'd dressed me up like a doll.

My hair cascaded down my back in soft waves, and my makeup highlighted my best features. My eyes looked deeper, my lips fuller, and my reflection almost felt unfamiliar.

The navy silk dress fit me perfectly, elegant and flattering, making it impossible to look away.

I looked gorgeous.

I looked like a bride being prepared for slaughter.

Of course they made me pretty. Can't send damaged goods to the devil himself.

My father had held that elaborate birthday ceremony not out of love, but as a public display-proof that he'd treated both daughters equally. Then he could ship me off to Sebastian Simons with a clear conscience, his reputation intact.

Linda got Brandon. I got a death sentence.

He'd probably started planning this the moment my wolf failed to emerge.

A sharp knock at the door.

"Miss Taylor?" A woman's voice. "Alpha Sebastian's selection will begin shortly. Please follow me."

My stomach dropped. This was really happening.

I opened the door to find a middle-aged woman in a black uniform. She looked me up and down with cold assessment.

*The Frostridge pack must really be desperate,* her thoughts hit me. *Sending a wolfless embarrassment to Alpha Sebastian. Do they think we're idiots?*

The malice in her thoughts made my jaw clench. But I kept my expression calm, following her down a hallway that seemed to stretch forever.

The mansion was even more impressive than my room suggested-a sprawling estate that mixed modern luxury with old-world elegance. We passed floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking manicured gardens, walls lined with what I suspected were original Renaissance paintings.

As we walked through the double doors, the noise hit me.

Not sound-thoughts.

Dozens of them, all at once, crashing into my mind like a tidal wave.

*I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Marrying a notorious demon. My life is over.*

*He might be violent, but his marriages never last long. Two months tops, then divorce. But that severance package... eighteen million dollars and the status of being a Simons? Worth the risk.*

*Oh God, she's gorgeous. If that wolfless bitch gets chosen instead of me, I swear I'll-*

*My father's going to kill me if I don't get selected. The pack needs this alliance. I have to make him notice me.*

The thoughts overlapped, tangled, multiplied. It felt like a thousand bees had nested inside my skull, their buzzing growing louder and louder until I couldn't tell where one thought ended and another began.

My vision blurred. The hallway tilted.

I pressed a hand against the wall, trying to steady myself, but the thoughts kept coming, relentless and overwhelming.

*Why is she touching the wall? Is she going to faint? Pathetic.*

The guide's thoughts cut through the chaos, sharp with disdain.

"Miss Taylor?" Her voice sounded distant, underwater. "Are you quite alright?"

I couldn't answer. My throat had closed. My lungs refused to expand. The edges of my vision darkened as panic clawed up my chest.

*Breathe, *I commanded myself desperately. *Just breathe.*

But the voices in my head wouldn't stop. They grew louder, angrier, more frantic.

A waiting area, with at least thirty women, all dressed to perfection, all wearing varying expressions of fear and determination.

The receiving room doors burst open.

A woman stumbled out, makeup streaked down her face, shoulders shaking with sobs. As she rushed past me, her thoughts slammed into mine with devastating clarity.

*I've never met such a cruel, heartless Alpha in my life. The way he looked at me-like I was dirt. Like I was nothing. God, I just want to go home. I want to disappear. I want-*

She was gone before I could process it, but two more women followed in quick succession, each one crying, each one broadcasting their terror and humiliation directly into my brain.

*Monster. He's a monster.*

*Those eyes. Those cold, empty eyes. Like a predator deciding whether to kill you now or later.*

*I'm not pretty enough. I'm not smart enough. I'll never be enough for someone like him.*

I doubled over, pressing my palms against my temples, trying desperately to shut them out. But I couldn't. The ability was too new, too raw. I had no control.

"Miss Taylor!" The guide's hand gripped my elbow, steadying me. "You're next. Pull yourself together."

I forced my head up, blinking away the spots dancing across my vision.

Two guards flanked the entrance, massive wolves who watched me with undisguised contempt.

*Run, *every instinct screamed. *Run now while you still can.*

But I'd seen the guards. I'd seen how the estate was locked down tighter than a prison. Even if I made it past them, where would I go? Back to a father who'd drugged and sold me? Back to a sister who'd stolen my boyfriend and laughed about it?

I had nowhere to run. No one to save me.

So I did the only thing I could.

I straightened my spine, lifted my chin, and walked through those doors like I had a choice in any of this.

The receiving room was enormous. But despite its size, the air felt suffocating, pressing down on me from all sides.

And then I saw him.

Sebastian Simons sat in the center of the room on a leather sofa that looked more like a throne. Even seated, his presence dominated the space. Tall. Powerfully built. He radiated the kind of authority that made people instinctively want to kneel.

Dark hair. High cheekbones. A straight nose. Every feature sharp and defined.

His eyes... Green. Piercing. Intense and unforgiving.

Those eyes locked onto mine.

And suddenly, the world went silent.

All the voices-the screaming, buzzing chaos that had been tearing my mind apart-vanished in an instant.

I couldn't hear his thoughts. Couldn't sense anything from him except... presence. Weight. Power.

It was the most peaceful silence I'd experienced since this cursed ability had awakened.

And this peace, ironically, came from the very man most likely to kill me.