A thick manila folder slapped against the mattress, missing my bandaged shoulder by an inch.

"Explain the orphanage fire," Forest demanded.

I stared at the glossy photographs spilling from the file. Charred timber, scorched toys, the ruined shell of the Shadow Creek Pack orphanage. The sterile white walls of the High Court infirmary offered no comfort. The sharp scent of winter pine radiating from Forest only sharpened the chill in the room.

"I didn't start it," I rasped, my throat still raw from the silver collar they had used on me before the river.

Forest leaned against the edge of the metal desk across from the bed. He crossed his arms, the silver insignia on his dark uniform catching the overhead light. "Alpha Paxton provided sworn testimonies. Four witnesses saw you carrying gasoline near the east wing."

"Four witnesses on his payroll," I countered. I pushed myself up against the pillows. The fresh stitches in my chest pulled tight, sending a sharp spike of pain through my ribs. "He needed a distraction. A felony to justify executing me without a trial."

"Arson is a capital offense," Forest stated, his voice a low, flat rumble. "Dozens of pups are in the burn ward."

I let out a harsh, broken laugh. The sound scraped my vocal cords. "Paxton doesn't care about pups. He cares about covering his tracks. Look at the date on the fire report."

Forest didn't move. "Three years ago."

"Exactly. Three years of missing funds," I said. I swung my bare legs over the edge of the bed. The cold floor shocked my heels. "I was his Luna. I managed the internal affairs of Shadow Creek. I knew every dime that flowed through that territory."

"Get back in bed," Forest ordered, stepping forward.

"Give me a laptop," I demanded, meeting his cold, falcon-like stare. "You want proof? I'll give you the motive for my execution."

Forest studied my face. His gaze dropped to the fresh spot of red blooming through the white gauze on my shoulder. He uncrossed his arms, grabbed a sleek black tablet from the desk, and tossed it onto my lap.

"Show me," he said.

My fingers trembled as I tapped the screen. "There is a hidden offshore registry. Account 8492-B. I found it last month before Paxton locked me in the dungeon."

"A pack Alpha bypassing the central banking guild is a severe violation," Forest noted. He stepped closer, his imposing frame blocking the fluorescent light. "If you are lying to stall your execution, I will carry out the sentence myself."

"I am not lying," I shot back, navigating to the encrypted banking portal. "Paxton siphoned five million dollars from the pack's infrastructure budget. He didn't spend it on the orphanage."

"Where did it go?"

"Black-market wolfsbane," I said, looking up at him. "And banned silver torture devices. The exact tools he used on me tonight."

Forest's jaw tightened. A muscle jumped beneath his left eye. He pulled a heavy encrypted radio from his tactical belt. "Get Chief Auditor Miller up here. Now."

The heavy steel door flew open less than a minute later. A tall man with wire-rimmed glasses and a thick laptop under his arm strode into the infirmary.

"Captain," Miller said, nodding to Forest before casting a wary glance at me.

"Access the central financial mainframe," Forest instructed, pointing to the desk. "Trace an offshore ghost account. 8492-B."

Miller set his laptop on the metal surface and connected a secure hard drive. His fingers flew across the keyboard. "Routing through the High Court servers. It is heavily encrypted, sir. Shadow Creek military-grade firewalls."

"Break it," Forest ordered.

"They are using a rotating cipher," Miller muttered, his eyes darting across lines of scrolling green code. "I need a backdoor."

"Try port 994," I said.

Miller paused and looked at Forest for permission. Forest gave a sharp nod.

"Port 994 is usually reserved for internal security feeds," Miller argued, typing the command anyway.

"Paxton leaves it open for his private communications," I explained, leaning forward. "He thinks he is smarter than the central guild."

The screen flashed green.

"We are in," Miller announced. "I need the beneficiary signature authorization to unseal the ledgers."

"Chloe," I said. "Check the name Chloe."

Miller typed the name. A progress bar appeared in the center of the screen, a bright red line creeping toward the right edge.

"Paxton is arrogant, but he isn't stupid," I told Forest, keeping my eyes glued to the loading bar. "He didn't put his own name on the illegal purchases. If the High Court ever audited him, he needed a fall guy. He used his mistress."

"If this account holds five million in contraband, the Alpha loses his rank," Forest said, his tone deadly serious. "And the mistress goes to a subterranean cell."

"That is exactly where they belong," I replied.

The progress bar hit 50%.

The silence in the room stretched, thick and suffocating. The only sound was the rapid clicking of Miller's keyboard and the steady beep of my heart monitor.

75%.

Forest rested his hands on the desk, leaning closer to the monitor.

100%.

The screen flashed white, then populated with hundreds of transaction logs.

Miller stepped back, pushing his glasses up his nose. "You were right. Five million dollars. All routed through shell companies in the Northern Territories."

Forest traced a finger down the lines of data. "Read the purchase orders."

"Fifty liters of concentrated wolfsbane," Miller read aloud, his voice dropping. "Five pure silver chest retractors. Ten sets of silver-infused cowhide restraints. Specialized surgical equipment."

"Scroll to the bottom," I instructed, my nails digging into the mattress. "Show him the authorization seal."

Miller scrolled past the final transaction. A digitized stamp glowed in the center of the screen. A stylized rose intertwined with a wolf's fang.

"Chloe's personal seal," I stated, staring at the symbol that had haunted my marriage for years. "Every single purchase was authorized by her."

Forest stared at the glowing red seal. He reached for the keyboard, his large hand hovering over the keys to download the evidence to a secure drive.

His fingers froze.

A jarring, high-pitched alarm shrieked from Miller's laptop. The transaction logs vanished, replaced by a solid black screen.

"What did you do?" Forest snapped, glaring at the auditor.

"Nothing!" Miller frantically tapped the trackpad. "It is a forced override. A global broadcast from the Shadow Creek internal network. They bypassed our firewalls."

The black screen flickered.

A live video feed sprang to life, pinning itself to the top of the High Court's secure channel.

The glaring white light from the laptop screen painted the sterile infirmary walls. Static cracked through the speakers before the image sharpened into a high-definition broadcast.

Arlo sat at the center of the Shadow Creek auditorium stage.

He wore a tailored black suit, the exact formal wear Paxton forced him into for pack funerals. A dozen microphones from mainstream media outlets crowded the podium in front of him. Camera flashes exploded in rapid succession, reflecting in his swollen, red-rimmed eyes.

"Volume up," Forest commanded, stepping away from the metal desk.

Miller tapped a key. Arlo's voice filled the room, trembling with perfectly rehearsed grief.

"My name is Arlo Hamilton," my fourteen-year-old son said, wiping a hand across his cheek. "And I am here to expose a monster."

I sat frozen on the edge of the hospital bed. The fresh stitches in my chest burned, but the pain paled against the icy dread pooling in my stomach.

Arlo reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a piece of dark, crinkled parchment and held it up for the cameras.

"This letter was found hidden beneath the floorboards of the old Luna's quarters," Arlo announced. His voice cracked. "It details a blood hex. A dark curse meant to drain the life from my true mother, Chloe."

True mother.

The words struck me like a physical blow.

Miller leaned closer to the screen, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses up his nose. "That parchment looks artificially aged. The crease lines are too sharp."

"The public does not care about crease lines," Forest replied, his tone flat. "Listen to the narrative."

"She is not just an arsonist," Arlo continued, staring directly into the center camera lens. "Elena is a Rogue. A dark practitioner. Three years ago, she burned the orphanage to hide her rituals. Now, she has seduced her way into the High Court, using Supreme Enforcer Hoffman to execute her final strike against my family."

Miller swore under his breath. His fingers flew across his secondary tablet. "Captain, the feed is syndicating. Every pack network across the continent is picking this up. They are overriding the local news channels."

"Let it play," Forest said. He crossed his arms, his falcon-like gaze fixed on the screen.

The camera angle on the broadcast shifted abruptly.

The pristine stage vanished, replaced by a chaotic scene in the Shadow Creek medical wing. Chloe lay thrashing on a transport stretcher.

She coughed violently. A thick splatter of dark red liquid stained her pale lips and dripped down her chin. Paramedics rushed around her, shouting medical codes and strapping oxygen masks to her face.

"Please," Chloe whispered weakly, pushing a paramedic's hand away to look at a nearby camera. "Do not let them hurt my boy. Elena can have my life, just spare Arlo."

The feed cut back to the auditorium.

Arlo slammed his fist onto the podium. "Look at what they did to her! The High Court is protecting a witch! They are complicit in this murder!"

Miller's secondary tablet began chiming with a relentless, high-pitched alert.

"Sir," Miller said, his voice tight with panic. "The central switchboard is lighting up. Six major clans just filed emergency petitions. They are calling for your immediate impeachment. They want a tribunal inquiry into your connection with the fugitive."

I stared at the boy on the screen.

This was the son I had rocked to sleep during thunderstorms. The boy I had taken silver lashes for when he trespassed on Alpha grounds at age ten. I had spent fourteen years pouring every ounce of my soul into protecting him from Paxton's cruelty.

He was gone. Paxton and Chloe had hollowed him out and filled him with their poison.

The final frayed thread of my maternal bond burned away, leaving nothing but cold ash in my chest.

I did not cry. The tears simply refused to form.

I clamped my jaw shut. I curled my fingers inward, digging my nails deep into my own palms. The flesh gave way under the sharp pressure.

Golden blood welled from the crescent-moon cuts. It dripped silently onto the stark white hospital bed, blooming into glowing, metallic stains against the cotton sheets.

"Turn it off," I said. My voice sounded entirely hollow, stripped of any recognizable warmth.

Miller hesitated, looking at Forest.

"Shut the feed down," Forest ordered. "Then get out. Lock down the external communications grid. Block all incoming clan petitions until I give the word."

Miller slammed the laptop shut, yanked the cables from the wall, and sprinted out the heavy steel door.

The sudden silence in the infirmary was deafening.

Forest turned to me. His expression remained an impenetrable mask of ice. He did not ask how I felt. He did not offer a single word of comfort.

He unbuttoned the top of his dark tactical coat and reached into the inner pocket.

He pulled out a single sheet of thick, official parchment bearing the gold seal of the Lycan High Court. He stepped forward and slapped the document onto the mattress, right next to my bleeding hands.

"What is this?" I asked, looking at the bold black text at the top.

"A Voluntary Relinquishment of Lycan Citizenship," Forest stated.

I looked up at him, my glowing blood still seeping into the sheets. "You want me to sign away my rights?"

"Public opinion is rioting," Forest said, his tone clipped and pragmatic. "Paxton played a perfect hand. He weaponized your own child to turn you into a continental threat. Half the territory is calling for my head."

"I did not write that curse letter," I shot back, pointing at the dead laptop. "You saw the financial records. You know Paxton is framing me."

"Knowing the truth and proving it to a mob are two very different things," Forest countered. He leaned over, planting both hands on the edge of the metal desk. "I cannot hold off the Grand Council. The petitions force their hand."

"So you are throwing me to the wolves."

"I am giving you an exit," Forest corrected, his voice dropping to a low rumble. "If you stay here, the Council will forcibly interrogate you in forty-eight hours. They will use chemical truth serums that will fry your nervous system. You will end up brain-dead before you ever see a courtroom."

I stared at the document. The blank signature line mocked me.

"If I sign this, I become a ghost," I said. "I lose my pack identity. I lose any legal protection."

"You also lose the Grand Council's jurisdiction," Forest pointed out.

He reached to his belt and unclipped a black tactical pen, tossing it onto the paper. It rolled and stopped against my knee.

"Are you going to run," Forest asked, sliding the document closer to my fingers, "or are you going to gamble your life?"

My hand hovered over the Voluntary Relinquishment document. The black tactical pen sat an inch from my bleeding fingers.

"Sign it," Forest urged, his voice a low, commanding rumble. "It is the only way to keep you out of the Grand Council's interrogation chairs."

"I refuse to become a ghost," I told him, meeting his icy stare. "I will not let Paxton erase my existence."

"You are currently a convicted felon with a bounty on your head," Forest countered, crossing his arms. "The crowd wants blood. You cannot fight an entire territory without a legal shield."

"A shield implies I plan on hiding."

I shoved the pen off the mattress. It clattered against the floor tiles, rolling under the metal desk.

"You are out of options, Elena," Forest warned. He stepped closer, towering over the bed. "Paxton has the media. He has the clan petitions. The High Court will strip your rank by morning."

"They cannot strip what they do not understand."

I ignored the parchment. My gaze locked onto the heavy, rune-carved iron block resting near Forest's elbow. The Enforcer's Bloodline Resonance Seal. The High Court used it to verify clan identities, track lineages, and formally execute rogues.

I lunged off the mattress. The fresh stitches in my chest screamed, but I pushed through the tearing pain.

"Step back," Forest ordered, his hand dropping to his belt.

I did not listen. I slammed my bleeding palm directly onto the center of the carved array.

"Stop!" Forest shouted, grabbing my shoulder. "The array will fry your nervous system if you are unregistered!"

He was too late.

Searing heat shot up my arm, bypassing my flesh and sinking straight into my bones. The ancient magic inside the seal violently reacted to my blood. The residual wolfsbane and paralyzing toxins Paxton had pumped into my veins boiled instantly.

"Let go of the seal!" Forest yelled, trying to pull me away.

"No."

My blood turned to liquid fire. The overhead fluorescent lights violently flickered, popping in a shower of bright white sparks. The air in the infirmary grew thick, heavy with the scent of ozone and burning metal.

"What did you do?" Forest demanded, shielding his eyes as the room grew blindingly bright.

"Washing away the poison," I ground out through clenched teeth.

High-purity golden energy erupted from my skin. The light surged down my arm, pouring directly into the desk. The solid steel frame groaned under the immense pressure. The thick wooden top splintered outward, instantly disintegrating into a cloud of fine gray dust.

The Resonance Seal dropped through the ruined desk and hit the floor with a heavy clang. It projected a massive, glowing crest onto the ceiling.

A crowned wolf surrounded by twin swords.

Forest froze. His pupils dilated rapidly, tracking the intricate lines of the glowing projection. The icy, unreadable mask he wore completely shattered.

"The Royal Totem," Forest whispered.

He stared at the ceiling, then turned his gaze to me. The golden aura still radiated from my skin, warming the freezing infirmary. The absolute authority Forest carried fell away. He dropped heavily to one knee, bowing his head toward the floor.

"The lost bloodline," he rasped, his broad shoulders trembling under his dark coat. "King Reign Hamilton. He searched his entire life for you."

"Stand up, Enforcer," I commanded. My voice no longer scraped against my throat. The toxins were gone. My vocal cords resonated with a deep, undeniable power that commanded the room.

"You are the pureblood Princess," Forest said, keeping his head bowed. "The true heir to the Lycan throne. We thought the lineage died twenty-two years ago."

"It survived," I told him. "And it is done hiding."

Before Forest could rise, the heavy steel door banged open, slamming against the wall.

Chief Medical Officer Calder rushed into the room, his face completely drained of color. He clutched a pulsing biometric scanner in his right hand, his eyes darting frantically around the destroyed room.

"Captain Hoffman!" Calder yelled, scanning the ruined desk and the glowing ceiling. "The energy surge from this room just blew out the entire wing's power grid! The backup generators are failing!"

"Lower your voice, Doctor," Forest snapped, rising to his feet. He positioned himself between Calder and me, a protective stance he had not shown before. "Scan her. Ensure the toxins are fully purged."

Calder aimed the scanner directly at me. The device shrieked, emitting a rapid series of high-pitched beeps.

"Your vitals," Calder stammered, staring at the digital readout. He tapped the screen, his hand shaking. "The wolfsbane is entirely gone. The golden blood cleared it out. But... the clearance just triggered something else."

"Explain," Forest ordered.

"There is a fetal heartbeat," Calder said, looking up at me with wide, terrified eyes. "A pup."

"Impossible," I fired back, crossing my arms over my chest. "I have been locked in the Shadow Creek dungeon for three years. Paxton never touched me during that time."

"The heavy wolfsbane dosing forced your body into stasis," Calder explained rapidly, holding the scanner out as proof. "It froze the gestation period. The pup went completely dormant to survive the poison in your system. But now... your awakening just brought it back."

I touched my stomach. The skin felt warm, vibrating with a strange, new energy.

"Whose child is it?" Forest asked, his hand resting on the hilt of his weapon. "Is it Paxton's?"

"It was," Calder answered, wiping sweat from his forehead. "But the energy signature I am reading is incredibly dominant. The mother's awakening just completely washed away the Alpha's inferior genes. The pup is overwriting its own DNA to match hers. This is a pure Royal Heir."

"Paxton's bloodline is erased?" I asked.

"Entirely," Calder confirmed. "The child belongs solely to the royal lineage now."

I looked down at my stomach.

A ring of brilliant golden light pulsed directly beneath the skin of my lower abdomen. The glowing lines twisted and locked together, forming a miniature Wolf King totem. The ancient symbol flared fiercely, casting a warm glow across the dark room, before sinking deep into my flesh and vanishing.

"A pureblood heir," Forest murmured, his eyes tracking the spot where the light disappeared. He looked at Calder, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "Seal the medical records. Wipe the scanner. No one outside this room hears about this pup."

"Understood, Captain," Calder said, hurriedly deleting the data from his device and backing toward the door. "I will scrub the servers."

A deafening crash shook the foundation of the building.

The floorboards vibrated under my bare feet. The blare of emergency sirens erupted from the courtyard outside, cutting through the storm and shattering the quiet of the infirmary.

"We have a breach!" Calder yelled over the noise, dropping his scanner.

A young messenger scrambled into the room, tripping over the threshold. He caught himself on the doorframe, his uniform soaked with rain and mud, his eyes wide with panic.

"Report, Enforcer!" the messenger shouted, gasping for air as he pointed down the hall. "Alpha Paxton personally brought a large batch of impeachment orders and clan guards, and he just smashed our iron gates open!"