Eliza POV:

The hospital waiting room was chaos.

Pack warriors paced nervously. Doctors ran back and forth. My mother, Nora, was sobbing in a chair, being comforted by Kylie and Dionne.

"He's losing too much blood," a surgeon said, stepping out. His surgical mask was stained red. "We need a transfusion immediately. But the Alpha has a rare blood type. O-negative, but with the Alpha enzyme. We don't have enough in the bank."

"Take mine!" Nora cried.

"You are A-positive, Luna. It won't work," the surgeon said grimly. "We need a universal donor with high potency."

I sat in the corner, holding my bandaged arm. I knew my blood type. In the bunker, Burt had tested me often, muttering about how valuable I was.

"I'm O-negative," I said. My voice was raspy. "I have Moon Blood."

The room went silent. Moon Blood-Rh-null-was the "Golden Blood." It could save anyone.

Kylie scoffed. "You? You probably have sewer water in your veins."

Nora stood up, her eyes red. "Get away from us. Don't you dare suggest putting your filthy Rogue blood into my husband!"

"It will save him," I said simply. I didn't care about Derek. But I knew this was my only value to them.

The surgeon looked desperate. "Luna, if she is a match... we have no choice. He will die within the hour."

Nora covered her face. "Fine. Drain her if you have to. Just save him."

They took me to a room. They didn't ask if I was okay. They hooked me up to two machines at once to draw the blood faster. It made me dizzy and cold.

As the blood left my body, I felt the last connection to my father draining away. I was saving his life, but I knew he would never thank me.

Hours later, the surgery was declared a success. The Pack cheered. Nora hugged the surgeon. Kylie was praised for being "so brave" during the wait.

I was left in the hallway, shivering, drinking a juice box a kind nurse had sneaked me.

Elder Hadley walked past. He stopped when he saw me. He looked at my pale face, then at the bandage on my arm from the dog bite, and the bandage on my other arm from the blood draw.

He narrowed his eyes. "Nurse," he said quietly. "Run a full DNA panel on the girl. And a blood lineage test."

"Yes, Elder," the nurse nodded.

The next morning, Derek was discharged. He was weak but alive. The Pack convoy lined up outside the hospital.

I walked to the car, expecting to get in the trunk again.

"Not you," Dionne said, blocking my path. She held a piece of paper. "I have contacted Social Services. You are being sent to a boarding facility for troubled youth. We cannot have a dangerous, lying child in the Alpha's house while he recovers."

"But..." I looked at the car. Nora was inside, looking out the window. She saw me. She turned her head away.

"Go," Dionne pointed to a black sedan waiting at the curb. "Get out of our lives."

I didn't fight. I walked to the black sedan and got in. As we drove away, I didn't look back.

Hadley POV:

I was in the back of my Bentley, reviewing the hospital reports.

My phone buzzed. It was the head of the genetics lab.

"Elder," the doctor's voice was shaking. "You need to see this."

"Tell me," I commanded.

"The girl... Eliza. Her blood type isn't just O-negative. It contains active White Wolf markers. Extremely high concentration. Royal bloodlines."

I sat up straight. "White Wolf? That's a legend. That's Silver Claw lineage."

"There's more," the doctor continued. "I ran the paternity test you asked for. Derek is her biological father. 99.999% match."

"And the Rogue? Burt?"

"Impossible," the doctor said. "According to the medical records from the raid, the Rogue Burt had mumps as a teenager. He suffered from orchitis. He was sterile, Elder. He couldn't have fathered a child."

The phone nearly slipped from my hand.

My son, the Alpha, had been torturing his own flesh and blood. And not just any child-a White Wolf. A gift from the Moon Goddess herself.

"Turn the car around!" I roared at my driver. " NOW!"

We sped back to the hospital, but the black sedan was gone.

"Where is she?" I demanded, bursting into the discharge area.

"Dionne sent her away," a nurse whispered, terrified. "To an orphanage in Switzerland, I think."

I dialed the airport. I used my highest clearance. "Ground all flights! I need to find a child!"

"I'm sorry, Elder," the controller said. "A private jet just took off three minutes ago. Flight plan filed by... the Silver Claw Pack."

My blood ran cold. The Silver Claw. The most powerful, reclusive pack in the North. Nora's estranged family.

"We tracked Dionne's black sedan," the controller added nervously. "It was intercepted on the highway by Silver Claw special ops. They took the girl. They have her."

They had her. And we had lost her.

Hadley POV:

I sat in my office, the DNA report trembling in my hands. The silence in the room was heavy, suffocating.

My assistant, a sharp Beta named Marcus, stood by the door. "Elder, the guests are arriving. It's Kylie's birthday party. The Alpha expects you downstairs."

"A birthday party," I muttered, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "We are celebrating a cuckoo bird while our own eaglet has been cast out of the nest."

"Sir?"

"Nothing." I stood up, smoothing my suit. I grabbed the report. "Let's go to the party, Marcus. I think it's time for a toast."

The ballroom of the Moon Shadow Manor was dripping with opulence. Crystal chandeliers cast a golden glow over hundreds of guests. Women in silk gowns and men in tuxedos mingled, sipping champagne. The air smelled of expensive perfume and artificial happiness.

In the center of it all was Kylie. She was wearing a custom-made blue gown that probably cost more than a warrior's yearly salary. On her wrist, she wore the Moonstone Bracelet-an heirloom meant for the firstborn daughter of the Alpha.

It should have been Eliza's.

I watched Derek and Nora. They looked like the perfect couple. Derek, still pale from his blood loss but standing tall. Nora, beaming, holding Kylie's hand.

Disgust rose in my throat like bile.

I walked toward the head table. The crowd parted for me, bowing their heads in respect.

"Father!" Derek smiled when he saw me. "I'm glad you made it."

"Happy Birthday, Grandfather!" Kylie chirped. She reached for a slice of cake.

A servant approached with a silver platter to serve the cake.

Kylie shrieked. "Ew! That plate looks smudged! Did that dirty girl touch it before she left? Get it away from me! Burn it!"

The room went quiet. Kylie's bratty voice echoed off the walls.

"She's gone, darling," Nora soothed her, stroking her hair. "The bad thing is gone. You don't have to worry."

That was it. The dam broke.

I slammed my cane down onto the table. The heavy wood cracked. The sound was like a gunshot.

Glassware shattered. The music stopped. Every wolf in the room froze, sensing the killing intent rolling off me.

"The bad thing," I repeated, my voice low and dangerous.

"Father?" Derek stepped forward, confused. "What is wrong?"

"Everything," I snarled. I looked at the servant holding the plate. "Tell them, Abernathy. Tell everyone here how the 'bad thing' lived."

The butler turned pale. He looked at Derek, then at me. My Alpha command pinned him to the spot.

"She... she lived in the garage, sir," Abernathy stammered. "And then the basement."

"And what did she eat?" I bellowed.

"Scraps, sir. And... dog food."

Gasps rippled through the crowd. To mistreat a child-any child-was a sin. To feed a child dog food was an abomination.

"But she was a Rogue!" Kylie shouted, stomping her foot. "She smelled like poo!"

I turned my gaze on the girl. For the first time, I really looked at her. I saw the entitlement. The cruelty. And underneath the vanilla perfume, I smelled the truth I had missed before. She didn't smell like Nora. She didn't smell like Derek. She smelled... common. Her scent was weak, lacking the Alpha markers.

"You," I pointed at Kylie. "Silence."

I turned back to Derek. I threw the DNA report at his chest. The papers scattered across the ruined cake.

"Read it," I commanded.

Derek picked up a page. He frowned. "What is this?"

"It is the proof of your damnation," I said, my voice shaking with fury. "The girl you starved. The girl you let your dogs bite. The girl whose blood is currently flowing through your veins, keeping you alive."

Derek's eyes scanned the paper. His face went from confused to gray.

"No," he whispered. "This... this says..."

"Paternity confirmed," I read aloud for the room to hear. "Eliza is your biological daughter, Derek. Yours. And Nora's."

Nora laughed nervously. "That's impossible, Hadley. The smell... Burt..."

"Burt was sterile!" I shouted. "And the smell? The lab confirmed it. It wasn't just dirt. It was a high-grade Wolfsbane tincture mixed with sulfur. A masking agent designed to hide a royal bloodline from trackers. You were so blinded by your trauma you didn't even consult a chemist!"

I stepped closer to Nora. "You rejected your own pup. You let her be abused because you were too weak to look past a smell."

"And you," I turned to Dionne, who was trying to sneak away. "You sent her away. Where?"

"I... I thought it was for the best," Dionne stammered.

"She is a White Wolf!" I roared. The revelation hit the room like a bomb. "She carries the purest blood of the Silver Claw. She is the rarest creature born to this Pack in a century. And you threw her away like garbage."

Derek dropped to his knees. He looked at his hands-the hands that had signed the order to lock her in the basement.

"Eliza," he choked out.

"She's gone," I said, my voice cold as ice. "The Silver Claw came for her. And if I know Alpha Johnny... he will bring war to our doorstep for this."

I looked at the weeping Nora, the broken Derek, and the terrified Kylie.

"The party is over," I declared. "And so is this family."