The surveillance feed loaded at 11:47 PM.

I sat in Roland's command center, Mya asleep two floors above, and watched my mate walk another woman into our bedroom.

The security system Roland had installed years ago was invisible—woven into the pack house's existing infrastructure so seamlessly that even Jackson's paranoid sweeps never detected it. My father had insisted on it when I first moved to Silverfang. "Just in case," he'd said. I'd thought he was being overprotective.

Now I understood he'd been preparing me for exactly this.

The video quality was sharp enough to see Jackson's expression as he pulled Elisa against him. Sharp enough to catch the way his hand slid up her spine. Sharp enough to watch him kiss her in the doorway of the room where we'd conceived Mya.

The mate mark on my neck burned.

I felt his emotions through the bond—satisfaction, desire, relief. The relief was the worst part. He was relaxed with her in a way he'd never been with me. Like he'd finally stopped performing.

"Princess," Roland said quietly from behind me. "You don't have to watch this."

"Yes," I said. "I do."

Because this wasn't about torture. It was about evidence.

I hit record.

---

For three nights, I documented everything.

Jackson and Elisa in the Alpha suite, whispering plans between kisses. Georgina joining them on the second night, spreading territorial maps across the desk while Elisa sat on Jackson's lap. They discussed the anniversary run like it was a military operation. Routes. Timing. The exact location where I would "encounter rogues."

"The wolfsbane needs to be in her system before the attack," Georgina said, tapping the map. "That way the autopsy shows rogue toxins, not our compound."

Jackson nodded. "I'll add it to her water bottle during the pre-run ceremony. She always drinks before shifting."

Elisa laughed—a bright, careless sound. "And then I become Luna. Finally."

"Not just Luna," Georgina corrected. "You'll be the mother of the next Alpha. The heir with true Silverfang blood."

I saved the file. Added it to the archive. Pressed two fingers to my neck and breathed through the burning.

Roland watched the footage with me on the third night. His jaw tightened when Georgina detailed the autopsy cover-up. When Jackson kissed Elisa and promised her the Luna ceremony within the month, Roland looked away.

"How are you doing this?" he asked quietly.

"Because if I stop watching," I said, "I'll forget how much they deserve what's coming."

---

The invitation arrived on the fourth day.

It was formal. Cream-colored cardstock with gold lettering, delivered by courier to Roland's facility. Someone had tracked me here—probably Georgina's intelligence network—but the location didn't matter anymore. I'd already gotten what I needed.

*The Silverfang Pack cordially invites Luna Amanda to the Grand Pack Banquet celebrating eight years of Alpha Jackson's leadership and the continued strength of our territorial bonds.*

I read it twice. Showed it to Roland.

"It's the public rejection," he said immediately. "They're staging it as a formal event."

"I know." I pulled up the surveillance archive and found the conversation from two nights ago. Jackson and Georgina in his study, discussing logistics.

"Three hundred witnesses," Jackson had said. "Allied pack leaders, Council observers, our entire pack. I'll reject her in front of everyone, then mark Elisa immediately. Clean transition."

Georgina had smiled. "And two days later, the anniversary run. By the time anyone questions the timing, she'll be dead and you'll be grieving your rejected mate's tragic accident."

"Elegant," Jackson had said.

I closed the file and looked at Roland. "Contact Cassian Dray. Tell him the banquet is the trigger point. I want Lycan warriors positioned outside the venue. The moment Jackson's canines touch Elisa's neck, they move."

Roland nodded slowly. "You're going to attend."

"Of course I'm attending." I picked up the invitation. "I'm bringing a delegation."

---

I composed my response that night.

Short. Gracious. The perfect Luna's acceptance.

*Thank you for the kind invitation. I will attend with a small delegation, as befits a Luna's formal appearance at such an important pack event. I look forward to celebrating Silverfang's continued strength.*

I included no details about the delegation. No names. No numbers.

Georgina's response came within an hour.

*How lovely. We've reserved the Luna's table for you and your guests.*

I could feel her contempt through the formal language. She thought I was scrambling to preserve dignity. Bringing witnesses to my own humiliation because I was too proud to face it alone.

She had no idea the witnesses I was bringing answered to the Lycan Council.

I forwarded both messages to Cassian with a single line: *Confirmation of venue and timing. Proceed as planned.*

His response was immediate: *Warriors are ready. We'll be in position two hours before the ceremony.*

I sat back in my chair. The surveillance feed showed Jackson in his study, reviewing notes for his rejection speech. He looked calm. Confident. A man who'd planned every detail and anticipated every variable.

Except one.

He'd never considered that the quiet Luna he'd underestimated for eight years had been a princess all along.

I pulled up the final surveillance file—Jackson and Elisa in bed, his arm around her shoulders, whispering promises about their future.

"Just two more weeks," he said. "Then everything changes."

I saved the file. Added it to the archive.

Pressed two fingers to the mate mark that still burned on my neck.

"Yes," I whispered to the empty room. "Everything changes."

But not the way you think.

The mate bond was trying to kill me.

Not literally. Not the way Jackson's wolfsbane would. But the agony bleeding through the mark on my neck felt close enough.

I sat in Roland's command center three nights before the banquet and felt Jackson's excitement surge through the bond like a live wire. It hit me in waves—anticipation so sharp it made my stomach turn, satisfaction that tasted like metal in my mouth, desire for Elisa that burned across my skin like I was the one being touched.

I pressed two fingers to the mate mark. Breathed slowly. Counted to ten.

The Moon Goddess designed the mate bond to connect souls. To let partners feel each other's joy and pain. To make two wolves into one.

She never anticipated what it would feel like when one half was celebrating the other's murder.

"Princess," Roland said quietly from the doorway. "You need to rest."

"I can't." I kept my fingers pressed to my neck. The burning was constant now. "He's with her. Right now. I can feel—"

I stopped. Swallowed hard.

Roland's expression darkened. "You could sever it. Reject him through the bond before the banquet. End this."

"No." I pulled up another surveillance file, added it to the encrypted archive. "The moment I reject him, he'll know I'm coming. The bond is intelligence. Every emotion he leaks to me is information I can use."

"It's torture."

"Yes," I said. "It is."

But I'd endured eight years of Georgina's psychological warfare. I'd smiled through pack dinners while she catalogued my failures. I'd built an empire in the shadows while Jackson took credit.

I could endure three more days of feeling my mate's joy at my approaching death.

I had to.

---

The surveillance feed showed Jackson in the Alpha suite, Elisa curled against his chest. They were discussing the marking ceremony. Where he'd bite. What words he'd use. How quickly the bond would form.

"Will it hurt her?" Elisa asked. "When you mark me in front of her?"

Jackson laughed. "She'll feel it through our bond. Like I'm ripping her soul in half."

"Good," Elisa said.

I saved the file. My hands didn't shake.

The mate mark burned hotter. Jackson's satisfaction flooded through the link—he was imagining it, the moment his canines would pierce Elisa's neck while I watched. The moment he'd finally be free of the bond that had tied him to me.

I felt his relief like a physical weight lifting.

And underneath it, something else. Something that felt almost like regret, but smaller. Fainter. The kind of thing a man feels when he throws away something that was once useful but has outlived its purpose.

That was what I was to him now.

A used tool. Ready to be discarded.

I closed my eyes. Pressed both hands to the mark on my neck. And reminded myself that in three days, he would discover exactly what he'd thrown away.

---

I didn't sleep that night.

Or the next.

By the morning before the banquet, I'd been awake for forty-eight hours straight. Roland brought me coffee I didn't drink. Food I couldn't eat. He didn't lecture me. He just sat in the command center and watched me work.

I finalized the coordinates with Cassian Dray at dawn.

"Twelve warriors," he confirmed. "Full ceremonial armor. Silver chains. We'll be positioned in the tree line two hours before the ceremony begins."

"He'll try to mark her the moment he finishes the rejection speech," I said. "Don't wait for confirmation. The second his canines extend, you move."

"Understood, Princess."

I ended the call. Stared at the blank screen.

The mate mark burned steadily. Jackson was awake now. I could feel his emotions sharpening—focus, determination, anticipation. He was preparing for the banquet. Rehearsing his speech. Imagining the moment he'd stand before three hundred witnesses and reject the bond the Moon Goddess gave him.

I wondered if he'd practiced the words.

I wondered if he'd feel anything at all when he said them.

Probably not.

Men who plan murders don't waste time on sentiment.

---

That evening, I sat with Mya in the safe house bedroom.

She was asleep. Curled on her side, one hand tucked under her cheek. Eight years old. Innocent. Unaware that the family she'd grown up in was built on lies and theft and a crime that started the night she was placed in my arms.

I watched her breathe. Thought about the DNA test results locked in Roland's safe. Thought about Preston—my biological son, somewhere in hostile rogue territory, suffering while I'd raised another woman's pup as my own.

I should hate her.

Georgina had stolen my son and replaced him with this child. This stranger's pup. This living reminder of everything they'd taken from me.

But I didn't.

I loved her. Completely. Fiercely. In a way that had nothing to do with blood and everything to do with eight years of bedtime stories and scraped knees and the way she looked at me like I could fix anything.

She was mine.

Not because Georgina put her in my arms. But because I chose her. Every day. For eight years.

And I would choose her again. Tomorrow. And every day after.

Even when I found Preston. Even when I brought my son home.

Both of them would be mine.

I stood slowly. Crossed to the dresser. Opened the locked drawer.

The pressed moonflower sat inside, fragile and faded. A relic from the mating ceremony eight years ago. The night Jackson marked me. The night I believed the Moon Goddess had blessed us.

I picked it up. Held it in my palm.

I didn't know why I'd kept it. Sentiment, maybe. Or strategy—a reminder of what I was fighting for. What I'd lost. What I'd never really had.

I looked at it for a long moment.

Then I put it back in the drawer. Closed it. Locked it.

I wasn't ready to throw it away yet.

Maybe I never would be.

I pulled out my encrypted communicator. Sent one final message to Cassian: *Confirmed. Tomorrow night. Be ready.*

His response came immediately: *We're ready, Princess.*

I put the device away. Pressed two fingers to the mate mark on my neck. Felt Jackson's emotions bleeding through—excitement, triumph, desire for Elisa.

Three hundred witnesses tomorrow night.

Twelve Lycan warriors in the tree line.

Silver chains.

I closed my eyes. Breathed.

Tomorrow, everything would change.

---

I dressed in simple black the next evening.

No jewelry except the mate mark on my neck. No elaborate styling. Just a plain dress that made me look like exactly what Jackson expected—a broken Luna, scrambling to preserve dignity at her own public humiliation.

Mya wore a matching dress. She watched me with wide, worried eyes.

"Mom?" she said quietly. "Are you okay?"

I knelt in front of her. Smoothed her hair. "I'm fine, baby. We're just going to a party."

"You don't look like you're going to a party."

Smart girl.

I kissed her forehead. "Sometimes grown-ups have to do hard things. But I promise, everything will be okay."

She nodded slowly. Trusted me.

I stood. Took her hand.

Roland waited by the door. He looked at me for a long moment.

"Your father would be proud," he said quietly.

I pressed two fingers to my neck. Felt Jackson's mounting excitement through the bond.

"Let's go," I said.

We drove to the ceremonial hall in silence. The building was lit up like a festival. Cars lined the drive. Wolves in formal wear moved through the entrance.

Three hundred witnesses.

I parked. Helped Mya out. Took her hand.

The hall fell silent the moment I stepped through the door.

Every head turned. Every conversation stopped. I felt the weight of three hundred stares as I walked toward the Luna's table.

Jackson stood at the Alpha's position. His expression shifted from surprise to contempt in the space of a heartbeat. Beside him, Georgina's smile widened.

Elisa sat at the honored guest table, wearing a dress that looked suspiciously like Luna ceremony attire.

I took my seat. Mya beside me. No visible delegation. No guards.

Just a quiet Luna and her daughter.

Georgina leaned toward Jackson. Whispered something. He nodded.

They thought I'd come alone.

They thought I'd brought no one.

I pressed two fingers to the mate mark on my neck. Felt Jackson's triumph surge through the bond.

And in the tree line outside, twelve Lycan warriors in full ceremonial armor settled into position.

Waiting for my signal.