Echo POV:

The smell of bacon and syrup filled the kitchen, usually a comforting scent, but today it made my stomach churn.

"Sit down, Echo," Sam said, pulling out a chair. He was acting the benevolent Alpha, forcing harmony where there was only betrayal. "Lily made breakfast."

Lily looked up from her plate, eyes wide and innocent. She was wearing one of my old silk robes. "I hope you don't mind, Luna. I didn't have anything comfortable to wear."

I stared at the robe. It was a gift from my mother.

"Take it off," I said.

"Echo!" Sam slammed his hand on the table. "Be reasonable. It's just fabric."

"I want Mommy and Daddy to sleep with me tonight!" Kitty announced loudly, banging her spoon.

Lily hushed her, but shot a smirk in my direction. "Shh, Kitty. The Luna is sensitive."

I ignored them and sat down, mostly because my legs felt weak. My wolf was pacing inside my mind, scratching at the walls of my consciousness, demanding blood. Not yet.

"Here," Lily said, sliding a basket of bread toward me. "I baked this special bread. It has Sweetgrass in it. My grandmother used to say it helps with... fertility issues."

The insult was wrapped in a smile.

I looked at the bread. It looked golden and soft. Sweetgrass was a common herb, harmless.

"I'm not hungry," I said.

"Please, Echo," Sam sighed, looking exhausted. "Lily is trying to make peace. Eat the bread. Show me you can be a Luna who accepts her Pack."

Accepts her Pack. He meant accepts his infidelity.

I reached out. My fingertips brushed the crust of the bread.

Instantly, a sharp, stinging sensation shot up my arm. It felt like I had touched a live wire. My skin burned.

I jerked my hand back.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

I stared at the bread. My wolf snarled. *Poison.*

"That's not Sweetgrass," I whispered, looking at Lily. Her smile faltered for a fraction of a second.

"Of course it is," Lily said, her voice trembling. "I picked it myself."

"It's Wolfsbane," I said, my voice rising.

Wolfsbane. Deadly to our kind. In small doses, it causes sickness and miscarriage. In large doses, it closes the throat and stops the heart.

"You are crazy!" Sam stood up. "Wolfsbane? In the kitchen? Echo, your jealousy has made you insane."

"Touch it, Sam," I challenged him. "If it's Sweetgrass, eat it."

Sam hesitated. He looked at the bread, then at Lily. Lily's eyes were filled with tears again. "She's accusing me of trying to kill her! Sam, I can't stay here! She's dangerous!"

"She is dangerous," Sam agreed, looking at me with disgust. "Echo, you are losing your mind."

"I can smell it!" I screamed. *"The chemical bitterness underneath the sugar! She is poisoning me!"*

"Enough!" Sam roared. He used the Alpha Command. The air in the room grew heavy, pressing down on my shoulders like lead weights. "Silence!"

My mouth snapped shut against my will. The power of the Alpha over a pack member was absolute, unless the member was stronger. And right now, in my weakened state, he was stronger.

"I am taking Kitty upstairs to play," Sam said, his voice cold. "You and Lily will sort this out. Apologize to her, Echo. Or so help me Moon Goddess, I will lock you in your room."

He grabbed Kitty's hand and marched out.

I sat there, fighting the Command, my jaw aching.

As soon as Sam was gone, the tears vanished from Lily's face. She picked up the piece of bread I had touched.

"You have a good nose," she whispered, leaning across the table. "For a barren bitch."

"Why?" I managed to grit out, the Command fading slightly with Sam's distance.

"Because this is my Pack now," Lily hissed. Her eyes flashed yellow-the color of a common wolf. "Sam needs an heir. I gave him a fake one to get in the door. But once you're dead... I'll give him a real one. Or maybe I'll just take his money. Who cares?"

"He will find out," I said.

"He sees what he wants to see," Lily smiled. She stood up and walked around the table to me. "And right now, he sees a crazy, jealous ex-wife."

She grabbed my jaw with surprising strength. "Eat it."

*

Echo POV:

"Get off me!" I tried to shove her away, but the lingering effects of Sam's Alpha Command made my limbs feel like they were moving through molasses.

Lily was an Omega-physically weak-but she was desperate, and I was suppressed. She jammed the bread against my lips.

"Eat it, you useless cow!" she shrieked.

I clamped my mouth shut, turning my head. Crumbs fell onto my lap. My skin blistered where the bread touched my cheek. *It was a high concentration. Pure extract.*

"Stop!" I gasped, finally shoving her back. She stumbled, hitting her hip against the granite island.

She looked at me, then at the knife block on the counter. A wicked idea formed in her eyes.

"You want to play the victim?" she sneered. "Let's give Sam a show."

She grabbed a serrated steak knife. Before I could move, she slashed the blade across her own chest.

Blood-bright red and smelling of copper-sprayed onto her white dress.

"AHHHHH! SAM! HELP ME!" Lily screamed, dropping the knife and collapsing onto the floor, writhing in fake agony.

"What have you done?" I whispered, horrified.

Thundering footsteps on the stairs. Sam burst into the kitchen.

He saw Lily on the floor, covered in blood. He saw me standing over her, crumbs of the poisoned bread on my lap.

"Echo!" Sam didn't ask questions. He didn't sniff the air to realize the blood was from a superficial cut. He just reacted.

He lunged at me. His hand wrapped around my throat, lifting me off my feet. He slammed me against the wall.

"You monster!" he spat, his saliva hitting my face. "You tried to kill her!"

"No... Sam... the bread..." I clawed at his hands, but my airway was closing. Not from his grip, but from the Wolfsbane dust I had inhaled. My throat was swelling shut.

"Save... me... Sam..." Lily moaned from the floor. "She... she tried to force feed me..."

"I've got you, baby," Sam dropped me like a sack of garbage. I hit the floor hard, gasping for air that wouldn't come.

He scooped Lily up. He looked down at me, his eyes full of hatred.

"If she dies," Sam growled, "you die."

He turned and ran out of the house, heading for the pack hospital.

I was alone.

My lungs were burning. My vision blurred. *Wolfsbane.*

I crawled. I dragged my body across the kitchen floor, my fingernails scratching against the tiles. I had to get to my room.

My father. He had given me a vial years ago. *Universal Antidote.* A rare elixir from the Royal alchemists.

I pulled myself up the stairs, step by agonizing step. My wolf was fading.

I reached my room. I knocked the jewelry box over. The small crystal vial rolled out.

I uncorked it with my teeth and drank.

It tasted like liquid fire.

I convulsed, coughing violently. Black bile spewed from my lips as the antidote purged the toxin. *I lay there for an hour, shivering, my body weak and trembling. The antidote worked, but it didn't erase the damage. I felt like I'd been beaten with iron rods.*

I sat up, wiping my mouth.

The love I had for Sam didn't die slowly. It was murdered on the kitchen floor.

I forced myself to stand, using the dresser for support.

I walked to the closet. I took the wedding photo of us-Sam and me, smiling under a flower arch. I smashed it on the floor.

I stumbled to the backyard. The rose garden. Sam had planted these roses for me. Every rose was a day he would love me.

I grabbed a canister of gasoline from the shed. My hands shook so hard I spilled half of it on my boots.

I doused the roses. The fumes burned my nose.

I lit a match.

*Whoosh.*

The flames roared to life, consuming the flowers, the trellis, the lies.

I stood in front of the fire, swaying, the heat drying the cold sweat on my skin.

A convoy of black SUVs pulled into the driveway. The doors opened, and six warriors in full tactical gear stepped out. They wore the crest of the Royal Northern Pack.

*One of the warriors rushed to catch me as my legs finally gave out.*

"Princess Echo," he said, supporting my weight. "We are here."

I turned to the house. I pulled a piece of paper from my pocket-a standard Rejection Letter I had printed out.

I signed it with a shaking hand. *The warrior took it and pinned it to the front door with a dagger.*

"Let's go," I rasped.

I didn't look back.

*

Sam POV:

The hospital waiting room smelled of antiseptic and cheap coffee.

"She'll be fine, Alpha," the doctor said, looking nervous. "The cut on Lily's chest was shallow. It looked worse than it was. She needs stitches, but she's stable."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Thank the Goddess."

"But, Alpha..." The doctor hesitated. "We ran a blood panel. We found traces of Wolfsbane on her hands and lips. But... oddly, none in her stomach or bloodstream."

I frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means she didn't eat it," the doctor said carefully. "She handled it."

A cold seed of doubt planted itself in my gut. I pushed it away. Echo was the crazy one. Echo was the jealous one.

"Whatever," I muttered. "I need to call Echo. She needs to know she's in serious trouble."

I reached out with my mind, trying to open the *Mind-Link*. Usually, it felt like a hum in the back of my head.

*Echo? Answer me.*

Silence.

Not the silence of someone ignoring you. The silence of a void. A dead line.

She had blocked me. Only a wolf who has severed the pack bond can block their Alpha.

"Joshua!" I barked.

My Beta ran over. "Alpha?"

"Why can't I link her?"

Joshua looked pale. "Alpha... we just got a notification from the Pack Registry. Echo... she filed a formal withdrawal. She's gone."

"Gone?" I laughed, a harsh, incredulous sound. "Where would she go? She has no money. Her family hates her."

"I don't know, sir. But the neighbors called. They said... they said the house is on fire."

"WHAT?"

I left Lily in the hospital. I drove home, breaking every speed limit.

When I pulled into the driveway, the fire trucks were already leaving. The house was standing, but the backyard...

My rose garden. The symbol of our courtship. It was a blackened, smoking wasteland.

I walked to the front door. A dagger was stuck into the wood, holding a piece of paper.

I pulled it loose.

*To Alpha Sam,*

*I, Echo, hereby reject you as my Chosen Mate. I reject your Pack. I reject your name.*

*P.S. Check your own fertility records, Sam. You can't have children. You never could.*

I stared at the paper. The words blurred.

*Check your fertility records.*

"No," I whispered. "She's lying. She's just trying to hurt me because I chose Lily."

I stormed into the house. It was empty. Not just of people, but of *her*.

Her scent-that crisp, clean smell of winter air-was gone. It was like she had never existed. Her closet was empty. Her jewelry box was overturned on the floor.

I walked through the silent rooms. Panic started to rise. Not because I missed her love, but because the house felt... unprotected. The heavy, oppressive aura of the Alpha bloodline that she carried-even dormant-was gone. The house felt small. Cheap.

I looked at the burnt garden through the window.

"She'll come back," I said aloud, trying to convince myself. "She has nowhere else to go. She's just throwing a tantrum."

My phone rang. It was Lily.

"Sammy? When are you coming back to pick me up?" her voice was whiny.

For the first time in five years, her voice grated on my nerves.

"I'm busy," I snapped.

"But Sammy..."

"I said I'm busy!" I yelled into the phone.

I hung up.

I looked at the note again. *You can't have children.*

"Joshua!" I shouted.

My Beta appeared in the doorway.

"Go to the clinic," I ordered, my voice shaking. *"Dig up my old files. The ones from five years ago. The ones I told the doctor to seal because I assumed nothing was wrong with me."*

"Sir?"

"DO IT!"

I sat on the sofa, clutching the rejection letter.

If she was right... if I was sterile... then who was Kitty?

And if Echo was gone... who was going to intimidate the bank into extending our loans next week?

I looked at the burnt roses. I needed to fix this. I needed to buy her something. She liked shiny things, right?

"Get the jeweler on the phone," I muttered to the empty room. "I'll buy her that Moonstone necklace. She'll come back for that."

I was the Alpha. I always got what I wanted.

Didn't I?

*