Ava POV:

Passersby stared but did nothing. Just another domestic dispute.

"I don't have them," I lied, guarding my inner pocket.

"Liar," Liam snarled.

He shoved me against the wet brick wall. His hands roamed over my body, rough and invasive. A violation of power.

"Stop!"

He pinned my wrists. "I own you, Ava. Until you leave the city limits, you are subject to my laws."

He reached into my jacket and pulled out the notebook.

"Here it is," he smirked. "The cure. Chloe will be very pleased."

"She can't even read those formulas!" I screamed. "She'll kill someone!"

"She has you," Liam said, eyes gleaming. "You're going to write the paper for her. You're going to simplify the data."

"I'd rather die."

"That can be arranged."

Something snapped.

I lunged forward and sank my teeth into his forearm. I tasted the hot, metallic tang of Alpha blood.

"Ahhh!" Liam roared, shaking me off.

He looked at the bleeding bite mark in shock. A Beta shouldn't be able to pierce an Alpha's skin.

"You bitch."

He backhanded me.

The blow sent me sprawling into a muddy puddle. Vision swimming. Blood in my mouth.

Before I could get up, he dragged me by the hair toward the SUV.

He drove back to the Vanderbilt Tower, dragging me down to the basement labs.

Chloe was waiting at the main terminal.

"Did you get it?"

Liam threw the notebook on the desk. "Fix the data. Ava is going to help."

"I don't need help," Chloe pouted. "But... oops."

A red alert flashed. DATABASE DELETED.

"What did you do?" Liam asked.

"I tried to transfer the files, but Ava put a virus in the system!" Chloe cried. "She wiped the servers!"

It was a lie. I could see the `DELETE '.'` command line. She was incompetent.

"I didn't—"

Liam grabbed my throat and slammed me against the glass wall.

"You destroy my legacy?" His eyes were fully black.

He opened the chemical storage room door—a glass box filled with volatile solvents. He threw me inside.

"You stay in there until you recreate the data," he ordered. "If not done by midnight..."

He turned to Chloe. "Let's go."

"Liam," I banged on the glass. "The ventilation is off! Chloe cut the power! The fumes—"

"Think about that next time you try to sabotage my mate," he said coldly.

He locked the door.

Ava POV:

The air inside the glass box tasted like acetone and death. My head spun.

Through the glass, I saw Liam comforting a fake-sobbing Chloe.

Then, a spark.

Chloe had overloaded the server rack. The cooling fans died. Heat spiked.

'BOOM.'

A transformer blew, showering sparks onto the chemical leaks on the floor.

Blue and orange flames whooshed up the walls.

"Fire!" I shouted.

Liam spun around. He saw the flames. He saw me trapped.

He took a step toward me. For a heartbeat, I thought he would save me.

Then Chloe screamed. "Liam! My ankle! I can't run!"

She was by the exit. Safe. But she collapsed, clutching her leg.

Liam looked at me. I pressed my hand against the glass. Smoke was pouring into my sealed room.

He looked at me. Then at Chloe.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed.

He scooped Chloe up and ran out.

He left me to burn.

The fire reached the silver nitrate canister inside my room.

The explosion blew me backward.

White-hot agony. Silver dust shrapnel embedded in my skin like a thousand hornet stings.

I hit the back wall. Clothes on fire. Skin blistering. Darkness swallowed me.

'Thump... thump... thump...'

And then, a voice spoke. Not my weak inner wolf. A voice like glaciers cracking.

"NOT YET."

My eyes snapped open. Not brown. White. Glowing white.

Power exploded from my core. The White Wolf—the rarest bloodline, dormant for years—woke up.

I felt my skin knitting together. The silver shrapnel was pushed out by regenerating muscle. The pain vanished.

I stood up in the inferno. The flames felt like warm water.

But the transformation drained me. My knees gave out just as the sprinklers kicked on.

I collapsed, the ancient power flickering out, leaving me empty.

'

I woke up in the pack hospital. My wrists and ankles were bound with heavy silver cuffs. The burn was constant, keeping my new power suppressed.

"She's awake," a nurse whispered.

Liam stood there. He looked annoyed.

"You survived," he said. "Lucky."

"You left me," I rasped.

"I saved the future Luna," Liam said hard. "And you caused the explosion. Investigators found faulty wiring in 'your' lab."

"Chloe..."

"Stop blaming her!" Liam shouted. He grabbed my jaw. "The Council is asking questions about how you survived that blast. You're dangerous, Ava. That's why the cuffs stay on."

"Get up," he ordered. "Chloe is in the next room. She inhaled smoke. You are going to go in there, get on your knees, and apologize."

"No."

Liam tightened his grip on the silver cuff. Agony shot up my arm.

"You have no choice. You're a Rogue in custody. Apologize, or I hand you over to the Council for arson."

I looked at the man I had worshipped. The love was dead.

"Okay," I said softly.

'I'll play your game. For now.'

Ava POV:

The dress was a modified Omega uniform—cheap polyester that smelled of industrial detergent.

"Perfect," Chloe sneered, adjusting the diamond tiara. She wore the Luna’s ceremonial silver robes. "You’ll walk three paces behind me. Serve drinks. Don't speak."

I felt the weight of the silver bracelet hidden under my sleeve. It kept my White Wolf sedated, barely a whisper in my mind.

"Let's go," Liam muttered.

The Full Moon Charity Gala was packed. The ballroom smelled of roasted venison and power.

As we entered, whispers followed us.

"Is that Ava Mitchell?"

"Dressed like a maid. How the mighty have fallen."

I kept my chin high. I took a tray of champagne.

"Champagne, Alpha?" I asked a visiting leader.

He looked at me, intrigued. "You smell... interesting. Like ozone and snow. Why is a wolf with your aura serving drinks?"

"Politics."

He took a glass, fingers brushing mine. "If Blackwood doesn't appreciate you, my pack is hiring."

Across the room, Liam stiffened. His head snapped toward us like a whip.

I moved on. Despite the dress, despite the silver, I wasn't invisible. Male wolves turned to watch.

Chloe noticed. Her smile faltered as a young Beta asked me to dance.

"I... I shouldn't," I feigned shyness.

"One dance," the Beta insisted.

As we spun, Liam marched across the floor. Possessiveness darkened his face. He shoved the Beta aside.

"She's working," Liam growled.

The Beta backed off. "Easy, Alpha."

Liam grabbed my arm, dragging me to the shadows.

"You are enjoying this," he hissed. "Flaunting yourself."

"I was serving drinks, Liam."

"You are mine," he snarled. "You don't dance with other males."

"I'm yours?" I laughed, a hollow sound. "You never marked me. You never claimed me. You let Chloe wear my robes. I belong to no one."

"You belong to the pack!"

Chloe appeared, breathless. "Liam! People are staring. Why are you talking to the help?"

Liam released me like I was burning him.

"Get out of here," he commanded. "Back to the kitchen."

I smoothed my dress. As I turned, I brushed past Chloe. With a sleight of hand learned from a pickpocket client, I dusted microscopic tracking powder onto her hem.

"Enjoy your night, Luna," I whispered.

I walked away. He thought he had won. He didn't know I was mapping the battlefield.