Scarlett POV

The silence in the armored SUV was a living thing, coiling around my throat like a noose. Outside, the landscape blurred into streaks of gray and green as we tore down the highway, but inside, the air was so cold I could see my breath.

Kaelen sat like a statue beside me, his jaw clenched tight enough to snap bone. I pressed myself against the door, trying to make myself invisible, but his Alpha aura was suffocating—a heavy blanket of ozone and dark chocolate that made my inner wolf whine in submission.

Suddenly, Kaelen's body jerked.

His eyes, which had been fixed on the road ahead, glazed over as a Mind-Link hit him. I watched the color drain from his face, leaving him ashen. A low, guttural sound tore from his chest—half growl, half sob—that made the hair on my arms stand up.

"No," he whispered, the word cracking.

Before I could blink, he moved.

With the speed of a striking viper, he lunged across the leather seat. His hand slammed against the window beside my head, boxing me in. The scent of a thunderstorm exploded in the confined space, thick with panic and rage.

"What did you do?" he roared, his face inches from mine. His eyes were bleeding into pure black, his wolf surfacing. "How long did you make her wait, Fiona? How long did you let her suffer while you played your little games?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I cried, shrinking back. "Kaelen, please—"

He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look into the abyss of his fury. "My Beta just linked me. Genevieve... her heart is failing. She's slipping away." His voice dropped to a terrifying whisper, vibrating against my skin. "If she dies... you die with her. I swear it on the Moon Goddess herself. I will bury you at her feet."

I stopped breathing. The threat wasn't a bluff; it was a promise carved in stone.

The SUV screeched to a halt before I could respond. We had arrived.

Blackwood Manor loomed against the twilight sky like a beast crouching in the shadows. It was a fortress of dark stone and gothic spires, radiating power and ancient blood. Warriors lined the driveway, but Kaelen ignored them all. He dragged me out of the car, his grip bruising my arm, and hauled me up the stone steps.

We didn't stop for pleasantries. We ran through endless corridors adorned with portraits of scowling ancestors, the scent of antiseptic and decay growing stronger with every step.

Kaelen burst through a set of double mahogany doors.

The room was vast, smelling of lavender and impending death. In the center, beneath a canopy of heavy velvet, lay a woman who looked like a porcelain doll broken by time. Her silver hair was fanned out on the pillow, her skin translucent.

But it was the sound that froze the room.

A high-pitched, continuous drone.

Beeeeeeeeeeep.

The heart monitor showed a flat green line.

Kaelen stopped dead. His hand fell from my arm as he staggered forward, falling to his knees beside the bed. "Grandmother?" he choked out, reaching for her limp hand. "Nana?"

The Pack doctor, a gray-haired man with sorrow etched into his wrinkles, lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Alpha. She's gone."

The wail that ripped from Kaelen's throat was the sound of a soul shattering. It was raw, primal, and utterly devastating.

But not everyone shared his grief.

"Look at this," a cold voice sneered from the shadows.

A man stepped forward. He looked like Kaelen, but where Kaelen was rugged and imposing, this man was polished and sharp—like a knife hidden in a velvet sheath. Duncan Blackwell.

"Look what your weakness has brought upon this family, brother," Duncan said, his voice smooth and venomous. He didn't look at the dead woman; his eyes were fixed on Kaelen's bowed back. "Your inability to control your own Mate has killed our grandmother. You are unfit to lead."

Kaelen didn't move, his forehead resting against Genevieve's cold hand.

"That is enough, Duncan!"

Another man limped forward from the corner, leaning heavily on a cane. Ellison. His face was pale, his eyes kind but filled with pain. "She hasn't been cold for a minute, and you're already circling like a vulture? Have some respect."

"Respect?" A woman standing beside Duncan laughed. It was a harsh, brittle sound. Chastity Blackwell stepped into the light, her lip curled in disgust as she looked at the crippled brother. "And who are you to speak of Pack matters, Ellison? A broken wolf who can't even complete a full Shift."

Ellison flinched as if struck.

"You offer nothing but a drain on our resources," Chastity hissed, stepping closer to him, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor like gunshots. "Perhaps you wish for a share of the power too, now that you can't earn glory on the battlefield? Go sit in the corner, cripple. The adults are talking."

The cruelty in the room was suffocating. I looked at Kaelen, expecting him to rise, to defend his brother, to silence them with an Alpha Command. But he remained on his knees, broken by grief, deaf to the sharks circling him.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Duncan was making his move. If Kaelen fell, I would be the first casualty of the new regime.

I looked at the flatline on the monitor. Then I looked at the woman on the bed. My grandmother had taught me things—ancient things, dangerous things—before she passed. I wasn't just a florist. I was something the Pack doctors had forgotten existed.

I took a step forward. The air in the room shifted.

I had to do the impossible.

Scarlett POV

"Let me try," I said, my voice trembling but cutting through the heavy silence like a blade. "I can save her."

The words hung in the air, fragile and desperate. For a heartbeat, the only sound was the relentless, high-pitched drone of the heart monitor—a flatline that screamed death.

Chastity was the first to react. A sharp, incredulous laugh escaped her painted lips. "Did you hear that, Duncan? The Omega who killed our Luna now wants to play Healer? How utterly pathetic!" She stepped closer, her perfume cloying and sweet, masking the rot of her soul. "You think a few parlor tricks will save your skin, girl? You're delusional."

Duncan's face twisted into a mask of pure disgust. He didn't even look at me, addressing the room as if I were a stain on the carpet. "This is a desecration. Grandmother is gone, and this... creature is making a mockery of her passing." He gestured sharply to the two warriors standing by the door. "Get her out of my sight. Take her to the cells and end this farce."

The warriors moved instantly. Rough hands clamped onto my biceps, their grip bruising. I gasped, trying to dig my heels into the plush rug, but I was weak. My throat still throbbed where Kaelen had choked me earlier, and my energy was dangerously low.

"No! Please!" I cried out, looking frantically at Kaelen. He was still on his knees, his head bowed over Genevieve's hand, seemingly lost to the world. "Kaelen, I can bring her back! Just let me—"

One of the warriors yanked me backward, hard enough to make my neck snap.

Then, the air in the room changed.

It wasn't a sound. It was a pressure—a sudden, crushing weight that dropped the temperature by twenty degrees. The scent of ozone and dark chocolate, now burnt with fury, flooded the chamber.

Kaelen rose.

He didn't stand like a man; he uncoiled like a predator. A low, vibrating growl rumbled from his chest, deep enough to rattle the windows. The warriors holding me froze, their instincts screaming at them to submit.

"She is mine."

The Alpha Command slammed into us, a physical force that buckled the knees of everyone in the room. It wasn't a statement of affection; it was a declaration of possession, primal and terrifying. Kaelen turned, his eyes no longer human but pitch black, the beast fully in control.

"Touch her, and you die."

The warriors released me as if I were made of molten iron, scrambling back with heads lowered, baring their necks in submission. Even Duncan took a step back, his face paling as the sheer magnitude of his brother's power washed over him.

Kaelen stalked toward me. He stopped inches away, his chest heaving, his gaze burning into mine with a mixture of hatred and a confusing, desperate hunger. He looked like he wanted to tear my throat out, yet his hand hovered near my arm, trembling as if fighting the urge to pull me close.

"Save her," he snarled, the command vibrating in my bones. "Do it. Now."

I didn't waste a second. I rushed to the bedside, my hands shaking as I pulled the small velvet pouch from my pocket. I unrolled it on the nightstand, revealing a set of thin, black needles carved from obsidian.

A murmur of disbelief rippled through the room.

"Obsidian?" the Pack doctor scoffed, adjusting his glasses. "That's primitive witchcraft, not medicine. Alpha, you cannot let her—"

I ignored him. I had to. I placed my fingers on Genevieve's cold wrist, searching for the faint, dormant energy channels my grandmother had taught me to find. They were fading fast.

I took the first needle and drove it into the pressure point at the base of her throat.

Nothing happened. The monitor continued its flatline drone. Beeeeeeeeeeep.

My hands were shaking violently now. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving only exhaustion. I placed the second needle. The third. Sweat dripped down my forehead, stinging my eyes.

"Look at her hands," Duncan sneered, his confidence returning as the seconds ticked by. "She's trembling like a leaf. She has no idea what she's doing, Kaelen! She's just stalling for time!"

I gritted my teeth, sliding the seventh needle into Genevieve's chest. Still nothing.

"Brother, please," Ellison spoke up from the corner, his voice thick with grief. He leaned heavily on his cane, his eyes pleading. "Let Nana rest in peace. Don't let this girl torture her body any longer. It's cruel."

"It's over, Kaelen!" Duncan roared, stepping forward again. "She's a fraud! I will kill her myself!"

I held the final needle—the tenth one. It was the anchor. If this didn't work, I was dead. My vision blurred. The pressure in the room was suffocating.

"SILENCE!"

Kaelen's roar shattered the dissent. He didn't look at his family. His gaze was fixed on the flat green line, his jaw clenched so tight a muscle ticked in his cheek. He was betting everything on me—on the woman he hated.

I took a deep breath, channeling the last reserves of my strength, calling upon the White Wolf dormant within me. I drove the final needle into the center of Genevieve's sternum.

For a second, there was absolute silence. Even the air seemed to hold its breath.

Then, the monitor hiccuped.

Beep.

The sound was faint, but in the quiet room, it sounded like a gunshot.

Duncan's mouth fell open. Chastity gasped.

Beep... Beep... Beep.

The flat green line spiked, finding a rhythm. Weak, erratic, but undeniably alive. Color began to creep back into Genevieve's translucent cheeks.

I slumped against the bedframe, my knees giving out as the room spun. I looked up through my lashes to see Kaelen staring at the monitor, then at me. The black in his eyes was receding, replaced by a storm of gray that held shock, confusion, and something that looked terrifyingly like awe.

I had bought my life back. But as I looked at the resurrected woman and the Alpha who had claimed me as his, I knew the real danger was only just beginning.

Scarlett POV

The steady, rhythmic beep of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room, a mechanical lullaby that defied the heavy silence of death that had choked us moments ago.

"Impossible," the Pack doctor muttered, his stethoscope pressed against Genevieve's chest. He looked at me with wide, bewildered eyes. "Her vitals... they're stabilizing. It's a miracle."

I leaned heavily against the nightstand, my legs trembling like jelly. The White Wolf's energy had receded, leaving me hollowed out and aching. I quickly swept the obsidian needles back into their velvet pouch, hiding the evidence of my power.

"It's not a miracle," Chastity hissed, stepping out from behind Duncan. Her face was twisted in a snarl, her perfectly manicured nails digging into her palms. "It's witchcraft! I told you, Duncan! That Omega is practicing dark arts! She's probably cursed Genevieve to make herself look like a savior!"

"She's right," Duncan growled, his eyes narrowing at me. "No trained Healer uses rocks and needles. This is sorcery, Kaelen. She needs to be executed before she infects the whole Pack."

"It's an old remedy," I lied, my voice raspy but firm. I forced myself to meet Kaelen's intense, burning gaze. "From the Monroe Pack. The Omegas... we keep the old ways. Herbs, pressure points, energy flow. It's not magic. It's just... forgotten science."

It was a flimsy lie, but it was all I had.

Kaelen stared at me. The pitch-black darkness in his eyes had faded to a stormy gray, swirling with conflict. He looked at his grandmother, whose chest was now rising and falling rhythmically, and then back at me. His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his cheek.

"Enough," Kaelen's voice was low, but it carried the weight of an Alpha's finality. He didn't look at his brother or sister-in-law. "She saved her. That is all that matters."

"But Kaelen—" Chastity started.

"I said enough!" Kaelen roared, his aura flaring out and forcing everyone in the room to bow their heads. "Get out. All of you. Let the doctors work."

Duncan shot me one last look of pure venom before dragging a protesting Chastity out of the room. Ellison gave me a thoughtful, lingering glance before following them.

Soon, the room was empty, save for the unconscious woman, the Alpha, and me.

The silence stretched, thick with tension. Kaelen took a step toward me. The air around him smelled of rain and ozone—a scent that, despite my fear, made my inner wolf perk up in interest. He reached out, his large hand hovering near my face as if to brush a stray lock of hair from my sweaty forehead.

I flinched, stumbling back until my hips hit the dresser. "Don't."

Kaelen's hand froze. A flash of hurt crossed his eyes, quickly masked by his usual cold indifference. He dropped his hand.

"You saved her," he said, his voice devoid of the hatred that had been there an hour ago. "Why? After everything I did to you today."

"I didn't do it for you," I said, straightening my spine. "I did it for her. She didn't deserve to die because of your family's incompetence." I took a breath, seizing the moment. "I need my phone back. And we need to talk."

Kaelen studied me for a long moment, his gaze piercing. It felt like he was trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. Finally, he reached into his pocket and pulled out my cracked smartphone.

"You are to remain in the guest wing," he said, handing it to me. His fingers brushed mine, and a jolt of electricity—hot and undeniable—shot up my arm. We both jerked back as if burned.

He cleared his throat, stepping away. "Guards will escort you. Don't try to run, Fiona. The storm outside is nothing compared to what I will do if you leave these grounds."

The guest room was beautiful, a gilded cage of velvet and silk, but the windows were reinforced, and the door locked from the outside.

As soon as I was alone, I collapsed onto the bed and clutched the phone to my chest. I didn't dial. I didn't need to. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, pushing past the exhaustion, searching for the one tether I had left.

Burke?

The connection snapped into place instantly, frantic and overwhelming.

Scarlett! Oh, thank the Goddess! Burke's voice flooded my mind, thick with panic. Where are you? I've been trying to reach you for hours! I went to your apartment, but it was empty... I thought... I thought you were dead.

Tears pricked my eyes. I'm safe, Burke. Physically, at least.

I quickly explained everything—the kidnapping, the mistaken identity, the forced marriage to the Alpha of the Blackwood Pack. I left out the confusing sparks and the strange pull I felt toward Kaelen. That was just biology. It meant nothing.

Married? Burke's mental voice went cold with shock. He... did he touch you?

No, I reassured him quickly. It's just a piece of paper, Burke. A mistake. I'm going to fix it. I'm going to make him annul it.

Scarlett, listen to me, Burke urged. Meet me tomorrow. The cafe near the old train station. Noon. I'll get you out of there. We'll run away together, just like we planned.

I promise, I vowed, clutching the sheets. I'll get the annulment, and I'll come to you. I love you, Burke.

I love you too, Scarlett.

I severed the link, holding onto his promise like a lifeline. I would get my freedom back. I just had to survive Kaelen Blackwell for one more day.

Kaelen POV

The War Room was dark, lit only by the dying embers in the fireplace. I stood by the window, watching the storm rage outside, the rain lashing against the glass like bullets.

The door creaked open. Gideon, my Gamma, walked in. He looked like a man marching to his execution. He was soaked to the bone, mud splattered on his boots, and he held a thin file in his shaking hands.

"Report," I commanded, not turning around.

"Alpha..." Gideon's voice cracked. He swallowed hard and dropped to one knee. "We... we made a mistake."

I turned slowly. "What kind of mistake?"

"The woman," Gideon whispered, staring at the floor. "The one we took from the apartment. The one you... married."

"Speak, Gideon!"

"She is not Fiona Lawrence."

The world seemed to stop. The roar of the thunder faded into a dull buzz. I walked over to the desk and snatched the file from his hands. I flipped it open.

There was a photo clipped to the top. It was her. The same defiant green eyes, the same delicate features. But the name printed next to it wasn't Fiona Lawrence.

Name: Scarlett Monroe.

Rank: Omega.

Pack: Monroe Pack.

"She has a twin sister," Gideon explained hurriedly, his voice trembling. "Fiona Lawrence was adopted out at birth. Scarlett was kept by the Monroes. They look identical, but... we grabbed the wrong one."

I stared at the file, my blood running cold.

I had kidnapped an innocent woman. I had threatened her, choked her, and forced her into a marriage to pay for sins she didn't commit.

And yet... she had saved my grandmother. She had looked me in the eye and defied an Alpha Command. And when I touched her, my wolf had roared Mine.

I looked down at the marriage license sitting on my desk. The ink was still fresh.

"Leave me," I ordered, my voice dangerously quiet.

Gideon scrambled out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I traced the name on the file. Scarlett.

I had married the wrong woman. But as the memory of her scent—rain and wild lilies—filled my senses, I realized with a terrifying certainty that the Moon Goddess didn't make mistakes.

I had the wrong bride, but I might have just found my mate.