Gemma POV

The harsh morning light pierced through the gap in the heavy curtains, stabbing at my eyelids. I woke up suffocating.

A heavy, muscular arm was clamped securely around my waist, pinning my back against a rock-solid chest. Dallas. The overwhelming scent of cedarwood and a raging snowstorm invaded my lungs with every shallow breath I took. For any normal Mate, this scent would trigger *The Soul's Peace*, a comforting blanket of absolute safety.

But my body was actively rejecting the bond.

The Bond-Rejection Sickness twisted my stomach into violent, agonizing knots. The Alpha scent wasn't comforting; it was pure, suffocating poison seeping into my organs. A wave of intense nausea hit me so hard my vision blurred.

I shoved his heavy arm off me with a desperate gasp. I scrambled off the king-size bed, my legs trembling so violently I barely kept my balance. I practically crawled into the adjoining master bathroom, collapsing onto the freezing black marble floor. I gripped the edge of the toilet bowl just as my stomach violently emptied itself.

I heaved until there was nothing left, my frail body shaking with cold sweats, the icy marble offering no comfort to my feverish skin.

A massive shadow fell over me, blocking the bathroom light.

I looked up through tear-blurred eyes. Dallas stood in the doorway, a towering statue of pure, unadulterated rage. His ice-blue eyes were devoid of the fleeting conflict I’d seen last night. He looked at my trembling form, at the evidence of my sickness, and his jaw clenched so hard I heard his teeth grind.

He didn't see a dying Mate. His massive Alpha ego only saw a woman physically repulsed by his mere touch.

"Does my touch disgust you that much, *Mate*?" he spat, the word dripping with absolute venom.

He grabbed a plush towel from the rack and threw it at me. It hit my shivering shoulder and dropped to the floor.

*"Clean yourself up,"* his voice dropped into the terrifying, irresistible octave of an Alpha's Command. My inner wolf whimpered, forcing my head to bow against my will. "You will be ready for the alliance dinner tonight."

"Dallas, please," I rasped, clutching my burning stomach, tasting bile on my tongue. "I'm sick. I need to see the Pack Doctor."

He let out a dark, humorless laugh that echoed off the marble walls. "Still playing the dramatic victim. Listen to me very carefully, Gemma." He crouched down, his face inches from mine, his eyes cold enough to freeze my blood. "The Healer keeping your grandfather, Arthur Hart, breathing? The trust fund keeping your pathetic Pack afloat? I hold the final signature for both."

My breath hitched. The room started to spin.

"If you are not in my car by seven o'clock tonight, looking like the perfect Luna, I will cut it all off," Dallas whispered, his tone deadly serious. "And don't think for a second your traitor brother Clark can save you. He has no power here."

He stood up, his towering frame casting a long, dark shadow over my huddled body. Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode out of the suite, the heavy bedroom door slamming shut behind him.

I was left alone on the cold floor, the silence ringing in my ears.

He would actually do it. He would let my grandfather die just to keep me in line.

I pulled my aching body up, leaning heavily against the sink, and stared at my pale, hollow reflection in the mirror. The Pack Doctor was under Dallas's payroll; I couldn't trust anyone in this Pack House to tell me the truth about my failing body. If I wanted to survive this sickness, I had to find an outside human clinic today, far away from his watchful eyes.

I had to survive until seven o'clock. I had to play his twisted game just a little longer, until I could find a way to shatter this golden cage for good.

Gemma POV

The human clinic I visited that morning smelled of harsh bleach and sterile indifference. The human doctor had handed me a bottle of prescription painkillers with a grim warning that my vital signs were inexplicably fading. The pills were a temporary dam against a breaking flood, but they were the only reason I was currently sitting upright in Le Coucou.

The high-end French restaurant was a symphony of soft lighting, clinking crystal, and the rich scent of browned butter and expensive perfumes. I sat alone at a corner table, my hands wrapped around a glass of hot water with lemon, trying to soothe the violent, twisting agony in my stomach.

"Gemma! So sorry I'm late."

Aubree Shaw slid into the booth opposite me, a vision in designer silk, her sweet smile not quite reaching her calculating eyes. She didn't wait for my response before waving over a waiter. "We'll have the Grand Seafood Tower. And champagne."

"I can't eat seafood right now, Aubree," I said, my voice tight as another wave of nausea hit me. "I'm sick."

"Oh, don't be a spoilsport," she cooed, her eyes gleaming with malicious delight. "It's a celebration. Besides, I brought a surprise."

The air in the restaurant suddenly grew heavy. The overwhelming scent of cedarwood and a raging snowstorm hit my senses before I even saw him. Dallas. My inner wolf whimpered, shrinking back as the Bond-Rejection Sickness flared, burning through the human painkillers like paper.

Dallas pulled up a chair next to Aubree, his massive frame dwarfing the delicate furniture. He didn't look at me with concern; his ice-blue eyes were hard, assessing me like a disappointing asset. He truly believed my pale skin and trembling hands were just a pathetic, dramatic act for attention.

The waiter arrived, placing a massive, three-tiered silver tower of crushed ice, raw oysters, clams, and sashimi between us. The raw, briny smell hit my nose, and my stomach violently lurched. I pressed a hand to my mouth, swallowing down the bile.

"Eat," Dallas ordered, his voice a low rumble.

"Dallas, I can't," I gasped, my vision swimming. "The bond... my body is rejecting—"

*"Stop being so dramatic and eat, Gemma,"* his voice dropped into the terrifying, vibrating frequency of an Alpha's Command.

The command slammed into my chest, a physical weight forcing my jaw to tremble, demanding my submission. Aubree smirked, picking up a silver fork. She speared a raw, glistening oyster and held it out toward my mouth, her posture dripping with the triumph of a mistress parading her victory.

"Come on, Luna," Aubree mocked softly. "Prove to your Alpha you aren't just throwing a tantrum."

I looked at the oyster. I looked at Aubree's smug face. And then I looked at Dallas, the man the Moon Goddess had supposedly made for me, who was perfectly content to watch me be publicly humiliated and physically tortured just to feed his ego.

Something inside me—something fragile and desperate—finally snapped. The fear of his threats regarding my grandfather evaporated, replaced by a cold, absolute clarity. If I stayed, I would die.

I slowly reached into my designer handbag. My fingers bypassed the useless painkillers and closed around a folded piece of heavy parchment paper.

I pulled it out and slammed it directly onto the top tier of the seafood tower.

The paper landed on the crushed ice, right next to the oysters. The icy water immediately began to seep into the edges, but the bold, black ink remained perfectly legible.

Dallas's eyes dropped to the paper. His jaw went slack.

I stood up, my legs suddenly steady, fueled by pure, unadulterated adrenaline. I looked dead into his ice-blue eyes and spoke the sacred words loud enough for the surrounding tables to hear.

"I, Gemma Hart, reject you, Dallas Blackwood, as my mate."

A deafening silence fell over the restaurant. The invisible tether between our souls violently snapped, sending a shockwave of agonizing pain through my chest, but it was a pain of liberation.

Dallas let out a choked, guttural sound, his eyes wide with a mixture of absolute shock and rising, explosive fury. His inner wolf clawed at the surface, his canines elongating.

I didn't wait for his roar. I turned my gaze to Aubree, who was staring at the document in stunned silence.

"Have him sign it," I told her, my voice devoid of any emotion. "Consider it my birthday gift to him."

I turned on my heel and walked out of the restaurant. The sound of Dallas's furious, earth-shattering roar echoed behind me, rattling the crystal glasses, but I didn't look back. I had a narrow window before he came after me, and I needed to get to the Blackwood Global Tower immediately to erase the last piece of myself I had left in his empire.