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.

Seraphina POV

The morning sun filtering through the single, smudged window of my new apartment offered no warmth. My cramped studio smelled of dust and stale human air, completely devoid of the rich, earthy scents of a Pack. But worse than the unfamiliarity was the heavy, suffocating ache in my chest.

The Terminal Soul Wither was accelerating. A low-grade fever burned beneath my skin, and my limbs felt like they were filled with lead. The physical toll of severing a Fated Mate bond was dragging my wolfless body toward a quiet, inevitable end.

My phone buzzed on the cheap nightstand. The caller ID read Cassia Blackwood.

I stared at it, my chest tightening. Damien's younger sister had never called me unless she needed a scapegoat. Reluctantly, I swiped to answer.

"Seraphina," Cassia's voice dripped with the kind of careless entitlement only a spoiled Alpha's daughter possessed. "I need you at the training grounds at two o'clock. Gamma is throwing a fit about my missed quarterly assessments."

I closed my eyes, pressing a trembling hand to my feverish forehead. "Cassia, I don't live at the manor anymore. I have a medical appointment."

"Oh, please. What could a wolfless Omega possibly be busy with?" she scoffed, the disdain palpable through the speaker. "I was busy training with Isabelle. She's practically our Luna already, and she actually knows how to fight. Damien already mind-linked me his approval for you to take the reprimand. Consider it a favor. It's a good opportunity for you to make yourself useful and maybe win back a fraction of my brother's attention."

She hung up before I could reply.

I dropped the phone. Damien had mind-linked his approval. To him, my time, my dignity, and my very existence were just tools to manage his family's minor inconveniences.

I forced myself out of bed. I couldn't afford to care about Cassia's assessments. I needed to get to the neutral zone clinic before my body completely gave out.

The human medical clinic was a sterile, blindingly white building that reeked of bleach and rubbing alcohol. There were no Pack crests here, no Healers with warm hands and soothing auras. Just cold tiles and fluorescent lights that made my head throb violently.

Every step across the lobby felt like wading through wet cement. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision. The fever was spiking, turning the ambient noise of the waiting room into a muffled, underwater hum.

I reached out to grab the edge of the reception desk, but my fingers slipped. The floor rushed up to meet me.

Just as the cold tile struck my cheek, a familiar, panicked voice pierced through the ringing in my ears.

"Sera! Oh my goddess, Sera!"

Kira.

Before I could process why my best friend was here, the darkness swallowed me whole.

I woke up to the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. The harsh scent of antiseptic was still there, but beneath it was the comforting, sharp scent of pine and ozone-Kira's wolf.

I blinked against the harsh light, finding myself in a small, private clinic room. An IV dripped clear fluid into my arm.

Kira was pacing at the foot of the bed, her hands clenched into fists. When she saw my eyes open, she rushed to my side, her expression a volatile mix of profound relief and murderous rage.

"You look like a ghost, Sera," she breathed, gently brushing a strand of hair from my sweaty forehead. Then, her eyes flashed with the golden hue of her inner wolf. "I saw the news about the moonlight fireworks festival. I know what he did."

I swallowed hard, my throat feeling like sandpaper. "Kira, it's not-"

"Don't defend him!" Kira snapped, her voice trembling with fury. "I knew you were overworking yourself for that Pack, but this? He drove you to exhaustion, and for what? He's rejecting you to Mark that bitch?!"

I stared at her, realizing the massive gap in her understanding. She thought Damien had kicked me out to make room for Isabelle Vance. She didn't know about the Terminal Soul Wither, and I intended to keep it that way. If she knew the Mate-bond was literally killing me, she would march into Crestfall Manor and challenge an Alpha she couldn't beat.

"No, Kira," I said, my voice weak but steady. "Damien didn't kick me out. I left. I am the one asking for the Rejection."

Kira froze. The golden glow in her eyes vanished, replaced by pure, unadulterated shock. "You... you left him?"

"I'm done," I whispered, the truth feeling lighter than air. "I'm completely done with the Blackwoods."

A slow, brilliant smile spread across Kira's face. The pity in her eyes vanished, replaced by a fierce, protective pride.

"Good," she said firmly, grabbing my hand. "Because you are wasting your brilliant mind playing house for a man who doesn't see you. Caleb Vance is expanding Aegis Dynamics. He needs a lead strategist, and we both know what Elder Alistair used to say about your tactical scores."

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of Caleb Vance. The monitor beside me beeped a little faster as the ghosts of my past sacrifices suddenly crowded into the sterile room.

Seraphina POV

"Caleb Vance," I whispered, the name tasting like ash on my dry tongue. "He hates me, Kira."

I looked down at my pale, trembling hands, the ghosts of my past crowding the sterile clinic room. I explained the five-year-old wound to her. Back then, I was the top prospect at the Alpha Council's strategy academy, holding a personal recommendation from Caleb's father, the highly respected Elder Alistair Vance. But when my uncle was severely injured and my aging grandmother needed constant care, I had no choice. I traded my brilliant future for the Blackwood Pack's medical sanctuary by marrying Damien.

To Caleb, who saw me as his only true rival and confidante, my sacrifice was a betrayal of my gift and a cowardly surrender to power. We hadn't spoken since.

Kira's jaw tightened, the golden hue of her inner wolf flaring dangerously in her eyes. Though I was wolfless and couldn't hear it, I knew she was using the Pack's Mind-Link to hurl vicious curses at Damien for destroying my life.

Before she could voice her anger aloud, my phone shattered the moment. Cassia's name flashed on the screen. It rang five times before I finally answered.

"Go to the high-end boutique downtown," Cassia commanded, her tone dripping with arrogant entitlement. "Pick up Isabelle's custom gown for the Pack gala. And make sure you tell them you're just an Omega servant of the Blackwoods."

I took a slow breath, feeling the heavy, invisible chains of my past finally snapping.

"I am no longer your brother's Mate, Cassia," I said, my voice eerily calm and ice-cold. "And I am certainly not your servant. Find someone else to run your errands."

I hung up, dropping the phone onto the bed. It was my first true act of defiance, and it felt both terrifying and liberating.

But the Blackwoods never let a slight go unpunished.

By 5:00 PM, just as my IV bag was nearly empty, the phone rang again. This time, it was Lady Isolde Blackwood.

"You ungrateful little Omega," Damien's mother hissed, her aristocratic voice slicing through the speaker before I could even say hello. "Even on your way out, you still find ways to cause trouble. Cassia has run off because of your insolence."

"I have nothing to do with-"

"Do you want me to bother the Matriarch with this?" Lady Isolde interrupted smoothly, her tone turning lethal. "You know how fragile her heart is."

The words hit me like a physical blow. Matriarch Cordelia, Damien's grandmother, was the only person in that manor who had ever treated me with a shred of dignity. I couldn't let her bear the stress of Cassia's childish tantrums.

Defeated, I ripped the IV needle from my arm, ignoring the sharp sting and the warning beep of the monitor. I dragged my feverish, aching body out of the clinic, the Terminal Soul Wither making every step feel like walking on broken glass.

Following the breadcrumbs of Cassia's usual social media check-ins, I arrived at The Crimson Fang.

It was an exclusive, neutral-territory club for werewolf elites. The interior was dimly lit in deep reds and blacks, reeking of expensive cigars, aged whiskey, and the suffocating, heavy pheromones of powerful Alphas and Betas. My wolfless senses were overwhelmed, my chest tightening with every breath.

I pushed through the heavy velvet curtains of a VIP booth, expecting to find a sulking Cassia. Instead, I froze.

It wasn't a search and rescue. It was a trap.

Damien sat at the center of the plush leather sofa, radiating his dark, cedar-and-frost Alpha aura. Isabelle Vance was pressed elegantly against his side, looking every bit the perfect Luna. Cassia was there, perfectly fine, surrounded by a group of young, sneering Pack aristocrats.

Seeing me standing awkwardly in the doorway, Cassia's lips curled into a wicked, triumphant smile. She stood up immediately, linking her arm intimately through Isabelle's.

"Isabelle," Cassia announced, her sweet, venomous voice carrying easily over the low thrum of the club's music. "I simply cannot wait until the Rejection is final and I can officially call you my Luna. My true sister."

The ambient chatter in the booth died instantly. Every predatory gaze snapped toward me, pinning me under the weight of their collective mockery. I stood there, a sick, discarded Omega, stripped of my last shred of dignity under Damien's cold, unyielding stare.