The Alpha's main house was even more opulent than I remembered.

Moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, reflecting off the polished marble floors. A new, massive crystal chandelier cast glittering patterns across the room. Clearly, the North American Alliance had been generous with their gifts to celebrate the "birth of the new bloodline."

When the Enforcers escorted me into the living room, I walked into a perfect portrait of domestic bliss.

Sebastian was leaning back on the sprawling leather sofa, cradling a sleeping infant. He wore an expression of tenderness I had never seen on his face. Elena sat beside him, cooing at the other pup, who was awake and had its tiny hand wrapped around her finger.

The scene was so complete. I was the intruder.

"Sophia's back," Sebastian said, looking up. His tone was as flat as if he were commenting on the weather. "You've lost weight."

"Six months as a hermit will do that to you," I replied, my voice just as cool.

The others in the room—including Sebastian's parents, the former Alpha pair Marcus and Lydia—froze. An awkward, heavy silence filled the air.

"Oh, look who it is," Lydia broke the silence, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Our noble Luna Sophia, finally deigning to return to the pack that's 'not good enough for her'."

Marcus set down his wine glass and sneered. "Now, Lydia, be fair. Our 'Luna' was once our son's mate. Even if she couldn't provide a strong bloodline, she can at least help maintain Sebastian's reputation."

"Reputation?" Lydia scoffed. "What reputation can a barren Omega provide? If it weren't for Elena, our bloodline would have ended with this generation."

I felt my blood boil, but I forced a mask of calm onto my face. This was what they wanted—to see me break, to see me lash out. It would only confirm their judgment of me.

"Father, Mother," Sebastian finally spoke, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Sophia just got back. Let her rest."

"Yes," Elena stood up suddenly, a harmless smile on her face. "Luna Sophia does look exhausted. But..." She paused. "Before you rest, would you like to hold the little ones? They're very sweet."

She held the pup in her arms out to me. The baby had golden hair and green eyes, and was looking at me with wide, curious eyes.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said, taking an instinctive step back.

"It's okay," Elena's smile widened. "She's a good baby, she won't cry. Besides..." she lowered her voice so only I could hear, "you should feel what a truly powerful bloodline is like."

With everyone watching, I had no choice. I reached out and took the infant.

She was so light, it made me nervous. She stared at me, her little mouth slightly open as if studying this strange new face.

Then, everything went wrong.

The pup began to seize violently in my arms. Her small face turned a blotchy red, and a thin line of foam appeared at her lips. Her breathing became rapid and strained, her tiny hands clenched into fists.

"Oh, Moon Goddess!" Lydia screamed.

"What's happening?" Marcus shot to his feet.

Sebastian moved with a speed I'd never seen. He snatched the baby from my arms, his eyes so cold they sent a chill down my spine.

"What's wrong?" he murmured to the infant, his voice trembling. "Shh, baby, Daddy's here. It's okay, it's okay..."

Elena collapsed onto the sofa, looking more panicked than anyone. "I... I just wanted Luna Sophia to see how sweet she was," she stammered. "I had no idea... the rejection... it would be so strong... Gods, I almost killed our child..."

"Rejection?" Marcus frowned. "Are you saying Sophia is hostile toward the pup?"

"No, not hostile," Elena shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "It's... it's the raw despair of a rejected mate. I should have known. Luna Sophia... her heart must be filled with so much resentment and jealousy. That kind of profound negative energy... it's like poison to a newborn pup..."

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but no words came out. Because, in a way, she was right. My heart was filled with resentment and jealousy.

"Enough," Sebastian finally spoke, his voice as cold as the arctic wind. "Sophia, until you learn to control your emotions, you will move to the West Tower. Stay away from the children."

The West Tower.

The most remote building on the pack estate, used to confine pack members who had broken laws, or to quarantine the dangerously ill.

"Sebastian..." I tried to explain.

"This is not a discussion, Sophia," he looked up at me, his eyes devoid of any warmth. "It's an order. Oliver will escort you. Your things will be brought over."

He paused, glancing down at the pup in his arms, who had stopped seizing and was now sleeping fitfully.

"I don't want to see this happen again. If you have a single shred of decency left, you will stay far, far away from my children."

In that moment, I felt my heart being crushed into dust.

Not because I was being imprisoned, but because of the cold, alien look in his eyes.

It was as if I had truly become a monster to him.

"I understand," I nodded, my voice so calm it surprised even me. "I'll move to the West Tower."

I turned and left the living room. Behind me, I heard Lydia's satisfied hum and Marcus's low muttering. Only Elena's sobbing sounded out of place—the hypocritical sympathy of a victor.

Oliver was waiting for me at the door, his expression conflicted. "Luna Sophia, I've prepared a room in the West Tower. It's basic, but..."

"Thank you, Oliver," I said sincerely. "At least you still call me 'Luna Sophia'."

The path to the West Tower was long, cutting across the entire estate garden. The snow was still falling, my footsteps leaving a lonely trail behind me.

Looking back, I could see the warm light glowing from the main house's windows. I could imagine Sebastian rocking his children to sleep, with Elena watching lovingly by his side.

That should have been my life.

But now, I was just an exile. A stranger in my own home.

The room in the West Tower was even more stark than I'd imagined. A metal bed, a table, and a chair. A small, barred window looked out at the estate's formidable outer wall.

I sat on the edge of the bed, watching the snow fall, remembering that night six months ago.

Maybe Sebastian was right.

Maybe I really should have just left and never come back.

But now, even leaving was a luxury I no longer had.

I was trapped here, a bird with broken wings, forced to watch as another woman lived the life that was stolen from me.

This was the price of betrayal.

Not death, but a long, slow sentence of humiliation and solitude.

The nights in the West Tower were deathly silent.

I sat on the rickety iron bed, listening to the north wind howl outside, a lonely echo of the storm that had shattered my life six months ago. Only this time, I held no more illusions.

The small, barred window faced the estate wall, but through it, I could see the distant, warm glow of the main house. I knew Sebastian was in there, with his new family.

And I was a ghost, forgotten in the cold.

I reached for the back of my neck, where a small, silver mark was imprinted—the official seal of the Elder Council. Every pack member had one, a conduit to the pack's collective consciousness, a record of their identity, status, and permissions.

Tonight, I was going to use it for something I should have done long ago.

Closing my eyes, I sank my consciousness into the mark, feeling the thrum of the pack's ancient power. Soon, the Council's archive materialized in my mind—not a library, but a nexus of the pack's collective mind, an archive woven from a thousand years of memory.

I found the rite I needed: Petition for Bond Severance.

It was one of the oldest and most sacred laws. When a mated pair's bond was broken beyond repair, either party could petition the Moon Goddess to sever the spiritual connection, completely and irrevocably dissolving the union.

The process was irreversible. And excruciatingly painful.

My spectral fingers trembled as I filled out the ethereal form:

Petitioner: Sophia Ashford

Mate: Alpha Sebastian Nightshade

Reason for Petition: The foundation of the bond has been destroyed by betrayal and the introduction of an outside bloodline. To continue it will only cause greater spiritual harm to both parties.

Date: Tonight

Signature: Sophia Ashford

The moment I willed it to be submitted, a tremor went through the entire pack's network.

A Petition for Bond Severance was instantly broadcast to all relevant parties: both mates, the Elder Council, and...

Sebastian.

I could feel his shock and fury crash against our crumbling mind link. The emotions were a tidal wave, threatening to drown me.

Less than five minutes later, the door to the West Tower was thrown open with such force it slammed against the stone wall.

Sebastian stood there, clad only in silk pajama pants, barefoot in the snow that had drifted onto the threshold. His eyes were burning with a wild rage, his chest heaving.

"Are you insane?" He stormed over to me, his voice shaking with anger. "A bond severance? Sophia, do you have any idea what that means?"

I watched him quietly, a strange sense of peace washing over me.

"I do," I said softly. "It means there will be nothing left between us. You can be with Elena and your children openly, without the inconvenient stain of a failed mate."

"You think this is what I want?" Raw pain flashed in his eyes. "Sophia, I know things are broken between us, but this is not the answer! The Elders are traditionalists; they will never approve this. And besides..."

He paused, his voice growing desperate.

"Besides, the process of severing the bond could kill you! Your wolf is already weakened by the trauma. Forcibly tearing your connection to an Alpha… your spirit can't handle that kind of backlash!"

I laughed, a dry, self-mocking sound.

"So you're worried I'll die?" I stood up to face him, eye to eye. "Or are you worried that the death of your barren mate will bring shame upon you in front of the other packs?"

"Sophia!" he roared, wounded. "I have never, ever looked down on you because you couldn't have children! Never!"

"Really?" I shot back. "Then why did you refuse to even discuss adoption? Why did you let your parents humiliate me in front of you and say nothing? Why did you choose Elena and her child without a second's hesitation?"

He opened his mouth to argue, but I pressed on, my voice rising with every question.

"Why, tonight, when that baby was seizing in my arms, was your first instinct not to protect me, but to order me away from my own home?"

Each question was a knife twisting deeper. I could see the agony on his face.

But I no longer cared.

"Sophia, it's not what you think..." his voice was a desperate plea. "I admit I've made so many mistakes, but please, withdraw the petition. We can fix this, but not like this..."

"Like what?" I sneered. "Like you locking me in this tower? Humiliating me in front of the entire pack? Or like you sleeping next to another woman every night while I rot in here alone?"

His face went white, as if I’d struck him.

"My... my arrangement with Elena is for the future of the pack, for the bloodline..."

"For the bloodline," I repeated his own damning words. "Yes, that's the core of it all, isn't it? I was a means to an end. And when I couldn't fulfill my purpose, you threw me away."

"No!" he yelled. "You were never just a tool, Sophia! You were my mate, the woman I loved..."

"'Loved'?" I seized on the word. "Past tense. You said it yourself."

He fell silent, the despair in his eyes a bottomless pit.

Just then, an urgent mind-link message burst into the room, so frantic it made us both flinch.

It was Elena's voice, laced with terror.

"Alpha! Alpha, come quickly! The pups have a dangerously high fever, their life-force is fading! The healers say… they say it might be a bloodline backlash from the unstable bond! They need your power to stabilize them!"

The color drained from Sebastian's face.

I looked at him, feeling that strange, cold calm return. Another choice. Another test.

And I already knew the answer.

"Go," I said quietly. "Your children need you."

He looked at me, his eyes a battlefield of pain and conflict. His hands trembled, as if reaching for me, but they fell uselessly to his sides.

"Sophia… I'll be back. We'll talk..."

"There's no need," I shook my head. "Sebastian, I've given you enough chances. Tonight was the last one."

He tried to say something else, but Elena's cries echoed in his mind again, more frantic, more hopeless.

"Alpha, please, they're getting worse! The healers say they might not make it!"

I could see the war raging inside him. But I also knew that when it came to a choice, he would always choose those two children. It wasn't wrong for a father to do so.

But it meant that in his heart, I would never, ever come first.

"Go," I said again, this time sending the word directly into his mind through our fraying link. "Your heirs are waiting."

He gave me one last look, his eyes brimming with unshed tears and a despair that mirrored my own, then turned and bolted from the room, a man running from his own ruin.

I listened as his footsteps faded into the snowy night.

Then I sat back down on the creaky iron bed.

Soon, the sounds of frantic activity drifted from the main house—the running feet of healers, urgent voices, the faint, pained cries of the pups.

And I listened to it all, a detached observer to a life that was no longer mine.

I don't know how long passed before the sounds finally died down. I felt a wave of relief ripple through the pack's collective mind—the children were stable.

The sounds of celebration followed, faint howls of joy for the heirs' recovery.

And as I sat alone in my prison, listening to them rejoice, the last ember of warmth in my heart finally went out.

The next day, just as I stepped out of the West Tower, my phone rang. It was the company.

"Ms. Sophia, given that you've submitted a petition to sever your blood bond, the Council has decided to revoke all your positions and privileges at the corporation. Please come in today to complete the paperwork."

It seemed the Council was just as eager to find Sebastian a more useful mate.

I paused for a moment. "I'll be right there."

The third floor of the pack's administrative hall. My old office was now a hollowed-out shell.

"Luna... Ms. Ashford," the woman from the pack's administrative office corrected herself, her voice cold. She pushed a form across the desk. "Please sign here to confirm you've collected all personal belongings."

I looked at the paper. It listed, in dense print, every title that had been stripped from me: Vice Director of Strategic Planning, Investment Committee Member, Board Advisor... Every position I had earned, every accomplishment I had been so proud of, was now just a cruel mockery.

"Sophia Ashford, applying for termination of all contracts and duties for personal reasons..."

Personal reasons. The irony was a bitter taste in my mouth.

I picked up the pen, but just as the nib touched the paper, a wave of intense dizziness washed over me. The office spun, the familiar furniture blurring into a vortex.

My health had been declining for months, and the constant dizzy spells were exhausting me.

This time, because I had just initiated the severing of the bond, my body was in a state of extreme weakness. The dizzy spell hit me with unprecedented force.

Deep in my chest, I could feel my wolf core vibrating violently. The pain was like a red-hot needle being driven through my soul. An energy imbalance caused by severe psychological trauma—one of the most dangerous conditions for a werewolf.

"Ma'am? Ma'am, are you alright?"

The administrator's voice sounded distant and muffled. Then, the world went black.

When I opened my eyes again, I was on a cot in the pack infirmary. The sharp smell of disinfectant made me gag, but worse was the rage and accusation flooding through what was left of our mind link.

Sebastian's voice roared in my head:

"Sophia! What did you do to them? What kind of curse did you place on my children? Why did they start seizing with a fever the exact moment you collapsed?"

I struggled to sit up, trying to form a defense, but his fury was a tsunami that drowned me out.

"I knew you would seek revenge! I knew a spurned mate wouldn't simply accept being cast aside! But I never thought you'd be so vicious as to harm innocent pups!"

"I didn't..." I tried to fight back, but my weakened mind couldn't penetrate his wall of righteous anger.

"Enough! Sophia, if anything happens to my children, I will never, ever forgive you!"

He slammed the link shut, leaving me alone in an aching, silent void.

The pack healer walked in, his face a carefully blank mask. "Ms. Ashford, your wolf core is severely unstable. You need at least three days of absolute rest. But given your current status... I can only give you these stabilizers. Please vacate the infirmary as soon as you are able."

My status.

Always my status.

I took the bottle of pills with a bitter smile. "Thank you."

Three days later was the pups' naming ceremony.

According to pack law, every member had to attend to offer their blessings to the new lives. As the Alpha's mate in name, my presence was mandatory. A final, public humiliation.

The grand hall of the pack manor was filled with lavish decorations and forced, joyous laughter. I stood at the edge of the crowd, a ghost at the feast, watching Sebastian hold the two pink-cheeked infants, accepting congratulations from pack Alphas and allies.

He looked radiant, a perfect father and a proud Alpha. Elena stood by his side, glowing as she basked in the praise of being the mother who had saved their bloodline.

They looked so right together. So perfect.

"Sophia."

A cold voice spoke beside me. I turned to see Marcus, Sebastian's father, approaching with a crystal goblet.

"Since you're here, you might as well perform your final duty," he said, shoving the goblet into my hand. "Go offer a blessing to the children. Then have the decency to disappear."

I looked at the amber liquid. It was the pack's traditional blessing wine, offered to newborns by elders and important members.

But something about it felt wrong. The color seemed too dark, the smell too sharp.

"What, lost your nerve?" Marcus sneered. "Or are you planning to use more of your dark arts to get back at us?"

The chatter around us died down as everyone turned to watch. I could feel their stares—contempt, disgust, and a sick sort of anticipation. They were waiting for me to fail.

Taking a deep breath, I raised the goblet and walked toward Sebastian.

His smile vanished the moment he saw me approach, but he didn't stop me. He probably saw it as my final, unavoidable duty.

"May these children grow strong and be the pride of the pack," I raised the goblet, reciting the ancient blessing, then poured the wine into a small silver bowl placed before the infants.

As part of the ritual, the pups would touch the bowl with their tiny hands, symbolically accepting the blessing.

But the moment one of the pups' fingers grazed the silver, something terrible happened.

The child began to convulse violently. Her face turned deathly pale, and then... she started coughing up blood.

A dead, horrified silence fell over the entire hall.

"No!" Sebastian's scream tore through the night. He clutched the bleeding infant, his eyes wide with a terror that ripped my own heart apart.