Genevieve POV:

I woke up screaming.

Pain. Everywhere.

I wasn't in the Pack House. I was on cold, jagged rock. The air smelled of sulfur and old death.

A silver mine.

Meredith, Ignatz's mother, stood outside the iron bars of the cage I'd been thrown into. She held a handkerchief over her nose.

"Finally," she said. "Ignatz is too soft. Divorce isn't enough. You're a stain, Genevieve. And stains need to be scrubbed out."

"Where..." I coughed, tasting dust.

"The abandoned sector. No one comes here. The silver content in the rock is high enough to keep you weak, and the cold will do the rest."

She turned to leave. "Goodbye, dear. Do try to die quietly."

She left me in the dark.

Hours passed. The cold seeped into my marrow. But the silver... the silver was poison. It burned my skin, sapping my strength.

Then the cramps started.

"No," I whimpered, curling around my belly. "No, please. Stay with me."

It was a tearing agony. I felt warmth between my legs, and I knew. I knew it was over.

My pup was gone.

A scream tore from my throat-a sound so broken it shattered the silence of the mine. The grief was a physical blow, snapping the last thread of my control.

The seal didn't just crack. It detonated.

ENOUGH!

My wolf exploded into the driver's seat. White light flooded the cavern. My bones snapped and reformed, healing instantly. The silver burns vanished under a wave of regenerative power.

I stood up, but the iron door was heavy.

Kaleb POV:

I was mid-sentence in a Council meeting three hundred miles away when it hit me.

It felt like a shotgun blast to the chest. I doubled over, my chair clattering to the floor.

Mate.

Pain. Loss. Grief so deep it felt like drowning.

"Alpha Kaleb?" an Elder asked.

I looked up. My eyes were glowing a violent, radioactive violet.

"She's dying," I snarled.

I didn't wait for the jet. I shifted right there in the Council chambers-a massive, shadow-black wolf the size of a horse-and crashed through the window, sprinting north.

Hang on, I roared through the bond I had never dared to use. I am coming.

Genevieve POV:

The iron door of the cage flew off its hinges with a screech of tearing metal.

I looked up through the haze of my transformation. Standing in the opening, backlit by the moonlight filtering into the mine shaft, was a monster.

A black wolf. Huge. Terrifying.

He shifted. Kaleb. The Supreme Alpha.

He rushed to me, his face a mask of horror as he saw the blood on my dress.

"Genevieve," he choked out, dropping to his knees. He pulled me into his chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I'm late."

"My baby," I sobbed into his shirt. "They killed him, Kaleb."

A growl rumbled in his chest, so deep it shook the dust from the ceiling.

"They will burn for this," he promised. "But first, I need to get you out."

Three Days Later.

The engagement party at the St. Regis Hotel. Ignatz and Everleigh were celebrating their "official" union.

I stood outside the heavy oak doors. My body hummed with power. The White Wolf was awake, and she wanted blood.

Kaleb stood beside me, his hand on the small of my back. "Ready?"

"Kick it down," I said.

Kaleb didn't hesitate. He kicked the doors. They didn't just open; they shattered, flying off their hinges and crashing onto the banquet tables.

Music died. Screams erupted.

I stepped through the dust. I wore a gown of midnight blue-Royal colors. My eyes were glowing a brilliant, icy silver.

Ignatz stood at the head table, champagne glass frozen.

"You..." he stammered. "My mother said..."

"That I was dead?" I finished, my voice amplified by raw Alpha power. "Disappointed?"

I walked through the crowd. Wolves instinctively parted, bowing their heads without knowing why. Their inner beasts recognized a predator of a higher tier.

I reached the dais and threw the divorce papers-stained with my blood from the mine-in his face.

"You are free, Ignatz. But you are not free of the consequences."

"Guards!" Ignatz shrieked. "Seize her! She's a Rogue!"

Four warriors rushed me.

I didn't move. I just let my Aura expand.

BOOM.

It hit them like a physical wall. They collapsed mid-stride, pinned to the floor by the sheer weight of my presence.

"Who do you think you are?" Everleigh screeched. "You're a barren nobody!"

"Careful," a thunderous voice echoed from the entrance.

My father, the Alpha King, marched in, flanked by two dozen Royal Guards in full tactical gear.

"You are speaking to my daughter," the King roared.

The room froze.

"She is Genevieve Foley," the King announced. "Princess of the Royal Pack. Carrier of the White Wolf bloodline. And your future Queen."

Everleigh's face went gray. She collapsed into her chair.

Ignatz looked at me, horror dawning. He had traded a diamond for a piece of glass.

"Genevieve..." he whispered. "I didn't know."

"If you had known, you would have loved my title, not me," I said coldly.

"And now," the King said. "You face judgment."

"Not just the Crown," Kaleb stepped forward, his violet eyes promising murder. "She belongs to me. And you touched what is mine."

Genevieve POV:

The ride to the Royal Manor was silent, but it wasn't empty.

Kaleb sat next to me. The scent of him-rain, ozone, and deep forest-was the only thing keeping me grounded.

"You saved me," I whispered.

"I felt you," he said, taking my hand. His thumb traced my knuckles. "When you... when the baby died. I felt it break you."

I looked away, shame burning my cheeks. "I chose him, Kaleb. I rejected the bond five years ago because I wanted a 'normal' life. And look where it got me."

"You made a choice based on love," Kaleb said firmly. "That is not a sin. His betrayal is the sin."

We pulled up to the Foley Manor. It was a fortress.

Kaleb didn't let me walk. He scooped me up, carrying me inside like I weighed nothing.

"I can walk," I protested weakly.

"You've walked alone long enough," he murmured.

He brought me to the dining hall. He sat me down and placed a plate of rare steak in front of me.

"Eat," he commanded gently. "Your wolf needs fuel to heal the damage from the silver."

I took a bite. It was incredible. As I ate, I watched him. He wasn't looking at me with pity. He was looking at me with a fierce, possessive adoration.

"Why?" I asked. "I'm damaged goods."

Kaleb leaned in, his eyes intense.

"Because you are the other half of my soul, Genevieve. I don't care about your scars. I only care about the man who gave them to you."

He smells like home, my wolf whispered.

"Rest now," he said, wiping a tear from my cheek. "Tomorrow, we finish this."