My body was still in enemy territory.

I knew the pack's laws: no body, no funeral.

I knew how Aiden would see it. He wouldn't believe I was dead.

To him, I was just his scorned warrior, sulking in a corner. Not until my second-in-command, Liam, finally slammed my body bag on the council table would he know the truth.

It would take a few days for Liam to bring my body back in one piece.

Maybe, just before the full moon, Aiden would finally know I was dead.

What would his face look like? Shock? Sadness?

Or... relief?

After all, without me in the way, he could finally dote on his precious Gianna.

I followed him down the familiar hallway.

Portraits of past Alphas lined the walls, with his hanging at the very end.

I won him the eastern mines. That victory forced the Elders to finally recognize the bastard son.

"Alpha," his aide greeted him with a respectful bow. "Will you be escorting Lady Gianna to her room personally?"

"Of course," Aiden nodded. "She's been through a trauma. She deserves the best care."

I let out a cold, silent laugh.

Two weeks ago, the Elders had been furious about this rescue mission.

"The Red Fang Pack are our mortal enemies!" Elder Elias had slammed his fist on the table. "Sending warriors into their heartland is a suicide mission!"

"Gianna is the daughter of the Creek Valley Alpha," Aiden had countered calmly. "We can't just leave her to die."

"Then send a diplomat to negotiate!" another Elder had roared. "Why must we use force?"

Aiden's eyes had found mine across the room.

For a moment, I thought he was asking for my opinion.

"Rhea is our strongest warrior," he said. "She can get Gianna back."

I remember feeling a surge of pride at his trust in me.

How ridiculous.

He just needed a powerful tool to retrieve his prize.

The elevator stopped at the top floor.

The Alpha’s den took up the entire level.

Floor-to-ceiling windows revealed a breathtaking, glittering cityscape.

I'd never set foot in here.

My place was a stark cell in the sub-basement. A warrior's due.

Gianna looked around in awe.

"It's so beautiful..." she breathed.

Aiden walked to a wall and pressed a switch. Hidden lights glowed to life, illuminating an entire wall of professionally shot photographs.

All of them were of Gianna.

Dancing under the moon, smiling in a field of flowers, gazing into a stream... each one a work of art.

"You... you did all this for me?" Gianna covered her mouth, her eyes filling with tears.

"Do you like it?" Aiden asked softly.

"I... I'm so moved..."

They embraced.

My soul shuddered.

He had been preparing this for her all along.

And me? Ten years of fighting and dying for him, and we didn't have a single picture together.

"Gianna," Aiden said, taking her hand and dropping to one knee. "At the next full moon," he said, his voice low and intense. "Be my mate, Gianna."

"Aiden..." Tears streamed down Gianna's face. "Yes."

The news spread like wildfire, and the pack was ecstatic.

The Elders called an emergency meeting that night.

"This is against protocol!" Elder Elias slammed his fist on the table, his face red with fury. "General Rhea is still missing! She risked her life for that girl! To hold a mating ceremony now… it will break the morale of every warrior we have!"

"Her father is the Alpha of Creek Valley," Aiden said from the head of the table. His voice was ice. "The alliance benefits this pack."

Other elders started to protest, but Aiden rose to his feet. "My decision is final. No one will stand in my way."

The elders exchanged nervous glances. They knew exactly how ruthless the bastard Alpha could be.

"What about… Rhea?" one asked timidly. "She's been gone for over a day. Shouldn't we send a search party?"

"She's my warrior, not a pup," Aiden cut him off. "She's probably sulking in some tavern, waiting for me to apologize. It doesn't matter. She'll be back."

As he spoke, his hand instinctively pressed against his chest. A strange tightness seemed to squeeze his heart.

I knew that feeling. It was his suppressed Alpha blood, protesting a decision that went against his very soul.

But my own heart had already shattered.

After the meeting, Aiden returned to his study, exhausted.

He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes.

Then, almost unconsciously, he spoke.

"Rhea..."

He only thought of me at times like this. Alone. Deep in the night. When his wolf was restless.

Only then did he remember the draught I made for him.

I watched the exhaustion etched on his face, and a bitter taste filled my mouth.

When the healers told him his wolf would never awaken, he shattered. He was hopeless.

So I went behind everyone's back. I journeyed to the Forbidden Forest to find the Moon Witch.

I traded half of my life force for a single, desperate chance: a potion to nurture his dormant wolf.

It wasn't just a calming draught. It was the hope of a cure, bought with my own life. A chance for him to one day become the Alpha he was born to be.

I still remember the shock in his eyes the first time he drank it, the way he felt a flicker of raw power surge through his veins for the first time.

His wolf wasn't awake, but for a moment, it wasn't completely dead.

He held me so tight, his voice trembling in my ear. "Rhea, only you… only you would do this for me."

The aid knocked, entering with a cup of tea. "Alpha, you should rest."

"Is Rhea back yet?" Aiden asked, rubbing his temples. His voice was raw.

The aid paused. "Not yet, Alpha. Lieutenant Liam's unit is on its way back, but there was no mention of the General's location in the comms."

Aiden's bloodshot eyes snapped open. His tone was sharp with absolute certainty. "She'll be back. She can't stay away from me. Now go prepare for the ceremony and stop bothering me with her drama."

The aid stared, stunned, before silently backing out of the room.

I just hovered there, frozen.

He's right. I took blades for him. I killed for him. I sacrificed my own life force for him.

After all that, of course he believed I would never leave.

---

Later that night, Aiden tossed and turned in his bed.

Gianna slept peacefully beside him, her breathing soft.

But he couldn't find sleep.

Flashes of a woman's back kept appearing in his mind.

A pair of cold, determined eyes.

A blood-stained silver blade.

He got up, threw on a robe, and began to wander the headquarters. His feet carried him, aimless, until he found himself in the sub-basement.

The warrior's quarters.

Damp, cramped, and smelling of antiseptic.

He stopped in front of a door.

The nameplate read: Rhea. Lead Warrior.

He heard a faint noise from inside.

Aiden frowned.

Who would be in Rhea's room this late?

He pushed the door open.

A young omega was inside, gently folding clothes.

When she saw Aiden, she gasped and fell to the floor.

"A-Alpha..." she stammered.

Aiden's eyes scanned the spartan room.

A bed. A simple desk.

Nothing else.

No decorations, no personal items, not a single trace of warmth.

It looked less like a home and more like a barracks cell.

His gaze fell on the omega.

Aiden asked casually, "What are you doing in here so late?"

The maid's voice shook. "Rheal… she can't stand strong smells, and the air in these apartments is stale. She suffered from terrible nightmares. I'd hear her calling out names… I just wanted to wash the smell of stale blood from her things before she returned…"

The color drained from Aiden's face.

This was the room he had assigned her. She never said a word about any of it.

He had no idea she was tormented every night. What names? Whose names?

"What names?" his voice was low and dangerous.

"Marcus, Vincent, and... and Kane..." The omega's voice grew quieter. "She also says 'I'm sorry,' over and over..."

I saw Aiden's hands begin to shake.

Marcus—the political rival he'd ordered me to assassinate three years ago.

Vincent—the pack traitor who threatened his position two years ago.

Kane—the former Beta who tried to overthrow him last year.

They were all obstacles he had personally ordered me to remove. Wolves I had personally killed.

He never knew about my nightmares.

He never knew the weight of the sins I carried for him.

"What else do you know?" Aiden advanced on the omega, his eyes flashing.

The omega was terrified. "I... I don't know anything else... I just wash her clothes and brew her calming tonic..."

She scrambled to get away, but her feet got tangled in a pile of clothes.

Clink.

Something small fell to the floor.

A wolf fang necklace, gleaming faintly in the dim light.

Aiden's eyes went wide.

It was the token he gave me when he secured his claim as Alpha.

Made from a fang he lost during his first shift, carved with the Silver Moon sigil.

It was supposed to represent his trust... his promise.

He knelt, his hand trembling as he reached for it.

The fang was still smooth, as if it held the last of my warmth.

"This is mine," Aiden snarled, his voice dangerously low. "Where did you get it? Did you steal it from her?!"

He lunged forward, grabbing the omega by her collar and yanking her up. His eyes were feral.

"No! No!" the omega sobbed, hysterical. "Rhea gave it to me! She... she said she didn't need it anymore..."

Aiden went rigid, his grip slackening as if the strength had been stolen from his body.

The omega crumpled to the floor, crying into her hands.

"She gave it to me the night she left... said it was a keepsake... I was going to give it back when she returned... I didn't steal it... She said she didn't need it anymore."

Didn't need it anymore.

The words were a blade twisting in his gut.

I watched his face drain of all color, a bitter storm brewing inside me.

I had worn that necklace for ten years.

I never took it off, not even to sleep or bathe.

It was the only thing he had ever given me.

The proof, I had thought, of his love.

But before I left on this last mission, I finally understood.

It was never a promise. It was a collar. A mark of ownership for his most loyal pet.

The Red Fang Pack had started countless border wars with us, and rumors said their Alpha was in league with a witch, all to absorb other packs.

They took Gianna to bait Aiden, and to eliminate his greatest threat: me.

Since I was about to die for him—for the woman he loved—the necklace was meaningless.

He wouldn't need his obedient pet anymore.

Aiden's hand shook as he picked up the necklace, clenching it in his fist.

"She... she really said that?" he rasped.

The omega nodded. "She also said... from now on, she was going to do what she wanted... and never live for anyone else again..."

Aiden staggered backward.

He stared at the fang in his hand, a hurricane gathering in his eyes.

Didn't need it?

The woman who would crawl back to him no matter how broken she was, the woman who treasured his slightest praise, had casually given his only gift to a maid?

It could only mean one thing.

A clean break.

Even if she came back alive, she had no intention of ever coming back to him.

No wonder she had someone spread the news of her death.

"Fine," Aiden laughed, a horrifying sound, twisted with the raw fury of betrayal. "Just fine."

He squeezed the fang so hard its sharp tip pierced his palm, and blood dripped between his fingers.

"Rhea," he snarled, his voice a guttural growl. "How dare you."