Azalea POV:

My hands didn't start shaking until I was in the car.

I gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. The pain in my chest was excruciating.

It wasn't a heart attack. It was the Mate Bond screaming.

Even though Caleb was a traitorous coward, my soul still recognized him as Mate. Leaving him felt like tearing my own skin off, strip by strip.

My phone buzzed on the passenger seat.

Caleb: You are making a huge mistake. Come back now before you embarrass yourself further.

I ignored it. I merged onto the highway, the city lights blurring into streaks of neon blood.

Another buzz.

Caleb: Kimberly thinks you're having a breakdown. She's right. I've called the Pack doctors. They are waiting for you at the Sanctuary. Go there. Now.

I let out a bitter, choked laugh.

The Sanctuary. It sounded peaceful, but it was a prison. It was the mental ward where they locked up "defective" wolves who went feral.

If I went there, he would have power of attorney. He would take my shares, my land, my money. He would declare me incompetent.

He wasn't just cheating. He was planning a coup.

My vision blurred with tears. The pain in my gut twisted, a visceral cramping that made me gasp for air.

I needed an anchor.

I dialed the one number I knew by heart.

"Azalea?" The voice on the other end was sharp, alert.

"Azura," I choked out. "I... I left him."

"Where are you?" Azura didn't ask why. She didn't ask for details. She was a high-ranking Beta, a warrior born and bred. Her instinct was to protect.

"I'm on the I-95. Heading north. I don't know where to go."

"Come to my apartment. I'm already putting the kettle on. And Azalea?"

"Yes?"

"If he follows you, I will rip his throat out."

I hung up. The threat gave me a tiny sliver of comfort.

Another text came through. This one wasn't from Caleb.

Kimberly: Don't forget your medication, sweetie. You know how you get when you're hysterical. I'll take good care of the Pack while you recover.

I stared at the screen. The audacity. The sheer, venomous confidence.

My thumb hovered over the screen.

Reply: Don't.

Then, I blocked her. I blocked Caleb. I blocked the house landline.

I pulled up to Azura's building twenty minutes later. The moment I stepped out of the car, the night air hit me. It smelled of exhaust and freedom.

Azura was waiting in the lobby. She was tall, with muscles that rippled under her tank top. When she saw me, her face softened.

She opened her arms, and I collapsed into them.

She smelled like sage and earth-a grounding, stable scent. It silenced the chaotic noise in my head.

"I've got you," she whispered, stroking my hair. "You're safe."

We went upstairs. She sat me down and shoved a mug of hot tea into my hands.

"He wants to commit me," I said, my voice hollow. "He wants to say I'm crazy so he can keep the inheritance."

Azura's eyes darkened. She bared her teeth, her canines extending slightly. "Over my dead body."

She pulled out her tablet. "I've already messaged Elder Thomas. He knows the law better than anyone. If Caleb wants a war, we'll give him a war."

I looked out the window. From here, I could see the distant lights of the Nexus Tower. It looked like a jagged tooth biting into the sky.

"I don't just want a divorce, Azura," I whispered.

The pain in my chest was changing. It was hardening. The grief was crystallizing into something sharp and cold.

"What do you want?" she asked.

I touched the empty spot on my neck where a Mate Mark should have been. Caleb had never marked me. He said he was waiting for me to Shift, but now I knew the truth. He was ashamed of me.

"I want to burn it down," I said. "I want him to lose everything he built on my back."

Azura grinned. It was a terrifying, beautiful sight.

"Good," she said. "Let's get to work."

Azalea POV:

I stayed at Azura's for two days.

I avoided the news, but I couldn't avoid the internet.

On the second morning, Azura cursed loudly from the kitchen.

"What?" I asked, walking in.

She tried to hide her phone, but I snatched it.

It was Instagram. Kimberly's account.

The photo showed her lounging on a chaise lounge-my chaise lounge, in my sunroom. She was holding a glass of champagne.

But that wasn't what made my blood boil.

On the table next to her lay the Moonstone Scepter. It was a ceremonial artifact, passed down through the female line of my family for six generations. It wasn't a toy. It was sacred.

The caption read: Heavy lies the crown, but someone has to wear it. LunaDuties StepUp

"She's touching it," I whispered. A low growl vibrated in my throat. I didn't even know I could make that sound.

"Azalea, don't," Azura warned. "They want you to react."

"I need to go back," I said, turning to the door. "I need to get my mother's things. The necklace. The scepter. Before she defiles them."

"I'm coming with you."

"No. If you come, Caleb will see it as an act of aggression from the Beta line. He'll use it to strip your rank. I have to go alone. Technically, I'm still his wife. I have the right to enter."

I drove back to the penthouse. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.

The elevator ride felt like an eternity. When the doors opened, the stench hit me again.

Cheap vanilla. Musk. And something else-stale sex.

I gagged. This place, which used to smell of lavender and cedar, now smelled like a brothel.

I marched straight to the master bedroom.

Kimberly was there. She was standing in front of my vanity mirror, wearing my silk robe. The one Caleb gave me for our first anniversary.

She saw me in the reflection and spun around.

"You have some nerve coming back here," she spat.

"Where is it?" I demanded. "Where is the Moonstone necklace?"

"Oh, that old thing?" Kimberly waved a hand dismissively. "It was tacky. Doesn't fit the modern aesthetic we're going for."

I stepped forward, invading her personal space. "Give it to me."

She smirked and reached into the pocket of the robe. She pulled out the silver chain.

It was snapped in two. The glowing, milky stone in the center was cracked down the middle.

"Oops," she said, her eyes gleaming with malice. "I tried it on, but the energy was... weird. It just popped. I guess even the jewelry knows you're a reject."

Time stopped.

That necklace held the last lingering scent of my mother. It was supposed to protect my future children.

"You broke it," I whispered.

"Caleb said he'd buy me a diamond one. Bigger. Better."

Something inside me snapped.

Deeper than my heart, deeper than my bones.

A dark, primal pressure expanded in my chest. My vision went red around the edges.

Kill her.

The voice in my head wasn't mine. It was guttural. Ancient.

I saw the heavy crystal vase on the vanity. Kimberly was too busy admiring herself, too confident that a human couldn't touch a shifter.

I grabbed the vase and swung.

It connected with her shoulder, shattering on impact.

Kimberly shrieked, stumbling back, more from shock than the blow. She was a wolf, she wouldn't break easily, but she was vain.

Before she could recover, I was on her. I didn't try to overpower her muscles; I went for the soft targets. My fingers dug into her hair, yanking her head back, while my other hand clawed at her eyes.

"You are nothing!" I screamed. "You are a thief and a whore!"

Kimberly thrashed, her claws coming out, but she hesitated. She knew if she marked me-really hurt the "money"-Caleb would be furious. That hesitation was my only advantage.

I pinned her head to the floor, my knee on her chest.

"Get off me!" she gargled, her face turning purple.

I raised my fist, ready to smash her nose in. I wanted to see her bleed. I wanted to mark her face so everyone would know what she was.

My inner wolf roared, a sound of pure, unadulterated bloodlust.

Azalea POV:

"AZALEA!"

The bedroom door slammed open.

Before my fist could connect, a hand grabbed the back of my shirt.

I was hauled into the air like a ragdoll and tossed aside.

I went flying. I hit the wall with a sickening thud, the breath knocked out of me. The difference in strength was absolute.

Caleb stood over Kimberly, his chest heaving. He looked at me with pure disgust.

"Are you insane?" he bellowed.

Kimberly scrambled back, clutching her throat. She let out a dramatic, sobbing wail. "She tried to kill me, Caleb! She's crazy! She just attacked me out of nowhere!"

I struggled to sit up, gasping for air. My ribs throbbed where he had shoved me.

"She broke... the necklace," I wheezed, holding up the shattered chain. "My mother's..."

Caleb glanced at the broken jewelry in my hand. Then he looked back at me, his lip curling.

"It's a rock, Azalea," he said coldly. "It's just a stone."

The words cut deeper than any knife.

"Just a stone?" I whispered, tears streaming down my face. "It was everything."

"You are attacking my guest over trinkets," Caleb spat. He helped Kimberly up, his hands gentle on her shoulders-hands that used to hold me. "Look at what you did to her."

I looked. Kimberly had red marks on her neck and a bruise forming on her shoulder, but she was fine. She buried her face in Caleb's chest, sobbing fake tears.

She's playing you, I wanted to scream. Can't you smell her lies?

But Alpha males were blind when their egos were stroked.

"You need help," Caleb said, staring at me. There was no love in his eyes. Not even pity. Just annoyance. Like I was a stain on his carpet. "I'm calling the guards to escort you out. If you come back, I'll have you arrested for trespassing."

"Trespassing?" I stood up, using the wall for support. "I own this building, Caleb. My name is on the deed."

"Not for long," he said darkly. "Once the Council sees what you've become-a violent, unstable liability-they'll hand everything over to me for safekeeping."

He turned his back on me to comfort Kimberly.

That was the moment.

The final thread of the Mate Bond didn't just break; it dissolved.

I looked at his broad back, the man I had loved since college. The man I had elevated from poverty to power.

I felt... nothing.

No pain. No longing. Just a cold, hard clarity.

I looked at Kimberly, peeking over his shoulder with a triumphant smirk.

I didn't scream. I didn't cry anymore.

I walked over to them.

Caleb turned, ready to shove me again.

But I didn't aim for him. I lunged past him.

My fingernails weren't claws, but they were sharp enough. I raked them down Kimberly's exposed cheek, digging in with everything I had.

"Ahhh!" she screamed, real pain this time. Four bloody, parallel lines welled up instantly.

Caleb shoved me back, shock written all over his face.

"Consider that a parting gift," I said, my voice eerily calm.

I looked Caleb dead in the eye. My inner wolf was pacing now, restless, hungry.

"You think I'm weak, Caleb. You think I'm just a broken girl with a bank account."

I stepped toward the door, clutching the broken necklace to my chest.

"Pray to the Moon Goddess," I said softly. "Because when I come back, I won't be knocking."

I turned and walked away. Behind me, Kimberly was wailing about her face, and Caleb was shouting orders.

But I heard a sound that drowned them all out.

Inside my mind, deep in the darkness where my wolf slept, I heard a low, echoing howl.

It wasn't a cry of pain.

It was a war cry.