Isla POV

"She lacks the proper etiquette of a noble Luna, but her military merits—" Bertha stammered, before abruptly clearing her throat. She forced her posture upright against the mountain of pillows, trying to project an authority she no longer possessed.

"The Alpha King himself issued a Royal Decree, Isla," Bertha continued, her tone shifting from fake sympathy to a thinly veiled command. "You cannot fight the King's will. Justin and Brenna will be Co-Lunas. There is no hierarchy between you two. You will continue to manage the Pack's internal affairs and finances, while she handles the military. It is a perfect balance."

*Manage the finances?* She meant *fund* the Pack with my ten-million-dollar dowry.

Deep within my soul, my White Wolf let out a vicious, mocking snarl. A mate-bond was sacred, forged by the Moon Goddess herself. There was no such thing as sharing an Alpha. They were trying to dress up Justin's betrayal as a noble sacrifice, all while keeping their greedy claws buried deep in my pockets.

"A perfect balance," I repeated, my voice devoid of any warmth. I stood perfectly still in the fading evening light, my eyes locking onto Bertha's. "If Gamma Brenna is to be Luna, then she and Justin can bear the full weight of this Pack. Tomorrow morning, I will hand over the Pack's ledger and the estate keys to Amanda."

Amanda, standing quietly by the wall, gasped loudly. Her timid Omega wolf shrank, and her bitter coptis scent spiked with sheer terror.

"M-Me? No, Isla, I can't!" Amanda panicked, her eyes darting wildly between me and Bertha. "The vault... there isn't even a hundred thousand dollars in there! How will we pay the Warriors? How will we afford Mother's Lycanthrope Elixirs?"

Bertha's face twisted into an ugly, dark sneer. The illusion of the loving mother-in-law vanished completely. "You selfish, narrow-minded girl!" she hissed, pointing a trembling, skeletal finger at me. "Is this how a true Luna acts? Jealous and petty? You are unworthy of an Alpha's mate-bond!"

The exertion was too much for her failing heart. Bertha hunched over, hacking violently, her chest heaving as she gasped for air.

"Don't you dare speak to my mother like that!"

Kaci marched forward, her round face flushed a violent red. Having just experienced her first Shift, she reeked of sour, unripe fruit. She puffed out her chest, trying to project her newly awakened Inner Wolf's dominance to intimidate me.

"You're just a wolfless orphan!" Kaci spat, her eyes glaring with unearned arrogance. "The Silvermoon Pack is dead! You should be begging us to let you stay. When Justin gets back, he's going to Reject you and throw you out to the Rogues!"

I slowly turned my gaze to the sixteen-year-old girl. I didn't yell. I didn't Shift. But deep within my core, I let a fraction of my ancient, dormant White Wolf aura slip through my icy stare.

Kaci's eyes widened. She instinctively took a step back, her fragile new wolf whimpering in sudden, inexplicable terror beneath her skin.

"Throw me out?" I tilted my head, my eyes raking over her trembling form. "Before you threaten me with the Rogues, Kaci, I suggest you take off that apricot-yellow couture gown."

Kaci blinked, entirely thrown off balance. "W-What?"

"And the pearl necklace," I continued, my voice ringing with absolute, razor-sharp authority. "And the diamond earrings. Every thread on your back, every jewel on your skin, was paid for by my dowry. Take them off. Return them to my quarters by tonight."

"You can't do that!" Kaci shrieked, her face burning with profound humiliation.

"I just did," I replied coldly. "I will not have my family's wealth draped over an ungrateful pup."

Kaci trembled with rage, tears of fury welling in her eyes. "Fine! I'll throw them at your face!" she screamed, though she didn't dare step any closer to me.

The room descended into a suffocating, tense silence. Brent stared at the floor, Amanda was practically shaking, and Bertha was still coughing weakly against her pillows.

Only Elder Alda, sitting quietly in the corner, allowed a faint, mocking smile to touch her lips. Her cold mint scent remained entirely undisturbed as she watched the main branch's pathetic facade crumble to dust.

Isla POV

"Let's go, Effa," I said, my voice cutting through the tense, suffocating silence of the room. I turned my back on the pathetic display of the Hayes family.

"You will regret this, Isla!" Luna Bertha hacked, her voice a venomous, desperate rasp against her pillows. "Your Silvermoon Pack is ashes! A wolfless girl like you won't last a day out there. You'll become a Rogue, hunted and starved! You'll come crawling back on your knees, begging Justin to take you back!"

Deep within my soul, my dormant White Wolf let out a dark, mocking huff. I didn't even pause my stride. I walked out of the Luna's Quarters, leaving the stench of decaying leaves and their delusional arrogance behind.

The next day, the midday autumn sun beat down relentlessly on the towering iron gates of the Royal Pack House. I stood perfectly still for over two hours, the oppressive aura of the Royal Guards washing over me.

Beside me, Effa was trembling. Her round face was pale, streaked with sweat and tears. As a wolfless maid, the terror of losing Pack protection was breaking her.

"My Lady, please," Effa sobbed quietly, tugging at my sleeve. "The Alpha King won't see us. If we leave the Bloodfang Pack, we'll be Rogues. We'll be killed. Maybe... maybe sharing the Alpha isn't so bad? Gamma Brenna Wilson can fight, and you can just live quietly..."

"Stop," I commanded, my tone absolute. I turned my icy blue eyes to her, instantly silencing her tears. "A true wolf does not accept a polluted mate-bond. I would rather die with my pride intact than share a male with another she-wolf. We are not becoming Rogues, Effa. We are taking our lives back."

Just then, the heavy oak doors of the Royal Study cracked open slightly. The guards had left it ajar when delivering my third request for an audience. From within, the low, urgent voice of Head Beta Alton Marsh drifted out.

"Your Majesty, please," Alton pleaded, his faint ink scent carrying a trace of anxiety. "Alpha Justin Hayes and Gamma Brenna's border skirmishes are nothing compared to the blood Alpha Arthur Crawford spilled for this kingdom. You cannot leave his only surviving daughter standing in the sun like a beggar."

A heavy silence followed, thick with the Alpha King's intimidating amber and ambergris scent.

"And need I remind you, Sire," Alton's voice dropped to a somber whisper, "of the true cost of the border war? To cover Justin's foolish retreat, Elder Alpha Emmet Wood was critically wounded by Silver. Gamma Brody Wood lost an arm to a Silver blade. And young Gamma Kael Wood... a Silver spear through the heart. We have hidden these devastating losses from the public to maintain morale, but we know the truth. Justin's 'glory' is built on the corpses of her family."

My breath hitched. My grandfather... my uncles. Dead. Maimed. Because of Justin.

The icy resolve in my veins turned into a roaring inferno. My White Wolf clawed at my chest, howling for blood.

"Enough, Alton," Alpha King Adrian Reynolds sighed, his voice heavy with sudden, crushing guilt. "You are right. I owe Arthur, and I owe the Woods. Bring her in. I will compensate her. I will give her royal titles, gold, whatever she wants to accept this marriage."

The heavy doors swung wide open.

I stepped into the opulent Royal Study, the suffocating pressure of the Alpha King's aura pressing down on me. Alpha King Adrian sat behind his massive desk, his handsome face softening with a mixture of pity and guilt.

He thought I was here to cry. He thought I was here to beg him to revoke the Royal Decree, and he was prepared to buy my submission with royal gold.

He had no idea I was here to burn it all down.

Isla POV

The heavy oak doors clicked shut behind me, sealing me inside the opulent Royal Study. The air was thick with the Alpha King's suffocating aura—a heavy, dominant blend of amber and ambergris that demanded absolute submission from any wolf. Beta Alton Marsh stood silently in the corner, his faint ink scent barely registering under the crushing weight of the King's presence.

I sank to the plush carpet, folding my hands and bowing my head in a flawless display of Pack nobility etiquette.

"Rise, Isla," Alpha King Adrian Reynolds said, his voice softer than I expected. He sat behind his massive mahogany desk, looking at me with a mixture of pity and guilt. "You have suffered a great injustice. I am prepared to offer you a royal title, gold, and a generous estate to ease the burden of this... arrangement."

He thought my silence was sorrow. He thought my perfect posture was the fragile shell of a broken, wolfless girl.

I stood up, keeping my spine perfectly straight. I met his gaze, letting him see the absolute, icy clarity in my blue eyes.

"Your Majesty," I said, my voice steady and calm. "I am not here for gold, nor am I here for titles."

Adrian frowned, his dark brows pulling together. "Then what do you want?"

"I am here to request a Royal Severance Decree," I declared, the words ringing clearly in the quiet study. "I want to officially sever my ties with the Bloodfang Pack, and I ask you to witness my Rejection of Alpha Justin Hayes."

A stunned silence fell over the room. Beta Alton's head snapped up, and Adrian's amber eyes widened in sheer disbelief.

"Are you out of your mind?" Adrian demanded, his Alpha aura flaring in shock. "You are un-Marked, Isla. If you actively sever the bond and leave the Bloodfang Pack as a wolfless female, you will lose all protection. You will be a Rogue. As Co-Luna, your position is at least secure. You have a roof over your head."

"Secure?" I let out a soft, humorless laugh. "My mate's soul is polluted by the scent of another she-wolf. He stood before me reeking of her, demanding I share the sacred bond the Moon Goddess bestowed upon us."

I took a step closer to the desk, allowing a trace of my natural lily and cedar scent to surface—clean, unyielding, and completely untainted by the Hayes family's filth.

"My father, Alpha Arthur Crawford, did not raise me to beg for scraps of affection or share a male's bed," I continued, my dormant White Wolf radiating a silent, fierce pride. "I would rather walk into the wilderness as a Rogue than accept a fractured, disrespectful mate-bond. I will not rot in a Pack that builds its glory on the corpses of my family."

Adrian flinched. The mention of my father and the hidden, bloody truth of the border war struck a nerve deep within his Inner Wolf.

"I will take my dowry and return to the ruins of the Silvermoon Pack," I told him, my vision blurring for a fraction of a second before I forced the tears back. "I will adopt my third brother's orphaned pup, Javion. I will raise him, and I will rebuild my family's legacy. The Crawford bloodline will not end in the shadow of Justin's betrayal."

Adrian stared at me for a long time. The pity in his eyes vanished, replaced by a profound, heavy respect. In that moment, I knew he wasn't looking at a weak, wolfless girl anymore. He was looking at the ghost of his old mentor, Alpha Arthur Crawford.

"You have your father's iron spine," Adrian murmured, his voice thick with emotion. He leaned back in his chair, his black wolf clearly yielding to the sheer force of my resolve. "Very well. I will grant your request. The Royal Severance Decree will be drafted and delivered to the Bloodfang estate in a few days."

I closed my eyes for a brief second, a genuine sense of peace washing over my soul. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

I turned to leave, but his voice stopped me before I reached the door.

"And Isla," Adrian called out, his tone shifting from a weary king to a fierce protector. "If anyone in that Pack dares to lay a hand on you, or tries to touch a single cent of your wealth before you leave... you come straight to this palace. The Royal family will stand behind you."

I offered him a final, respectful nod, and walked out of the study, ready to tear my life out of Justin Hayes's unworthy hands.