Kacie POV:

The sun was blinding when I woke up, still curled on the rug where I had fallen. My body ached, a deep, bone-weary soreness that came from the Wolf's Wither.

I heard the front door open downstairs.

I scrambled up, splashing cold water on my face to hide the puffiness. Maybe he had come back. Maybe he realized he was wrong.

I walked down the grand staircase of the Moon Estate. The house was modern, all glass and steel, designed to look like a fortress.

Cedric was in the living room. He looked disheveled, his shirt unbuttoned.

My nose twitched. It wasn't just whiskey. Clinging to his skin was the cloying, artificial scent of vanilla and overly sweet peaches.

Jayden.

He had spent his wedding night with her.

"You're back," I said, my voice hollow.

Cedric looked up, rubbing his temples. "Not now, Kacie. I have a headache."

"I want her transferred," I said, gripping the banister. "Jayden. She works as your personal executive officer. It's inappropriate. Transfer her to the logistics department."

Cedric laughed, a harsh bark. "You want me to demote the woman who saved my life because of your petty jealousy? You have no Luna's grace, Kacie. A true Luna puts the pack first."

"A true Alpha doesn't abandon his Mate on their wedding night!" I snapped.

Before he could respond, his phone buzzed. He looked at it, and his expression darkened.

"What did you do?" he growled.

"What?"

He turned the screen toward me. It was the pack's internal social media forum. A video was playing. Jayden, looking pale and fragile in a hospital bed, tears glistening in her eyes.

"I just... I don't want to cause trouble," Jayden sobbed in the video. "I know Kacie is the Luna now. But telling me I don't belong in the pack... telling me I should just go Rogue and die... it hurts so much."

My jaw dropped. "I never said that! I haven't spoken to her in days!"

"The pack is furious," Cedric said, his voice dropping an octave. His eyes began to glow a menacing gold. "They think their Luna is a tyrant bullying a hero."

"It's a lie, Cedric! Can't you smell the deception on her?"

"The only thing I smell is your jealousy," he roared.

Then, the air in the room changed. It became heavy, thick like molasses. Gravity seemed to increase tenfold.

"Get dressed," Cedric commanded.

His voice wasn't human. It was the Alpha Command. It bypassed my ears and resonated directly in my bones.

My body moved against my will. My legs marched me up the stairs. I tried to stop, to dig my heels into the carpet, but my muscles obeyed him, not me. Tears of humiliation sprang to my eyes. To use the Command on your own Mate was the ultimate sign of disrespect. It was used for criminals and enemies.

Ten minutes later, I was in the passenger seat of his car, my body frozen in place by his lingering order.

We arrived at the pack hospital. He dragged me by the arm, marching me past whispering nurses and glaring warriors.

We entered a VIP room. Jayden was lying there, looking perfectly fine, but the moment we entered, she let out a dramatic cough.

"Cedric," she whimpered. "Please, don't be mad at Kacie. I'm sure she didn't mean it."

Cedric softened instantly. The monster who had dragged me here vanished, replaced by a worried protector. He went to her side, brushing hair from her forehead.

"I will handle this, Jay," he murmured.

He turned to me, his face hardening again. He pulled out his phone and started a livestream on the official pack channel.

"Apologize," he commanded.

The weight crushed me again. My knees hit the cold linoleum floor with a sickening crack. My throat constricted. I tried to clamp my mouth shut, to bite my tongue, anything to keep the words in.

But the Alpha's will was absolute for a wolf of lower rank. Even a White Wolf, sealed and weakened as I was, couldn't fight a Prime Alpha directly.

"I..." My voice shook. "I apologize... Jayden."

"Louder," Cedric hissed. "Tell them you were wrong."

"I was wrong," I choked out, tears dripping off my chin, splashing onto the floor. "I am sorry for... for hurting you."

Jayden looked at the camera, then at me, a small, triumphant smirk playing on her lips that only I could see.

"I forgive you, Luna," she said sweetly. "We are family, after all."

Cedric ended the stream. He looked at me kneeling on the floor, broken and weeping. For a second, his hand twitched, as if he wanted to reach out. But then he looked at Jayden, and the impulse died.

I remained on the floor, staring at my knees. The countdown on my chest felt like it was searing through my skin, ticking away the seconds of a life I was beginning to hate.

Kacie POV:

The livestream had done its job. The entire Blood Moon Pack now saw me as the villain, the insecure Omega who bullied the pack's darling.

The next evening, we were summoned to the Moon ancestral estate for a family dinner. Cedric's parents, the former Alpha and Luna, lived there. They were traditionalists who valued bloodline above all else. To them, I was a nobody, an orphan with no known lineage.

Dinner was a torture session.

The dining room was dimly lit by chandeliers, the table set with heavy silver cutlery. Silver was dangerous to werewolves-it burned on contact and prevented healing-but high-ranking families used it to show their resilience and status. We wore gloves, of course, but the threat was always there.

Jayden was seated next to Cedric. I was seated opposite them, like an outsider.

"Jayden, dear, you look thin," Cedric's mother, Carol, cooed. "You need to eat more. The soup was made specially for you."

"Thank you, Luna Carol," Jayden beamed. She looked at Cedric. "Do you remember when we used to catch fish in the Forbidden Creek? You promised you'd always catch the biggest one for me."

Cedric smiled, a genuine, warm smile that I had never received. "I remember. You fell in the mud."

They laughed. It was a shared history, a bond of time that I couldn't compete with.

"Kacie," Carol said sharply, her tone changing instantly. "Pass the tureen. Don't just sit there."

I stood up, my legs trembling slightly. The Wolf's Wither was making me weaker by the day. My coordination was off. I reached for the heavy porcelain bowl of steaming fish soup.

As I walked around the table to serve Jayden-because apparently, the servants weren't enough-Jayden leaned back in her chair.

"You know," she whispered, low enough that only my enhanced hearing could catch it over the clatter of forks. "Cedric told his mother that once you produce an heir, he'll divorce you. He said he can't stand your scent. It smells like desperation."

My heart stopped. The bowl slipped from my numb fingers.

But Jayden was faster. With a subtle, vicious jerk of her elbow, she slammed her arm into the falling porcelain.

Crash!

Hot soup splattered everywhere.

"Ah!" Jayden wailed, clutching her forearm. Blood-bright red and alarming-welled up instantly where the shard had sliced her.

"Jayden!" Cedric roared. He was out of his chair in a blur of motion.

He shoved me aside. I stumbled, my hip hitting the heavy oak table hard.

"She burned me!" Jayden cried, burying her face in Cedric's chest. "And she tried to cut me with the shards!"

"I didn't!" I gasped, holding my bruised side. "She... she did it herself! It fell!"

"Enough!" Cedric's father, the old Alpha, slammed his fist on the table. "You clumsy, malicious girl!"

Cedric examined Jayden's arm. It was a superficial cut, but to a wolf, any injury was an insult. He turned to me, his eyes blazing with fury.

"You are unbelievable," he snarled. "You try to disfigure her in my parents' home?"

"Cedric, listen to me," I begged. "She whispered to me. She provoked me!"

"Lies!" Jayden sobbed. "I was just asking for some bread!"

Cedric scooped Jayden up into his arms, treating her like she was made of glass. "I'm taking her to the clinic. Mother, make sure she," he jerked his head at me, "doesn't leave this room until I decide her punishment."

He didn't look back. He carried another woman out of the room, leaving his wife standing in a puddle of soup, surrounded by hostile in-laws.

I looked down at my hands. They were shaking uncontrollably.

Serenity, I called out to my wolf. Are you there?

There was no answer. Just a faint, static fuzz in the back of my mind. My wolf was dying. She was giving up.

I looked at the grandfather clock in the corner.

26 Days.

Time was running like sand through my fingers, and I had nothing to show for it but bruises and soup stains.

Kacie POV:

I sat in the cold water of the shower, letting it run over the bruise on my hip. It wasn't healing. Normally, a werewolf would heal from a bruise in minutes. Mine was turning a dark, ugly purple.

I heard the front door slam. They were back.

I turned off the water, wrapped myself in a towel, and walked into the bedroom.

Cedric was there. But he wasn't alone. Jayden was standing in the middle of our bedroom, looking around with a critical eye.

"What is she doing here?" I asked, clutching the towel tighter.

"The doctor said Jayden needs constant monitoring tonight," Cedric said, not meeting my eyes. "The shock could trigger her heart condition."

"So she stays in the guest room," I said.

"The guest room is dusty. It aggravates her allergies," Jayden said, smirking.

"She will stay here," Cedric stated. "In the master bedroom."

"And where do I sleep?" I asked, my voice deadly quiet.

"There's a perfectly good sofa in the study," Cedric said.

Something inside me snapped. It wasn't a loud snap. It was the quiet sound of a tether finally breaking.

"No," I said.

Cedric looked at me, surprised. "What did you say?"

"I said no. This is my territory. This is my room. If you want to play nursemaid to your mistress, you do it somewhere else. Or better yet," I walked to the closet and pulled out a suitcase. "I'll leave."

"You aren't going anywhere," Cedric growled, stepping forward. "You are my Luna. You stay where I put you."

"I am not your Luna!" I screamed, throwing the suitcase onto the bed. "I am a prisoner! I am a punching bag! I am a broodmare!"

I pointed a shaking finger at Jayden. "And she? She reeks of Wolfsbane and deception. Can't you smell it, Cedric? Under that cheap perfume? She smells like a liar!"

Jayden's eyes went wide. She let out a gasp, clutching her chest. "Cedric... I can't breathe... she's scaring me..."

"Stop it, Kacie!" Cedric shouted.

"I want a divorce," I said. The words hung in the air, heavy and final. "I reject you, Cedric Moon."

The room went silent.

Rejection was painful. Even saying the words caused a sharp pain in my chest, like a hook tearing at my heart. Cedric flinched, his hand going to his chest.

"You don't mean that," he whispered.

"I do. I reject you as my Mate."

Jayden saw Cedric wavering. She knew she had to act. She let out a shriek and bolted for the balcony door.

"I can't take this! I'm causing too much trouble!" she cried, throwing the doors open and leaping off the second-story balcony into the night.

"Jayden!" Cedric yelled.

He looked at me, his eyes full of hate. "If anything happens to her in those woods... if the Rogues get her... I will never forgive you."

His body contorted. Bones cracked and reshaped. Fur sprouted from his skin. In seconds, a massive, midnight-black wolf stood where my husband had been. Shadow, his wolf, snarled at me, baring inch-long fangs.

Then, he leaped off the balcony, chasing after her.

I walked to the open doors. The night air was freezing. I watched the two shapes disappear into the dark forest line.

I looked up at the sky. The moon was a sliver of silver, indifferent to my pain.

I looked down at my chest. The rune was glowing brighter now, the heat uncomfortable.

22 Days.

"You can have him," I whispered to the empty night. "I don't have enough time left to fight for someone who doesn't want me."