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."

Justin POV

The morning sun beat down on the marble steps outside the Royal Study, but it did nothing to warm the sudden chill in my blood. I had been standing in front of the heavy oak doors for an hour. My pristine military uniform felt suffocating, and my Inner Wolf paced restlessly, agitated by the oppressive scent leaking through the crack in the doors.

It was the Alpha King's signature amber and ambergris, but it was thick with an undeniable, suffocating fury.

I adjusted my collar, my jaw tight. I was the kingdom's rising star. Gamma Brenna and I had secured the border, and the King himself had issued the Royal Decree allowing her to be my Co-Luna. I was supposed to be welcomed as a hero today to solidify the paperwork. Why was I being made to wait like a commoner?

Finally, the doors clicked open. Head Beta Alton Marsh stepped out, his face set in a flawless, professional smile. His faint ink scent gave nothing away.

"Alpha Justin," Alton said smoothly, offering a polite nod. "His Majesty is overwhelmed with urgent state matters this morning. He asks that you return on another day."

My brow furrowed. "Another day? Beta Alton, I was summoned. Did the Bloodfang Pack do something to offend the Crown?"

Alton's smile didn't waver, though his weak Inner Wolf remained perfectly guarded. "His Majesty's moods are tied to the kingdom's burdens, Alpha. Have a safe journey home."

He stepped back and shut the heavy doors in my face. My Alpha ego flared with hot, stinging humiliation. I spun on my heel and marched down the corridors, my mind racing. The King's attitude had changed overnight. Why?

By the time I reached the Royal Pack House Gates to retrieve my horse, my frustration was boiling over. I had spent all of yesterday wrapped in Brenna's warm, passionate embrace, completely disconnected from the Pack's trivial matters.

As I grabbed my reins, my enhanced hearing caught the low murmurs of two Royal Guards standing near the iron gates.

"Did you see the Bloodfang Luna yesterday?" one whispered. "Stood in the blazing sun for hours before the King finally let her in."

"Yeah," the other muttered. "Arthur Crawford's daughter. Guess she still has some pull with the Crown."

I froze. The blood roared in my ears.

*Isla.*

My Inner Wolf snarled, piecing it all together. That jealous, petty Omega! While I was celebrating my hard-earned victories with Brenna, Isla had slinked off to the palace. She had used her dead father's name to cry to the Alpha King, begging him to revoke my Royal Decree! That was why the King was furious with me. She had poisoned his mind.

"You manipulative bitch," I hissed under my breath. I vaulted onto my horse and spurred it into a furious gallop toward the Bloodfang estate.

I didn't bother with the front doors when I arrived. I stormed straight through the corridors and violently kicked open the door to The Luna's Suite.

The heavy oak door slammed against the wall. The room instantly filled with my furious scent—my natural cologne heavily mixed with the sharp, spicy scent of Brenna that still clung to my skin.

"Isla!" I roared, letting a wave of my Alpha's Command crash into the room.

Effa Rose, Isla's pathetic wolfless maid, shrieked. She threw herself in front of Isla, her entire body trembling violently under the crushing weight of my aura, but she refused to move.

Isla sat by the window, bathed in the morning light. She didn't flinch. She didn't cower. She just looked at me with those icy blue eyes, her face a mask of absolute, chilling indifference.

"Step aside, Effa," Isla commanded, her voice perfectly steady.

"M-My Lady, no!" Effa sobbed, terrified I was going to strike her.

"I said, step aside," Isla repeated. Effa reluctantly moved, wiping her tears.

I marched forward, my eyes glowing red with Alpha fury. "You went to the King," I spat, pointing a finger at her. "You couldn't handle the truth, so you ran to the palace to cry about your dead father and beg the King to ruin my decree!"

Isla looked at my pointing finger, then up at my face. "I did not ask the King to revoke your decree, Justin."

"Liar!" I snarled, slamming my fist onto the mahogany table. "You are so incredibly fake, Isla. You act like this perfect, submissive Luna, but the second my back is turned, you scheme to destroy my happiness. You will never be half the woman Brenna is. She fights her enemies face-to-face. You just stab me in the back!"

I waited for her to break. I waited for the tears, the desperate apologies, the pathetic pleas for my love.

Instead, the fragile, lingering thread of our mate-bond suddenly went completely dead. She severed her end of the emotional connection so thoroughly it felt like a door slamming shut in my soul.

She just sat there, looking at me as if I were a stranger.