Seth tried to call after us, but I was already gone, leading Leo back to the guest house.

This was our last stop before the plane took off.

But they wouldn't even grant us this final refuge.

That evening, a maid appeared at our door. "Healer Viola, it's time for dinner. The Alpha requires all pack members to attend. The future Luna has prepared a special 'gift' for your son."

The grand dining hall felt strange.

The long table was empty, except for Seth and Sarah at the head.

In front of Leo's seat was a small stone bowl.

It was filled with a deep purple liquid that pulsed with a strange, powerful energy.

"Sit, Viola, Leo," Sarah smiled sweetly, but her tone was a command. She pointed to the bowl. "This is our Blackwood 'Blood of Awakening.' It's a bloodline-strengthening potion. Normally, only the most powerful pups are worthy of it."

My own blood ran cold.

As a High Healer, I knew exactly what that was.

For a pure-blooded pup, it might be a booster.

But for any pup whose bloodline wasn't perfect, it was poison. Pure and simple.

It would forcibly awaken their power.

If their body couldn't handle the surge, their very wolf spirit could shatter.

"No," I pulled Leo behind me. "He can't drink that."

"Why not?" Sarah feigned surprise, looking at Seth. "Seth, I just want to see what kind of potential this 'orphan' you shelter has. If he can handle the Blood of Awakening, perhaps he's worth training. If not... well, it just proves his blood is as inferior as we thought."

Using a twelve-year-old boy for a dangerous bloodline test?

I looked at Seth, praying for a flicker of instinct. An Alpha's duty to protect the young.

He just sat there, swirling the wine in his glass, his expression indifferent.

"Sarah means well," he said, setting his glass down. His cold eyes fixed on Leo. "The path to strength is full of risks. For our pack to evolve, some must lead the way."

He paused, his voice laced with a cruel curiosity. "Leo, this is your chance. Prove your worth. Prove you're strong, even without the name."

In that moment, a deep, soul-crushing chill washed over me.

He was truly insane.

For his twisted theories, to please his political ally, he was about to let them perform a potentially fatal experiment on his own son.

Seth turned to Leo, his voice an iron command. "Drink it, Leo. Show her that a child under my protection is no coward."

Leo's face was white as a sheet. He looked from the purple liquid to the man on the throne, his supposed protector.

He stood up, trembling.

"Don't!" I lunged forward to knock the bowl over.

"Restrain her," Seth ordered coldly.

Two guards grabbed me, twisting my arms behind my back and forcing me into a chair.

"Let me go! Seth, you'll regret this! It's a forbidden draft!" I thrashed wildly, screaming, hot tears of rage and terror streaming down my face. "Please, don't make him drink it! He's just a child!"

"Drink," was Seth's only reply. Cold. Final.

Leo looked at me one last time. His eyes were full of despair, but also a terrible resolve.

He picked up the stone bowl, closed his eyes, and drank.

One second.

Two.

"Aaargh—!"

A blood-curdling scream ripped from his throat. He fell from his chair, his body convulsing violently on the floor. It looked like purple lightning was crackling under his skin, his veins bulging.

"It hurts! Mommy... I'm breaking apart!"

Blood trickled from his eyes, nose, and ears. His newly formed wolf core was on the verge of shattering from the violent energy.

"Leo!" My heart tore in two.

In that instant, all reason, all restraint, vanished.

"NO!"

A mother's roar—primal and furious—tore from my throat.

Healing energy, white-hot with rage, exploded from my body.

The two guards holding me were thrown back, smashing through a wine cabinet.

I scrambled to Leo's side, pressing my hands on him, pouring every last drop of my life force into his body to fight the potion's poison.

I didn't turn around, but my voice was the sound of hell freezing over. Every word was a judgment against the man on the throne.

"Seth!"

"Even a full-grown Alpha needs a guide for that poison! You made a pup—a pup fresh from his First Howl—drink it straight?! That's a sacred taboo, written in the lore of every High Healer!"

I cradled Leo's twitching body, my soul bleeding as I looked at his agonized face.

"You were going to let him be destroyed just to test his 'worth'?! You call that protection? He was nothing but a disposable lab rat to you!"

The hall was dead silent.

Seth stared at Leo writhing on the floor, at the blood on his face. For the first time, a flicker of panic crossed his perfect, controlled features. He had actually believed his bloodline would make Leo invincible.

"I... I thought..." he stammered, but the words died in his throat.

Sarah cowered behind him. "I didn't know it would be this bad... He... I guess he really is from Omega stock. His blood is too weak..."

Enough.

It was all enough.

I didn't spare them another glance.

I lifted Leo into my arms and walked toward the door.

I paused at the threshold, but didn't look back. I just left them with one final truth.

"Seth, you don't deserve to be Leo's father. And you don't deserve to be an Alpha."

"Viola!"

Seth's panicked voice echoed behind me. "I didn't mean for that to happen! I didn't know it was so dangerous!"

I didn't stop.

He didn't know?

Did a simple "I didn't know" erase the agony Leo had just endured? From missing his First Howl, to the silver whistle, to this near-fatal "trial," he had justified every cruel act with his twisted philosophy of strength.

I carried Leo back to the guest house.

His body still trembled with aftershocks from the potion, each tremor a whip against my heart.

I laid him on the bed and used the last of my energy to heal him.

Looking at his pale little face, I finally saw the absolute truth.

I used to believe that if Leo was strong enough, if he was perfect, Seth would finally see him. Acknowledge him. Love him.

I was a fool. In Seth's eyes, Leo was never a son who needed love. He was a flawed product that needed to be tested, to prove its worth over and over again.

Seth would never change. His obsession with bloodlines was bone-deep.

If we stayed, Leo would either be destroyed by these "trials," or he would become a cold, ruthless monster just like his father.

I would not let that happen.

The next morning, after confirming Seth and Sarah were in a council meeting, I took a weak but recovering Leo to the sacred altar on the hill behind the manor. This was where generations of Alphas held their most important ceremonies.

"Mommy, what are you doing?" Leo asked, his voice full of worry.

"Ending a mistake," I said, taking the ancient ritual dagger from the altar. The silver blade glinted in the sun.

Without hesitating, I sliced open my palm. Blood dripped onto the ancient runes carved into the stone.

"Before the Moon Goddess, I, Viola Gray, reject Alpha Seth. I sever this bond. Now and forever."

The runes on the stone flared, humming with ancient power.

I felt something deep in my soul being torn away. The invisible bond connecting me to Seth snapped, thread by painful thread. The agony was blinding. I collapsed, gasping for breath, drenched in a cold sweat.

But I was free.

The weight of being trapped, misunderstood, and used... it vanished. I was free.

"Mommy!" Leo rushed to my side, his small hands a source of warmth and strength. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I managed a weak smile, leaning on him to stand. "Better than I've ever been."

I took out my phone and dialed a secure international number.

"It's me, Viola."

"Viola?" A man's voice, warm with surprise and relief. "You finally came to your senses?"

"Adrian," I breathed, my voice shaking. "Is your offer still good? The Royal Pack in Europe, the Healer's Guild... is there still a place for us?"

"Always, my friend. This will always be a safe harbor for you. When are you coming?"

"Now."

Three hours later, at a private airfield.

Leo and I boarded a private jet to Europe.

As he watched the pack lands shrink below us, he asked softly, "Mommy, are we ever coming back?"

"No, sweetie." I squeezed his small, cold hand. I shook my head firmly. "There's nothing left for us there."

The moment the plane lifted off the ground, I felt twelve years of weight finally fall from my shoulders.