Seraphina POV

The lobby seemed to tilt. The freezing claws of the Terminal Soul Wither dug deeper into my chest, shredding my lungs until every breath tasted like blood and ice. He didn't call me here to set me free. He wanted me to build the throne for Isabelle.

"No," I whispered, my voice trembling but laced with a hollow, unbreakable resolve.

Talia blinked, her triumphant smirk faltering. "Excuse me?"

I reached into my coat pocket, my numb fingers brushing against the heavy brass key to the Blackwood estate. The only home I had known for the past three years. I pulled it out and dropped it onto the polished black marble counter. It landed with a heavy, final clink that echoed in the cavernous reception area.

"Tell your Alpha I won't be writing his petition," I said, staring dead into Talia's shocked eyes. "I am done with this Pack. I am done with him."

Without waiting for her response, I turned on my good heel. The fractured bone in my ankle screamed in agony, but I forced myself to walk, limping heavily toward the revolving glass doors.

"You're making a mistake, Omega!" Talia called out behind me, her voice dripping with venomous disbelief. "You'll come crawling back! You always do!"

I didn't look back. I just needed to get to my car. I needed to disappear.

Damien POV

I severed the mind-link with the Crescent Pack Alpha, rubbing my temples to ward off an impending headache. The scent of sterile office air and cheap vanilla perfume announced Talia's arrival as she stepped out of the private elevator into my penthouse office.

"Is the petition handled?" I demanded, not looking up from the alliance contracts on my ebony desk.

"She refused, Alpha," Talia said, her voice tight. She stepped forward and placed a familiar brass key on my desk. "She left this. She said she is done with the Pack. And... security logs show she actually left the estate yesterday morning. It's the first time she's stepped off the grounds in three years."

Left?

A sudden, violent tremor shook my chest.

Mine! Our mate is leaving! Kael, my inner wolf, snarled viciously, thrashing against my ribs in a blind, suffocating panic. You fool! You are driving her away!

I gritted my teeth, my hands gripping the edge of the desk until the wood groaned. I forced the beast down, suffocating his pathetic whimpers. It wasn't panic. It was fury. How dare a useless, wolfless Omega challenge my authority? How dare she think she could just walk away without my permission?

"She doesn't get to leave until I say so," I growled. My Alpha aura leaked into the room, heavy and suffocating, forcing Talia to lower her head and bare her neck in submission. "Call her right now. Tell her she has two choices. She finishes that document for Isabelle, or I will officially declare her grandmother and uncle as enemies of the Pack. No territory will harbor them. They will be hunted as Rogues."

Talia swallowed hard, clearly confused by my refusal to just let the trash walk away, but she nodded quickly. "Yes, Alpha. I will call her immediately."

She turned toward the elevator but hesitated. "There is one more thing. A human courier dropped off a thick envelope from her this morning, addressed to Beta Liam."

I waved a dismissive hand, already reaching out to re-open the mind-link with my allies. "File it with the rest of her garbage. I don't have time for her desperate attempts for attention."

"Understood."

Talia walked over to the bottom drawer of my desk-the one dedicated to the useless trinkets Seraphina used to send me. I didn't even glance up as Talia tossed the heavy, unopened envelope inside. It landed softly atop a pile of dust-covered star charts and pressed bookmarks.

The drawer clicked shut, burying whatever pathetic plea she had sent in the dark.

Seraphina POV

The confined space of my sedan felt like a tomb. Outside the windshield, the towering glass facade of Blackwood Enterprises loomed like a jagged tombstone against the gray sky. I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white, trying to breathe through the agonizing, icy claws of the Terminal Soul Wither tearing at my chest.

Before I could even turn the key in the ignition, my phone buzzed. Talia's name flashed on the screen.

I answered, pressing the phone to my ear.

"Alpha gives you two choices," Talia's voice clipped through the speaker, colder and sharper than it had been in the lobby. "One, you finish that document for Isabelle, and then you can leave. Two, if you refuse, the Blackwood Pack will officially declare your grandmother and uncle as enemies of our allies. I guarantee you, Omega, no Pack on this continent will dare harbor them. They will be hunted down as Rogues."

My heart plummeted into my stomach. The phone trembled against my cheek as a sickening mix of terror and pure, unadulterated rage boiled in my veins. Damien knew exactly where to strike. He was using the only family I had left to chain me to his cruelty.

I closed my eyes, swallowing the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. "Tell your Alpha I am sick," I replied, my voice eerily hollow. "I need a leave of absence."

I hung up before she could utter another word. It wasn't a lie-my soul was literally dying-but to Damien, it would just sound like a pathetic, cowardly excuse.

A sharp rap on my window made me jump.

A messenger stood on the sidewalk, wearing the new, bastardized livery of the Gray family. He didn't wait for me to roll down the window; he simply slipped a heavy parchment envelope under my windshield wiper and walked away.

I stepped out on my throbbing ankle, snatching the envelope. It was a formal summons from my father, Marcus Thorne. He was "notifying" me that I was required to attend a dinner tonight at Gray Manor to celebrate Jaxon's official alliance with Anjelica Carney.

There was no warmth in the elegant calligraphy, only cold exploitation. He despised me for being a wolfless disappointment, but the title of "Blackwood Alpha's Fated Mate" still held enough weight to decorate his vanity.

I stared at the wax seal-my mother's sacred white wolf crest, now tainted by Thorne's name. A freezing fire ignited in my gut. I wouldn't let these usurpers celebrate their stolen victories in my mother's sanctuary while I hid like a coward.

By the time I arrived at Gray Manor that evening, the air was already thick with the scent of expensive champagne and suffocating arrogance. I walked through the familiar grand doors, ignoring the blatant, sneering glares of the servants who used to bow to me.

"Thick skin," a shrill voice echoed from the grand staircase.

My half-sister, Zara Thorne, leaned against the mahogany banister in a lavish crimson gown, a malicious fake smile plastered on her face. "I thought a wolfless dumped by her Alpha would know to keep her tail tucked between her legs. I can't believe you actually had the nerve to show your face here."

I didn't flinch. I slowly looked around the foyer, my eyes settling on the massive oil portrait of my mother, Elara Gray, hanging above the mantel.

"My mother's power protects this manor," I said, my voice dead calm, cutting through the ambient noise of the party. "And you are just a parasite living inside it. You have no right to act high and mighty in front of me."

Zara's smug expression faltered, her face twisting in ugly, speechless fury. But a second later, her eyes darted toward the drawing room doors, and a wicked, knowing smirk returned to her lips.

The heavy oak doors opened.

Jaxon walked out, his arm wrapped intimately around the waist of Anjelica Carney. He looked powerful, polished, and entirely foreign to the boy who used to protect me. His eyes met mine, but there was absolutely no warmth in them. No recognition of the girl who had endured years of abuse just to keep him safe.

"Darling," Jax said smoothly to Anjelica, gesturing lazily toward Zara and me. "This is Zara, and Seraphina... my two sisters."

The casual grouping erased everything we had ever been to each other.

Anjelica offered a polite, diplomatic smile, opening her mouth to introduce herself.

"Don't," Jax interrupted her. His gaze locked onto mine, sharp and merciless like a blade. He spoke with the absolute, freezing authority of a warrior addressing a subordinate. "Seraphina. This is Anjelica, the future Luna of the Carney Pack. Call her 'Sister-in-law'."

Seraphina POV

The silence following Jax's command was absolute. Sister-in-law. The title felt like a physical blow, but the Terminal Soul Wither had already hollowed out my chest so thoroughly that there was nothing left to bruise.

Zara seized the dead air, stepping forward with a triumphant, venomous smile. "What right does a wolfless have to stand here?" she sneered, looking me up and down. "A pathetic Omega who can't even keep her own Fated Mate. Where were you when Alpha Damien threw that moonlight fireworks festival for Isabelle Vance? Oh, right. You aren't even fit to warm his bed."

She raised her voice, ensuring the entire room heard. "Isabelle is a fierce warrior, a glory meant to stand beside an Alpha. And you? You are just a stain on our bloodline. A soon-to-be-discarded piece of trash."

I looked at Zara. I looked at Jax, whose face remained an impassive mask of stone. The last flickering ember of hope I held for this 'family' quietly extinguished.

I walked over to the console table beneath my mother's portrait and gently set down the bouquet of white lilies I had brought.

"My last name is Gray," I said, my voice eerily calm, carrying through the grand foyer. "Not Thorne. My future, for better or worse, no longer has anything to do with this usurped manor."

I turned on my heel and walked out.

As I pushed through the heavy oak doors, they didn't latch completely. My father's furious growl bled into the night air. "The useless bitch is finally gone." A pause. "Since she's a dead end, you're up, Zara. Blackwood won't be tied to a wolfless forever. I'll find an opportunity for you to catch his eye."

Through the narrow gap, I saw Zara stiffen. She didn't look thrilled by the prospect of an Alpha; instead, her eyes darted toward Jax with a sickening, resentful longing.

I let the door click shut, severing myself from their twisted games.

By midnight, I was standing in a cramped, clean studio apartment in the neutral human zone. It cost the last of my meager savings, but it was mine. I pulled out my phone, blocking Talia and deleting Damien's number. I left only one encrypted email active for the Alpha Council's legal documents.

My final trip to Crestfall Manor took less than ten minutes. I didn't touch the designer clothes or the jewelry Damien had bought for his 'trophy'. I only took my mother's star chart and the snow-wolf wool scarf my grandmother had knitted for me.

Standing in the foyer, I took one last look at the gilded cage. It was as cold and empty as my marriage. I stepped out and locked the door behind me.

Damien POV

The moment I stepped into Crestfall Manor, the oppressive darkness irritated me. There was no soft light glowing from the living room, no quiet rustle of pages turning.

Worse, the air was stale. Seraphina's unique scent-a delicate blend of rain-washed lilies and winter frost-was fading, barely a ghost in the grand hallway.

I frowned, loosening my tie as I took the stairs two at a time. It was the lunar phase, the scheduled night I was supposed to fulfill my duty and sire an heir. She knew the rules.

I pushed open the master bedroom doors. Empty.

Striding into the walk-in closet, I noticed the small, pathetic corner she occupied was entirely bare. Her few personal items were gone.

A cold smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. I remembered her blatant insubordination at the office today. Throwing a tantrum? Running away to play the victim and beg for my attention? What a pathetic trick.

'She left!' Kael, my inner wolf, suddenly slammed against the confines of my mind, his roar vibrating with pure, unadulterated panic. 'Our Mate left, you arrogant fool! Go find her! Now!'

I gritted my teeth, forcefully shoving Kael's frantic instincts down. The Mate-bond was making him irrational. I interpreted the sudden tightness in my chest as mere annoyance at having my authority challenged.

"Let her cool off," I muttered to the empty room. "She'll come crawling back when she realizes she has nowhere else to go."

I turned my back on the fading scent of lilies and walked out, having more important Pack matters to attend to.