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.

Adrian POV

The heavy oak doors clicked shut, leaving me alone in the oppressive silence of the Royal Study. The faint, unyielding scent of lily and cedar lingered in the air, a stark contrast to the heavy amber and ambergris of my own aura. My black wolf paced restlessly in my mind, a low growl of shame vibrating deep within my chest.

I had just watched the daughter of my greatest mentor walk away with a Royal Severance Decree.

I sank back into my mahogany chair, the memory of Alpha Justin Hayes standing in this exact room a few days ago making my blood boil. He had returned from the border reeking of his polluted cologne, heavily masked by the sharp, cheap spices of Gamma Brenna Wilson's scent. He had the audacity to demand a Royal Decree to make her Co-Luna, using his so-called "military merits" as leverage.

It was a blatant violation of the kingdom's law, which forbade high-ranking officers from Rejecting their mates or taking a second within five years of marriage. But to appease the military and maintain morale, I had compromised. I had signed that cursed decree.

Now, knowing the truth—that Justin's "glory" was built on the slaughtered and maimed bodies of the Wood family—nausea twisted my gut. He had extorted me with stolen valor.

And Isla... she was returning to the ruins of the Silvermoon Pack to raise her orphaned nephew, Javion. A wolfless girl, stepping back into a graveyard soaked in her family's blood, just to preserve her pride. She refused to accept a polluted mate-bond. Granting her the Severance was the only way to save her from Justin's inevitable cruelty, but the thought of her facing those nightmares alone made my Inner Wolf shudder.

A soft knock broke my thoughts. Beta Alton Marsh stepped in, his faint ink scent laced with undeniable anxiety.

"Your Majesty," Alton bowed low. "The Dowager Empress demands your presence in her suite. Immediately."

I braced myself. I walked through the palace corridors and stepped into my mother's quarters. The heavy, suffocating scent of violet and agarwood hit me instantly, thick with the sorrowful rage of her Inner Wolf.

Dowager Empress Georgiana sat stiffly on her carved high-backed chair. Her face was pale, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"How could you, Adrian?" she demanded, her voice trembling with a mother's fury. "Arthur Crawford's daughter! You force a wolfless girl to share her mate with a Gamma warrior? You are sending her to her death!"

I knelt before her, the guilt heavy on my shoulders. "Mother, please. The situation has changed. Isla was just in my study." I took a steadying breath, breaking the news. "She didn't ask for my protection against Brenna. She asked for a Royal Severance. She is leaving the Bloodfang Pack to return to the Silvermoon estate."

My mother froze. The anger in her eyes shattered into profound, agonizing grief. "She... she chose Rejection?"

"She refuses to watch her mate love another she-wolf," I said softly.

Those words struck my mother like a physical blow. I saw the ancient scars surface in her eyes—the ghosts of Aileen, Candace, and Gina Reynolds, the favored mistresses my father had flaunted before her. She knew the soul-crushing agony of a fractured mate-bond better than anyone in this palace.

"That poor, brave child," Georgiana wept, clutching her chest as if her own heart were breaking all over again. Then, her sorrow hardened into a cold, lethal disgust. "And this Gamma Brenna... I once praised her for elevating the status of female wolves in our kingdom. Yet the first thing she does with her newfound power is trample on the marriage and dignity of an innocent woman. She is a disgrace."

I stood up, my own Inner Wolf snarling at the thought of the arrogant Alpha who had caused all this. Justin Hayes thought he had won. He thought he was the kingdom's rising star, untouchable and triumphant.

"Alton," I called out, my voice dropping to a deadly, Alpha command.

"Yes, Sire?" Alton stepped forward from the shadows.

"When Alpha Justin Hayes comes to the palace tomorrow morning to solidify his decree, leave him standing at the gates. I will not see him." I narrowed my eyes, the amber in my irises glowing in the dim light. "It is time he learns his true place."