Scarlett POV

"Negotiate," I repeated, the word tasting like ash in my mouth. I forced my spine to remain rigid against the back of the chair, refusing to let him see how my hands trembled beneath the table.

I slid the Annulment Agreement closer to him, tapping the clause I had highlighted. "It's simple math, Alpha Blackwell. Under human law, which governs our marriage license, all assets acquired during the union are community property." I took a breath, steeling myself. "According to the Financial Times, Blackwell Industries closed a merger yesterday worth two billion dollars. Your personal take was estimated at one billion."

Gideon, the Gamma, stepped forward, his face twisting into a snarl. "You insolent little—"

"Silence," Kaelen commanded. He didn't look at his Gamma. His gaze was fixed on me, heavy and unblinking.

"I want half," I stated, my voice ringing clearly in the cavernous room. "Five hundred million dollars. Transfer it, sign the papers, and I disappear."

Liam, the Beta, looked as if he might choke. "Alpha, this is extortion. She is an Omega. She has no right—"

"She has every right," Kaelen interrupted, his voice terrifyingly calm. He gestured to Liam. "Pull up the accounts."

"Sir?" Liam blinked, stunned.

"Do it."

The Beta scrambled to pull out a tablet, his fingers flying across the screen. He turned it toward Kaelen, displaying a string of zeros that would make most nations weep. Kaelen didn't even glance at it. He kept his eyes on mine, searching for something I couldn't name.

"You are correct," Kaelen said softly. "The sum is yours."

The air left the room. Gideon's jaw dropped. I stared at Kaelen, my heart skipping a beat. He agreed? Just like that? Five hundred million dollars, handed over as if it were pocket change?

"Transfer the funds," Kaelen ordered Liam.

"But Alpha—"

"Now." The command rolled off him like a shockwave. Liam flinched and tapped the screen. A moment later, the tablet chimed.

Kaelen leaned forward, resting his elbows on the mahogany table. "The money is in your account, Scarlett. You are now one of the wealthiest women in the country."

I felt dizzy. I had expected a fight. I had expected threats. I didn't know how to handle this... surrender. "Then sign the annulment," I whispered, pushing the pen toward him.

Kaelen looked at the pen, then back at me. He didn't pick it up.

"My grandmother," he said, his voice dropping an octave, becoming smoother, darker. "She is awake because of you. But she is frail. She believes I have finally found my Luna. If I tell her you have left... it could kill her."

I frowned. "That is not my problem."

"I will make it your problem," he countered, not with a threat, but with a lure. "A new deal. Don't annul the marriage yet. Stay. Play the role of my doting wife until she recovers."

I started to shake my head, panic rising in my throat. "No. I can't—"

"For every day you remain my wife," Kaelen interrupted, his gray eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my skin burn, "half of everything I earn is yours. No questions asked. Yesterday was a billion. Tomorrow might be more."

Gideon made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. It was an offer that could buy kingdoms. It was a golden cage, gilded with enough wealth to silence any protest. He was trying to buy me. He thought I was like the others—that money could purchase my time, my presence, my submission.

But he didn't know about the promise I kept in my heart. He didn't know about the man waiting for me at the train station, the man who had loved me when I was nothing but a servant.

I stood up, my legs shaking but holding my weight. I looked at the check, then at the man who was arguably the most powerful Alpha in the world.

"I can't," I said, my voice clear and cold. "I appreciate the offer, Alpha Blackwell, but I must refuse."

Kaelen's eyes narrowed. The playful amusement vanished, replaced by a sharp, predatory focus. "You refuse? Do you think the price is too low?"

"It's not about the price," I said, clutching the edge of the table. "I have a Mate."

The silence that followed was absolute. It was the silence of a vacuum, sucking the oxygen out of the room.

Kaelen went perfectly still. Even the fire seemed to stop crackling.

"I gave him my word," I continued, desperate to make him understand, to make him sign the paper so I could leave. "We are to be Marked tomorrow. I need the annulment finalized by noon, so I can catch the train to meet him."

A low, vibrating sound began to emanate from Kaelen's chest. It wasn't human. It was a growl, deep and resonant, like tectonic plates grinding together before an earthquake.

His gray eyes bled into a feral, glowing gold. The air in the room grew heavy, saturated with the scent of ozone and burning rain. Gideon and Liam stepped back, their instincts screaming at them to flee.

Kaelen stood up slowly. He didn't look like a CEO anymore. He looked like a monster wearing a man's skin, his control snapping like a dry twig.

"You have... a Mate?" he whispered, the words sounding torn from his throat.

"Yes," I said, though my voice trembled. "And I intend to keep my promise to him."

Kaelen's hand slammed onto the table, cracking the thick mahogany right down the center. The sound was like a gunshot.

"No," he snarled, the human mask slipping completely. "You do not."

Scarlett POV

The mahogany table split under his hand, a jagged crack running through the wood like a lightning bolt. Splinters flew, but Kaelen didn't flinch. He didn't even blink.

"You do not," he snarled again, the sound vibrating in my chest cavity.

The air in the room grew so heavy it felt like gravity had doubled. Gideon and Liam were already backing away, their heads bowed, their wolves submitting to the sheer, suffocating force of their Alpha's rage.

But I didn't bow.

"You will not leave this room," Kaelen commanded, his voice layering over itself—man and beast speaking as one. The gold in his eyes swirled like molten coins. "You will not go to him. You belong to ME."

The Alpha Command hit me like a physical blow. It was a compulsion designed to crush the will of any wolf lower in the hierarchy, forcing them to their knees. My knees buckled, trembling violently, but a strange, cool heat surged through my veins—a silver defiance that felt ancient and unyielding.

I grabbed the edge of the broken table, forcing myself to stand upright. I met his glowing gaze, my breath coming in shallow gasps.

"I... do not," I gritted out, fighting the crushing weight of his aura. "I belong to myself."

Kaelen froze. The shock on his face was fleeting, quickly replaced by a darker, more calculated intensity. He had expected me to collapse. The fact that I hadn't seemed to snap him out of his feral state, if only slightly.

The golden glow in his eyes receded, leaving behind the stormy gray of a winter sea. He straightened his suit jacket, though the savage energy still crackled around him like static electricity.

"Fine," he said, his voice dangerously low. "Force won't keep you. But perhaps a deal will."

He reached into his inner pocket, pulled out a fountain pen, and dragged the Annulment Agreement toward him over the splintered wood. With a sharp, aggressive motion, he signed his name at the bottom.

My heart leaped. He was letting me go?

He pushed the document and the check toward me, but before I could touch them, his hand slammed down on top of the papers, pinning them to the table.

"It's yours," he rasped, leaning in until I could smell the scent of rain and cedar that made my head spin. "On one condition. Stay the night. In the morning, you will greet my grandmother as my Luna. You will smile, you will hold my hand, and you will let her believe her family is whole."

"And then?" I whispered, eyeing the papers beneath his large hand.

"After that, you are free to go. If you refuse, this contract is void, and I swear on the Moon Goddess, you will never leave this estate. I will lock you in the tower if I have to."

I looked at the check—five hundred million dollars. Enough to start a new life with Burke. Enough to be safe.

"Twelve hours," I said, my voice hollow. "I'll give you twelve hours."

The guest room they gave me was larger than the entire apartment I shared with my father. It was a gilded cage, draped in silk and velvet.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the moon outside. My leg throbbed. I pulled up the hem of my dress to inspect the scratch I'd gotten from the Moonpetal thorns while harvesting herbs for Genevieve's cure. The dried blood was dark against my pale skin.

A knock at the door made me jump.

A young maid entered, her head lowered, carrying a silver tray with a small, discreetly wrapped package.

"From the Alpha, miss," she squeaked, setting it on the nightstand before scurrying out as if the room were on fire.

Frowning, I tore open the paper.

A box of tampons.

My face burned. Heat rushed to my cheeks, followed instantly by a wave of indignation. He had seen the blood on my leg during our confrontation. He thought...

"Pervert," I hissed, throwing the box into the trash. "He was looking between my legs."

He was watching me that closely. The thought made my skin prickle, not with fear, but with something far more confusing that I refused to name. I scrubbed the dried blood off my thigh in the bathroom, scrubbing until my skin was raw, trying to wash away the feeling of his golden eyes on me.

The next morning, the Grand Hall was flooded with sunlight. It smelled of beeswax and the thousands of white Moon roses that had been brought in overnight.

I descended the staircase, my hand gripping the banister. I was wearing a dress the maids had laid out—a soft, cream-colored thing that made me look far more innocent than I felt.

Genevieve Blackwell stood in the center of the hall, directing the servants. She looked frail but radiant, her silver hair caught in a loose bun. When she saw me, her face lit up with a joy so pure it made my stomach twist with guilt.

"My child!" She opened her arms wide. "The Goddess has truly blessed my grandson."

I forced a smile, stepping into her embrace. "Good morning, Genevieve."

She held me tight, her scent like dried lavender and old parchment. For a second, I felt safe. But then, her body went rigid against mine.

The warmth evaporated from the room.

Genevieve pulled back sharply, her hands gripping my shoulders with surprising strength. The joy in her eyes had vanished, replaced by a cold, terrifying clarity. Her nostrils flared, inhaling deeply, searching my scent.

"You..." she breathed, her voice trembling not with age, but with fury.

Kaelen stepped forward from the shadows of the hallway, his expression guarded. "Grandmother?"

Genevieve didn't look at him. Her gaze was locked on mine, piercing through my lies, through the contract, straight into the secret I was harboring.

"You are his Mate," she said, her voice ringing through the silent hall like a judge's gavel. "But you carry the soul of a traitor."

I froze, the blood draining from my face.

"You intend to leave him," she accused, her eyes narrowing into slits. "You are not worthy to be his Luna."