Debra's POV:

I burst into my room, slamming the door shut behind me, the sound echoing the turmoil in my chest. I collapsed onto my bed, the sobs I’d been holding back finally breaking free. Vicky followed me in moments later, her face pale, a makeshift bandage pressed to her forehead.

"Oh, my sweet girl," she whispered, sitting beside me and pulling me into a gentle hug.

I cried into her shoulder, my body shaking with a toxic mix of grief, rage, and humiliation. "He didn't even care, Vicky. He didn't even ask."

"I know, dear. I know." She stroked my hair, her touch the only comfort I had in the world.

After a few minutes, my sobs subsided into shuddering breaths. I pulled away and opened my clenched fist. The broken gems and the snapped chain lay in my palm, the sharp edges digging into my skin, leaving angry red marks. My mother’s last gift. Destroyed.

"She did it on purpose," I whispered, my voice raw. "She wanted to hurt me. She wanted to erase Mom."

Vicky’s eyes filled with a grim understanding. "Marley is not just a pretty face, Debra. She's ambitious and cruel. You must be careful."

Just as she spoke, the door was slammed open, making us both jump.

My father stood in the doorway, his face still dark with rage. He wasn't alone. Marley was behind him, peering into the room with a triumphant glint in her eyes.

"How dare you," my father began, his voice dangerously low. "How dare you cause such a spectacle and disrespect my Luna in front of our most important guest, Alpha Ezekiel of the Black Moon Pack."

So that was his name. Ezekiel. The name felt as powerful as his presence.

"She destroyed Mom's necklace!" I shot back, scrambling to my feet. "She had her servants attack us! Look at Vicky's head!"

My father’s gaze flickered to Vicky for a fraction of a second, but there was no sympathy in it. His eyes landed on the broken pieces in my hand, and he scoffed. "For a worthless piece of jewelry? You would embarrass this family for a trinket?"

The word "worthless" was a slap in the face. My breath hitched.

"It wasn't worthless to me," I whispered, my heart shattering into a million more pieces.

"Enough," he snapped. "Marley is your Luna now. You will show her the respect she is due, or you will face the consequences. I will not have my daughter acting like a spoiled, unruly pup."

Marley stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on my father’s arm. "Logan, dear, don't be so harsh," she said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "She's just emotional. It's a big day for all of us."

Her feigned kindness was more sickening than her open cruelty.

My father’s expression softened as he looked at her. He turned back to me, his face hard as stone. "You are confined to your rooms until I decide otherwise. Vicky will bring you your meals. Do not leave this wing. Is that understood?"

I stared at him, my own father, looking at me as if I were a stranger, a problem to be managed. Ivy was snarling in my head, a desperate, caged animal.

I said nothing. I just nodded, my throat too tight to speak.

He gave one last, disappointed look, then turned and left, pulling the door closed behind him. He hadn't once asked about my side of the story. He hadn't cared.

He had chosen her. And in doing so, he had abandoned me.

Debra's POV:

Two days passed in a blur of suffocating silence. I was a prisoner in my own home, the four walls of my room closing in on me. Vicky brought my meals, her face etched with worry, but we barely spoke. There was nothing to say. The truth of my situation was a heavy, unspoken weight between us.

On the third morning, there was a light knock on my door before it swung open. It wasn't Vicky.

It was Marley.

She glided in as if she owned the place, which, I supposed, she now did. She was dressed in a simple but elegant silk robe, her blonde hair falling in perfect waves over her shoulders. She looked rested, happy, and radiant. She looked like everything I wasn't.

"Good morning, stepdaughter," she said, her voice bright and cheerful. "I thought I'd come and see how you were settling in."

I remained silent, sitting on the edge of my bed and staring out the window.

"Still pouting?" she sighed dramatically, wandering around my room, her fingers trailing over my belongings. "You know, your father is very disappointed in you. He had such high hopes for us to be a real family."

Her words were laced with poison. Ivy growled low in my mind. *Lying bitch.*

Marley stopped in front of my mother's old vanity. "This whole wing is so… dated," she mused, picking up a silver-backed brush that had belonged to my mother. "Your mother's taste was rather plain, wasn't it? I'm thinking of redecorating. Something more modern. More… me."

My hands clenched into fists at my sides. "Get out," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

She turned to face me, a slow, malicious smile spreading across her lips. "Oh, I will. But I wanted to give you something to think about while you're cooped up in here."

She walked closer, her porcelain doll face turning ugly with her sneer. "Your father and I were talking last night. We agree that it's time you were mated. A girl your age, with your… temperament, needs a firm hand."

A cold dread washed over me.

"Perhaps to someone… older," she continued, her eyes gleaming. "More established. Alpha Gareth of the Stone Creek Pack, for example. He's a widower, looking for a new Luna to bear him some heirs. He's a bit rough around the edges, of course, but he would certainly teach a rebellious she-wolf some manners."

Alpha Gareth was sixty years old, notorious for his cruelty and for the mysterious deaths of his first two wives.

My blood ran cold. This wasn't just about humiliation anymore. This was a threat. She wanted to get rid of me, permanently.

"You wouldn't," I breathed, my voice trembling. "My father would never—"

"Your father," she interrupted, "wants peace. He wants a happy wife. And right now, you are the biggest obstacle to my happiness. Do you understand?"

*Let me out, Debra!* Ivy shrieked in my mind. *Let me tear that smug look off her face!*

But I was frozen, trapped by her words and the terrifying realization of my powerlessness.

She smiled, satisfied with my horrified reaction. "I'm so glad we had this little chat. You think about it."

With a final, triumphant glance, she turned and swept out of the room, leaving the door ajar. I was left shaking, the world tilting on its axis. She wasn't just trying to replace my mother. She was trying to destroy me.

Later that evening, Vicky snuck in with my dinner tray. She closed the door quietly behind her and rushed to my side.

"I heard her," Vicky whispered, her eyes wide with fear. "I heard her talking to her servant about Alpha Gareth. Debra, this is serious."

"I know," I choked out.

"We have to do something," she said, her voice urgent. She looked around nervously before leaning in closer.

"There might be… one small bit of good news," she said, her voice barely audible. "One of the kitchen staff who served the Alphas the other night… she said Alpha Ezekiel of the Black Moon Pack asked about you. He asked your name."

The memory of him—the storm-gray eyes, the scent of pine, the steadying grip of his hands—flashed in my mind. It was a tiny, flickering spark in an overwhelming darkness. But right now, it was all I had.

Debra's POV:

The spark of hope Vicky had given me was quickly extinguished by the crushing reality of the next few days. My father didn't come to see me. He sent no word. It was as if I had ceased to exist, an inconvenient memory locked away in a dusty corner of the pack house.

Marley, on the other hand, made her presence known. Workmen started arriving in the wing. The sound of hammering and furniture being moved echoed from down the hall. I knew, without having to see it, that she was making good on her promise. She was erasing every last trace of my mother. Each thud of the hammer felt like a blow against my own heart.

On the fifth day of my confinement, Vicky came in looking more agitated than I had ever seen her.

"He's here," she whispered, setting my lunch tray down with a clatter. "Alpha Gareth. Your father invited him for dinner tonight."

Panic seized me, cold and sharp. "Tonight?"

"They're in your father's study right now," she confirmed, wringing her hands. "Debra, your father… he's going to agree to it. I can feel it."

Ivy was pacing frantically in my mind, a caged wolf sensing the hunter's approach. *We have to get out of here. Now!*

"There's nowhere to go, Ivy," I thought back, despair washing over me. I was the daughter of an Alpha, but I had no power, no allies. To run would be to become a rogue, hunted and alone.

"I have to talk to him," I said, standing up. "He's my father. He has to listen to me."

"He won't see you," Vicky said, her voice full of pity. "He gave strict orders."

"I don't care," I retorted, a desperate fire igniting in my gut. I would not be sold off like cattle. I would not let Marley win.

I strode to the door and flung it open. The two guards my father had posted outside immediately moved to block my path.

"I need to see my father," I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Alpha's orders, miss. No one is to leave this room," the taller guard said, his face impassive.

"This is my life we're talking about!" I cried, my voice cracking. "Please!"

They didn't budge. They were loyal to their Alpha, not to his daughter.

Defeated, I slumped back into my room. The hours ticked by, each one a step closer to my doom. As the sun began to set, I heard footsteps approaching. My heart leaped, hoping it was my father coming to his senses.

But it was Marley who appeared in the doorway. She was dressed for dinner in a stunning crimson gown that made her look like a blood-red rose.

"Your father has requested your presence in the dining hall," she announced, a cruel smile playing on her lips. "Alpha Gareth is very eager to meet his potential bride."

She wanted me to be there. She wanted to watch me be paraded in front of that monster. She wanted to savor her victory.

A strange calmness settled over me. It was the calmness of someone with nothing left to lose.

"Alright," I said, my voice eerily flat.

Marley looked surprised for a moment, then her smile widened. "Excellent. Do try to make yourself presentable."

She left. I stood in the middle of my room, my mind racing. I wasn't going to be a lamb to the slaughter. If I was going down, I was going down fighting. I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was a mess, my eyes were shadowed, and I was still in the simple dress I'd been wearing for days.

Perfect.

I didn't bother to change. I didn't brush my hair. I walked out of my room, past the stunned guards, and headed for the dining hall. I was going to show Alpha Gareth exactly what kind of bride he was getting.