Alessia POV:

The next morning, I didn't wake up. I was woken up.

My door was kicked open. Giuliana stood there, flanked by two pack warriors.

"Get up," she barked. "Family meeting. Father demands your presence."

I didn't fight. I put on my worn-out jeans and followed them.

They took me to the Alpha's office in the manor. My parents were there. Dante was there, pacing by the fireplace. And Chiara was there, weeping into a silk handkerchief.

"Sit," my father commanded.

I remained standing. "I prefer to stand. The chairs in this house are slippery with lies."

My father slammed his fist on the desk. "Enough of your insolence! We have a crisis."

"Chiara's spiritual core is destabilizing," my mother sobbed. "The doctor says she needs... grounding."

I looked at Dante. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"And what does that have to do with me?" I asked.

"To stabilize her," Dante said, his voice hollow, "I need to give her a Temporary Mark. An Alpha's bite will share my strength with her and heal the cracks in her core."

A mark. Even a temporary one was intimate. It was a claim.

"Go ahead," I said. "Why tell me?"

"Because," Dante said, finally looking at me. His eyes were tortured. "I cannot mark her while I am betrothed to you. The Pack Law forbids an Alpha from marking another while engaged."

Ah. There it was.

"You want me to break the engagement," I stated.

"It is for her life!" Chiara wailed. "I don't want to steal him, Alessia! I just want to live!"

"We drafted the papers," my father said, sliding a document across the desk. "Sign it. Annul the childhood engagement. You were never fit to be Luna anyway."

I looked at the paper. It was my freedom.

I picked up the pen.

"Wait," Chiara said. Her voice changed. It wasn't weak anymore. It was sharp.

She stood up and walked over to me. She picked up a silver letter opener from the desk.

"She needs to mean it," Chiara said, smiling cruelly. She pressed the silver tip against my throat. "Kneel, Alessia. Kneel and swear you give him to me. Submit to your betters."

The silver burned my skin.

Dante stepped forward. "Chiara, that's not necessary-"

"It is!" she screamed. "She hates me! If she doesn't submit, the annulment is void in the eyes of the Moon Goddess!"

Dante looked at me. He took a deep breath. The air in the room grew heavy.

"Alessia," Dante said. His voice echoed with power. It was the Alpha's Command. It was a sonic weapon that forced wolves to obey or suffer immense pain. *"Kneel."*

The command hit me like a physical wave. My knees should have buckled. My head should have bowed.

But nothing happened.

I stood there, blinking.

The Alpha's Command only works on wolves of lower rank.

I looked at Dante. He looked confused. He tried again, harder. *"I command you to kneel!"*

I smiled. It was a cold, terrifying smile.

"No," I said.

I grabbed the silver letter opener from Chiara's hand. The silver sizzled against my palm, but something snapped inside me. A dormant energy surged from my core, rushing to my fingertips. I felt the bones in my hand crack under the strain, then instantly knit back together, stronger than before.

*Snap.*

The metal blade broke in half.

"You want me to cancel the engagement?" I asked. "Fine."

I signed the paper with a flourish.

"But I don't kneel to liars," I said. I looked at Chiara. "And I certainly don't kneel to thieves."

I felt a surge of power in my chest. For a second, just a split second, my aura leaked out. It wasn't the weak gray aura of an Omega.

It was blinding white.

The pressure in the room reversed. My father gasped, clutching his chest. Dante took a step back, his wolf whimpering in confusion. Chiara fell to the floor, terrified by the sheer weight of my presence.

"What... what are you?" Dante whispered.

I pulled my aura back in. I wasn't ready to reveal the White Wolf yet. Not until I was safe in Dominica.

"I'm the mistake you're glad to get rid of," I said.

I threw the broken silver blade at Dante's feet.

"She's all yours, Alpha. Good luck."

*

Alessia POV:

I was back in the attic, shoving my few clothes into a duffel bag. My hands were shaking, not from fear, but from adrenaline.

The Alpha Command hadn't worked. That confirmed it. My White Wolf blood had fully awakened during the confrontation. I was stronger than Dante.

My phone rang. It was Dante.

I debated ignoring it, but I needed closure. I swiped answer.

"How did you do that?" Dante asked. He sounded breathless. "You resisted a direct Command."

"Maybe you're just a weak Alpha," I said, zipping up my bag.

"Don't play games, Alessia. There was... power in that room. Was it you?"

"Does it matter? You have your annulment. Go bite your girlfriend."

"It's not like that," he groaned. "I'm trying to save a life. The life of the woman who saved mine."

I stopped. I sat on the edge of the cot.

"Dante," I said softly. "Look at the scar on your left side. Where the silver entered."

"What about it?"

"It's shaped like a crescent moon. And look at Chiara's arm. Does she have the donor scar?"

Silence.

"She had it laser removed," Dante said, but he sounded uncertain.

"You can't laser remove a spiritual scar from a blood rite," I said. "Check her arm, Dante. Really check it. And then remember the song the girl hummed to you while you were bleeding out. It was *'Clair de Lune'*. Chiara hates classical music. She only listens to pop."

"Stop it," he warned. "You are just jealous."

"And tell me," I continued, my voice trembling with the weight of the secret I had kept for seven years. "Why would an Omega be locked in a maximum-security prison for a traffic accident? Think, Dante. Use that Alpha brain. Why did the security footage vanish? Why was the witness list sealed?"

"To protect you from-"

"To shut me up!" I screamed. "My parents drained me dry to save you, gave the credit to Chiara so she could be Luna, and then threw me in a hole so I couldn't tell you the truth! They didn't protect me from the enemy pack. They protected their lie from *you*!"

"That's insane," Dante whispered. "Parents wouldn't do that to their own child."

"They would if that child was an Omega disappointment and the other was a star."

"I don't believe you," he said. But his voice cracked.

"I know," I said. Tears finally spilled down my cheeks. "You never believed in me. You only believed in what was easy."

"Alessia, wait-"

"Goodbye, Dante."

I hung up.

Then, I did something permanent. I reached into my mind, found the thick, golden rope that was the Mate Bond, and I built a wall of brick and mortar around my end of it.

I blocked him.

For the first time in my life, the constant hum of his existence in the back of my mind went silent.

It was lonely. It was terrifying.

But it was peaceful.

I lay down on the cot. Tomorrow, the boat would leave. Tomorrow, Alessia Salinas would die, and the White Phoenix would begin to rise.

I closed my eyes, and for the first time in seven years, I didn't dream of silver bars. I dreamed of running.

*

Alessia POV:

The smell of stale fryer grease was starting to feel like perfume compared to the scent of the Salinas manor. I scrubbed the counter until the laminate started to peel.

The bell chimed. I didn't look up, expecting a trucker wanting coffee.

"You look like a servant," a voice sneered.

I froze. It was Giuliana. My sister. The Beta female who was supposed to be loyal, steadfast, and protective.

I looked up. She was wearing a designer silk blouse that cost more than Sal made in a month. She looked at the diner around her as if it were a contagious disease.

"I am a servant, Giuliana," I said, wringing out the rag. "I serve burgers. It is honest work. Unlike what you do."

"And what do I do?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"You serve lies."

She slammed her hand on the counter. "You are embarrassing the family! An Omega daughter of the Salinas bloodline, wiping tables for humans? Come home. Father is furious about the annulment."

"Tell Father he can take his fury and choke on it," I said calmly.

Sal stepped out from the kitchen. He was a big man, balding, with a stained apron. He didn't know about wolves, but he knew trouble.

"Is there a problem here, Alessia?" Sal asked, holding a heavy spatula.

Giuliana looked at him like he was an insect. "Stay out of this, human."

"She's leaving," I said to Sal. "Right now."

Giuliana glared at me, her wolf surfacing in her eyes-a flash of amber. But we were in public. The Council laws were strict about exposing our nature to humans.

"You will regret this," she hissed. "When you are starving and alone, don't come crawling back to the pack."

She turned on her heel and stormed out.

"Family?" Sal asked.

"Not anymore."

Sal sighed and reached into his apron pocket. He pulled out a thick envelope.

"I know you're leaving tonight," he said. "I heard you booking the ticket on the payphone. This is your pay. And a bonus."

I opened the envelope. It was five hundred dollars. Too much.

"Sal, I can't-"

"Take it, kid. You have good eyes. Sad, but good. Go find somewhere that makes them happy."

I took the money. It felt warmer than any hug my mother had ever given me.

My shift ended at dusk. The boat to Dominica didn't leave until midnight. I had time.

My feet carried me to the old park on the north side of the territory. It was a foolish destination. It was where Dante and I had played as pups. It was where we swore to be mates before we even knew what the word meant.

I walked through the rusted gates.

The smell hit me instantly.

Moonflowers.

Hundreds of them.

Someone had planted pots of blooming moonflowers all along the path to the old gazebo. Their scent was intoxicating, a sweet, night-blooming perfume that wolves use for courting rituals.

Soft music played from hidden speakers. A string quartet. *Clair de Lune*.

My heart stuttered.

Dante stood in the gazebo. He was dressed in a tuxedo, looking devastatingly handsome. The moonlight caught the sharp angles of his jaw.

He saw me. The relief on his face was so raw it almost knocked me over.

"Alessia," he breathed.

"What is this, Dante?" I asked, staying at the bottom of the steps.

"I remembered," he said, walking down toward me. "I remembered you liked the moonflowers. I had the florists empty their stock."

"You're supposed to be with Chiara."

"I don't want to be with Chiara!" he shouted, the Alpha volume making the leaves tremble. "My wolf wants *you*. My soul wants *you*. The bond... it's driving me insane, Alessia. I can't sleep. I can't eat. All I smell is you."

He reached for me. His hand hovered inches from my face. The electricity-the static charge of the Mate Bond-crackled between us. My skin hungered for his touch. My inner wolf scratched at the walls of my mind, begging to be let out.

"Then why?" I whispered. "Why did you choose her yesterday? Why did you choose her for seven years?"

"Duty," he said, his voice breaking. "An Alpha is nothing without honor. She saved my life. I owe her a debt. But... I can pay her off. I can give her money, property. I can make her comfortable. But I want *you* as my Luna."

He was so close. I could smell the rain and cedar on him. For a second, I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe that love could conquer seven years of torture.

Then, the wind changed.

A sickly sweet, rotting smell drifted over us.

"Dante?" a voice whimpered.

We both turned.

Chiara stood at the park entrance. She was wearing a white nightgown, looking like a ghost.

And she smelled like an Alpha.

It was fake. I could smell the chemicals beneath it-a synthetic pheromone spray sold on the black market to trick potential mates. But to a desperate, guilt-ridden male like Dante, whose senses were already dulled by the conflicting pheromones and stress, it was confusing.

"Chiara?" Dante looked between us.

"You promised," Chiara sobbed, collapsing onto the grass. "You promised you wouldn't leave me alone! The shadows... they're coming for me!"

She convulsed. It was a performance worthy of an Oscar.

Dante looked at me. His eyes were pleading. *Understand me,* they said. *Wait for me.*

"Go," I said. My voice was ice.

"Alessia, I just need to get her to the hospital-"

"Go."

He looked at me one last time, then turned and ran to Chiara. He scooped her up in his arms, cooing soft words of comfort, letting her fake tears soak his expensive tuxedo.

He didn't look back.

I stood alone among the moonflowers.

Something inside me snapped. It wasn't a bone. It was the last tether of hope.

My inner wolf stood up. She shook her fur. She was no longer a small, beaten creature. She was massive. She was blindingly white. And she was done.

I turned my back on the gazebo, on the flowers, on the man who claimed to be my other half.

I walked toward the harbor. The darkness swallowed me, but for the first time, I wasn't afraid of the dark. I was the light.

*