His Unwanted Mate: Rise Of The White Wolf

"Just sign the damn paper, Ava."

Liam, the Alpha I had served and loved for three years, threw a confession across the table. He wanted me to admit to corporate espionage—a crime actually committed by his fragile, innocent mistress, Chloe.

When I refused, Liam didn't hesitate. He pulled up a live feed of my dying mother in the pack hospital and held his finger over the 'Terminate Life Support' button.

"She is pack property. Sign, or the machine turns off."

To save my mother, I signed away my rank, my reputation, and my freedom. I became a Rogue. But taking the fall wasn't enough for them.

Two days later, Chloe trapped me in the lab to steal my life's work. To cover her tracks, she sabotaged the servers and set the room on fire. When the flames roared to life, Liam burst in.

He saw me trapped in a glass box, choking on poisonous fumes. He saw Chloe standing safely by the door, faking a sprained ankle.

He looked at me. Then he looked at her.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed.

He scooped up the arsonist and ran, leaving me to be consumed by the inferno.

As the fire melted my skin, the pathetic love I held for him finally died. But I didn't.

Instead of turning to ash, an ancient, terrifying power exploded from my core. My eyes snapped open, glowing a blinding white.

I reached out through the mind-link to the one man Liam feared most.

"Ethan? I'm ready to burn the Blackwood Pack to the ground."

Chapter 1

Ava POV:

The conference room smelled of stale coffee and impending doom. It wasn't just the tension; it was the crushing weight of the Alpha's Command.

Liam Vanderbilt, the Alpha of the Blackwood Pack and the man I had loved for three agonizing years, stood at the head of the table. His hazel eyes were bleeding into the pitch black of his wolf. He wasn't looking at me with love. He was looking at me like I was a stain on his Armani suit.

"Just sign the damn paper, Ava," Liam growled.

His voice wasn't just sound. It was a physical wave of pressure that slammed into my chest. This was the power of the Alpha—the ability to force submission. My knees buckled, hitting the cold marble floor hard. My inner wolf, usually quiet, whined and curled into a ball, terrified.

"I didn't do it," I gasped, lungs burning. "I didn't leak the merger details. It was Chloe. I saw her files—"

"Silence!" Liam roared.

The command snapped my jaw shut. My teeth clicked together so hard I tasted copper.

"Chloe is the future Luna," Liam said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, icy calm. "She is fragile. She is innocent. You, Ava, are the capable lawyer. The strong one. You can take the hit."

He slid a document across the long table. A confession. By signing it, I would admit to corporate espionage, lose my rank as Lead Gamma, and face exile. But it wasn't just about the pack. It was about her. Chloe Preston. The woman who conveniently went into "heat" or suffered a "sprained ankle" every single time Liam and I were scheduled for our mating ceremony.

"I won't," I pushed the words through clenched teeth.

Liam sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He picked up a remote. The screen behind him flickered to life.

A live feed from the pack hospital. My mother lay in a glass pod, pale and hooked to a ventilator. The steady beep of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room.

"Wolfsbane poisoning is a bitch," Liam said casually. "Treatment is expensive. The Vanderbilt Group funds her life support. If you aren't pack... well, we don't support outsiders."

He held his finger over a red button.

My heart stopped. "Liam, no. She's your pack member."

"I do what is best for the pack," he said coldly. "Sign the paper, Ava. Take the blame for Chloe's mistake. Or the machine turns off in ten seconds."

"One."

He didn't love me.

"Two."

He never loved me.

"Three."

I grabbed the pen. My hand shook violently, fighting the instinct to shift and rip his throat out. But I was a Beta female. He was a Prime Alpha. I had no chance.

I scribbled my name. 'Ava Mitchell.'

The moment the ink dried, the crushing weight lifted. I slumped forward, gasping.

"Good girl," Liam sneered, pocketing the remote. "Get out. You have twenty-four hours to vacate."

He turned his back and walked out. He didn't look back.

I sat on the cold floor. My hand went to my neck. Smooth. Unmarked. Three years, and he had never bitten me. Never completed the bond. I was a placeholder. A tool.

A cold resolve settled in my gut.

I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, bypassing the local pack link. I pushed further, aiming for a frequency I hadn't used in years.

'Ethan?'

The response was instantaneous. Like a shot of whiskey warming my chest.

'Ava. I'm here.'

Ethan Hayes. My law school mentor. And secretly, the Lycan King of the Sovereign Pack.

'Code Execution,' I projected. 'He used my mother. I need her out. Now.'

'The Royal Medical Transport is already in your airspace,' Ethan's voice was deep, calm, and terrifying. 'She will be in Sovereign territory within the hour. What about you?'

I opened my eyes. They flashed gold—a color that wasn't supposed to belong to a Beta.

'I have one last thing to do,' I told him. 'I'm going to burn the Blackwood Pack to the ground.'