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.

Azalea POV:

I didn't wait for Caleb to call his guards. I called mine.

Within forty-five minutes, a team of private security contractors and two junior associates from my mother's law firm were in the lobby.

"We aren't moving everything today," I told the lead attorney, loud enough for the pack members in the lobby to hear. "I just want the personal effects secured. The clothes, the art, the jewelry. Seal the rest of the rooms. If Caleb or his mistress touch a single asset listed in the pre-nup, sue them into oblivion."

When Caleb came down, holding a handkerchief to Kimberly's bleeding cheek, the lobby fell silent.

"What is the meaning of this?" Caleb demanded, pointing at the security team blocking the elevators.

"I'm taking what's mine," I said. "My clothes. My mother's art. The furniture."

"You can't just strip the Alpha's residence!"

"Watch me."

Azura stepped forward. She didn't say a word. She just looked at Caleb with such intense disdain that he actually took a step back. She was a Beta, but she had more honor in her little finger than he had in his whole body.

Then, she slapped him.

It was quick, efficient, and disrespectful.

"That's for the Luna," Azura said.

The Pack members in the lobby-receptionists, guards, random wolves-gasped. Striking an Alpha was treason.

But Caleb didn't attack. He was too stunned. And perhaps, deep down, he knew he deserved it.

Kimberly pushed Caleb aside. Her face was bandaged, but her eyes were venomous.

"You think you can just walk away with your dignity?" she screeched. "Let's tell them the truth, Caleb!"

Caleb hesitated. "Kim, don't..."

"Why can't she Shift, Azalea?" Kimberly shouted, her voice echoing off the marble walls. "Tell everyone why the great heiress is broken!"

I froze. My blood turned to ice.

"She was used!" Kimberly yelled, turning to the crowd. "In college! A pack of Rogues caught her. They broke her so badly her wolf went into a coma! She's damaged goods! She's not pure!"

The silence in the lobby was suffocating.

It was my deepest shame. The trauma that haunted my nightmares. I had told Caleb in confidence, weeping in his arms, and he had sworn to protect me.

Now, he stood there, silent. He let her weaponize my pain.

Every eye was on me. Some held pity, others disgust. In wolf society, purity and strength were everything. A victim was seen as weak.

I looked at Caleb. "You told her?"

He looked away, unable to meet my gaze. "It... it slipped out."

"It slipped out," I repeated.

Something shifted in the air. The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.

I didn't feel shame anymore. I felt a cold, metallic rage.

"Is that your honor, Alpha?" I asked, my voice carrying through the silent lobby. "Betraying the secrets of your Mate to your mistress?"

I walked over to one of the security guards holding a garment bag. My wedding dress.

I unzipped the bag. The white lace spilled out. It was custom-made, embroidered with silver thread blessed by the Elders.

I took the delicate fabric in my hands.

Rip.

The sound was violent. I tore the bodice down the middle.

"I don't need this," I said, dropping the ruined dress at Caleb's feet. "And I don't need you."

"Azalea..." Caleb started, stepping forward.

"Don't speak my name," I said.

I looked up at him. And for a split second, the lobby lights seemed to flicker.

My eyes burned.

"Did you see that?" a guard whispered nearby. "Her eyes..."

I didn't know what they saw. I only knew what I felt. The dormant energy inside me was waking up. It wasn't just a wolf. It was something older. Something colder.

"Let's go, Azura," I said.

I turned my back on the Nexus Pack. I walked out into the cool night air, leaving the whispers and the wreckage behind.

As I stepped onto the pavement, a snowflake fell on my nose.

Winter was coming. And so was I.

My reflection in the car window caught my eye as I opened the door.

For a fraction of a second, my irises weren't hazel.

They were silver. Pure, molten silver.

The color of the White Wolf.