My knees hit the dock before I realized I was falling.

Devon caught me, his arms solid and real, but everything else felt like it was dissolving. The world narrowed to those two words, repeating in my head like a prayer or a curse.

Leo. Alive.

My baby was alive.

"Get her inside," Devon's voice cut through the roaring in my ears. "Now."

He lifted me like I weighed nothing, carrying me away from Kenneth's cruel smile, from Sara's shocked face, from the pack members who'd gone silent with tension. The cabin door slammed behind us, muffling the chaos outside.

Devon set me on the couch, his hands framing my face. "Breathe, Mya. Just breathe."

But I couldn't. My chest was too tight, my lungs refusing to work. Leo. My son. The baby I'd felt growing inside me during those last terrible weeks with Kenneth, the life I'd been protecting when the ocean swallowed me whole.

I'd thought he died with me in those dark waters.

"Tell me," Devon said, his voice steady but his eyes wild. "Tell me what he's talking about."

The words came out broken. "I was pregnant. When Kenneth—when he commanded me to let go. I was three months along." My hands moved to my stomach, remembering. "I thought—the cold, the water—I thought I lost him."

Devon's face went pale. Then red. His wolf flashed in his eyes, amber bleeding to gold with rage.

"He knew?" The question came out deadly quiet.

"I don't know. Maybe. I never told him, but—" My voice cracked. "Devon, my baby is alive. Kenneth has him. He's been raising him, and I—"

"We'll get him back." Devon's hands tightened on mine. "I swear to the Moon Goddess, we'll get him back."

"How?" The word tasted like ash. "Kenneth's pack is three times our size. His territory is a fortress. If we attack—"

"Then we attack." Devon's jaw set in that stubborn line I knew so well. "I'll call in every favor, every alliance. We'll—"

A knock on the door cut him off.

Marcus's voice came through, tight with tension. "Alpha. Kenneth's demanding a private meeting with Mya. Says he'll wait one hour, then he's leaving."

Devon's growl rattled the windows. "Tell him—"

"I'll go," I said.

His head snapped toward me. "No."

"He has my son." I stood, my legs shaky but holding. "I have to hear what he wants."

The meeting happened in the treaty room, neutral ground with Marcus and Ryan standing guard. Kenneth sat across from me, his phone in his hand, his expression unreadable.

Devon stood behind me, a wall of protective fury.

Kenneth didn't waste time. He turned the phone toward me, and my heart stopped.

The video showed a small boy sitting on a bed in a room that looked more like a cell than a bedroom. White walls. No toys. No color. He had Kenneth's dark hair but my eyes—those soft brown eyes that used to look at me in the mirror.

Leo.

He looked so small. So sad.

"He's well cared for," Kenneth said, his voice casual. Like we were discussing the weather. "Fed, clothed, educated. Sara's been an excellent mother."

The lie burned. "She's not his mother."

"No." Kenneth's eyes locked on mine. "You are. And you can be again."

Hope flared, painful and desperate. "What?"

"Come back to the Dark Moon Pack. As my Pack Mistress." He said it like it was reasonable. Like it was generous. "Sara remains Luna—that's non-negotiable. But you can live in the pack house. See Leo every day. Be his mother."

Devon's growl shook the room. "You're insane."

Kenneth ignored him, his focus entirely on me. "Or refuse, and I'll send him to the Blackstone Academy. Military boarding school. He'll be trained as a warrior, far from both of us. You'll never see him again."

"You wouldn't." But I could see in his eyes that he would.

"Choose, Mya." Kenneth leaned forward. "Your son, or your pride."

Back in Devon's cabin, I couldn't stop shaking.

"Don't do this." Devon paced like a caged wolf. "We can raid them. Tonight. Catch them off guard—"

"And if Leo gets hurt in the crossfire?" I wrapped my arms around myself. "If Kenneth uses him as a shield? If—"

"Then we'll be careful. We'll plan. Mya, please." He dropped to his knees in front of me, his hands gripping mine. "Don't go back to him. Don't let him win."

"He already won." The truth tasted bitter. "The moment he told me Leo was alive, he won."

Devon's face crumpled. "I can't lose you."

"You won't." I pulled him close, breathing in his scent—pine and ocean, home and safety. "This isn't forever. I'll find a way. I'll get Leo out, and then—"

"And then what? Kenneth won't let you go. You know that."

I did know. But what choice did I have?

The yacht's engine rumbled as I stood on the dock, my small bag at my feet. Devon stood beside me, his face carved from stone, his eyes burning with unshed tears.

"Mark me," I whispered. "One more time."

His teeth found my neck, sinking into the mate mark he'd given me two years ago. The bond flared between us, bright and fierce and unbreakable. When he pulled back, his eyes were wet.

"Come back to me," he said.

"Always." I kissed him, pouring everything I couldn't say into it. "I'm not leaving you in my heart. Only in body. Only to save our son."

Kenneth waited on the yacht's deck, his expression triumphant.

I didn't look back as I boarded. Couldn't. If I saw Devon's face, I'd break. I'd run back to him and damn the consequences.

But as the yacht pulled away from the dock, I felt Devon's howl through the mate bond—a sound of pure anguish that shattered what was left of my heart.

The Dark Moon Pack house rose ahead, a glass and steel fortress.

And somewhere inside, my son was waiting.

The Dark Moon Pack house loomed above me like a monument to everything I'd lost.

Glass and steel stretched toward the sky, reflecting the city lights in cold, perfect lines. I'd forgotten how sterile it was. How lifeless. The Azure Tide village had wood and warmth, laughter echoing off stone walls. This place felt like a tomb dressed in expensive architecture.

Kenneth led me through the lobby without a word. Pack members stopped mid-conversation, their eyes tracking me with confusion that quickly turned to recognition. Whispers followed in our wake.

"Isn't that—"

"The dead Omega?"

"I thought she drowned."

Their stares felt like knives. I kept my chin up, my shoulders back. I wasn't that girl anymore. I'd died in the ocean and come back stronger.

But my hands still shook.

Sara waited in the main hall, her smile sharp as broken glass. She'd changed into a cream silk dress that probably cost more than a fishing boat, her hair swept up to show off the unmarked skin of her neck. No mate bond. Just expensive perfume trying to cover the bitterness underneath.

"Mya." She said my name like it tasted bad. "Welcome home."

Home. The word was a slap.

"Sara." I kept my voice flat.

Her smile widened. "Kenneth's told me about your... arrangement. How generous of him to let you see Leo." She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear. "But let's be clear about your place here. You're not Luna. You're not pack. You're a guest who's overstayed her welcome."

Kenneth's hand found the small of Sara's back, possessive. "Show her to her quarters."

Sara's eyes gleamed with victory. "Of course, darling." She turned to me, her smile all teeth. "Follow me."

She led me to the service elevator. Not the main one with its marble and mirrors. The one the Omegas used.

We descended into the basement.

The hallway smelled like bleach and old concrete. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting everything in sickly yellow. Sara stopped at a door that looked like it belonged to a storage closet.

"Your room." She pushed it open.

A cot. A single bare bulb. Concrete walls that wept with moisture. This wasn't quarters. This was a cell.

"The upper floors are restricted," Sara said, her voice sweet as poison. "Especially the residential wing. That's where Leo lives. With his real family." She leaned in close. "If I catch you anywhere near him without permission, I'll have Kenneth send you back to that fishing village in pieces."

She left me there, her heels clicking away down the hall.

I waited until the sound faded. Then I counted to one hundred.

The ventilation system hadn't changed. I'd cleaned these ducts as an Omega, knew every twist and turn. The grate came off easily, and I pulled myself up into the narrow shaft.

My wolf stirred, lending me strength. The white fur I'd earned through pain and survival. I wouldn't shift—too risky—but I felt her there, steady and sure.

The ducts led up through the building's skeleton. I crawled past the main floors, past Kenneth's office, past the grand dining hall. The metal was cold against my palms, but I barely felt it.

Leo. I was coming for Leo.

The nursery floor was on the twentieth level. I found the grate that opened into a storage closet and dropped down silent as smoke.

The hallway beyond was carpeted in soft gray, walls painted with cheerful murals that felt wrong in this cold place. I heard a child's voice, soft and hesitant, coming from the room at the end.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

The door was cracked open. I peered through.

Leo sat on the floor, surrounded by expensive toys he wasn't playing with. He was small for his age, his shoulders hunched like he was trying to disappear. Kenneth's dark hair. My brown eyes.

My son.

I pushed the door open slowly. "Leo?"

His head snapped up. For one heartbeat, I saw recognition flash across his face—something deep and instinctive that made my wolf surge with hope.

Then fear replaced it.

He scrambled backward, his small body pressing against the wall. "Stay away from me."

The words hit like a physical blow. "Leo, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm—"

"My mommy is Luna Sara." His voice shook, but the words came out practiced. Rehearsed. "You are the bad Rogue who left me. You're not supposed to be here."

I dropped to my knees, making myself small. Non-threatening. "Who told you that?"

"Everyone knows." But his eyes darted to the door, nervous. "Luna Sara saved me from you. She's my real mommy."

Lies. All lies. But he believed them. Sara had poisoned him against me before I even had a chance.

I forced myself to breathe. To think. "Can I sit with you? Just for a minute?"

He hesitated, then nodded slowly.

I moved closer, careful not to spook him. Up close, I could see the dark circles under his eyes. The way his hands trembled slightly. Something was wrong.

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked gently.

He shrugged. "I'm always tired. Luna Sara says it's normal."

It wasn't normal. I'd helped Elena treat enough pups to know that.

A tray sat on his bedside table—lunch, barely touched. I picked up the glass of juice, pretending to examine it casually. The scent hit me immediately.

Wolfsbane.

My blood went cold.

I'd learned to identify it during my time with the Azure Tide healers. The bitter, metallic smell that clung to anything it touched. And there was something else—suppressants, the kind used to keep young wolves from shifting too early.

Sara was drugging him.

Keeping him weak. Keeping his wolf buried so deep he might never find it.

Rage flooded through me, hot and vicious. My eyes flashed gold before I could stop them.

Leo gasped. "Your eyes—"

I forced them back to brown, my hands shaking with the effort of controlling my wolf. "It's okay. I'm okay."

But I wasn't okay. Nothing about this was okay.

I poured the juice into a small vial I'd tucked in my pocket, then refilled the glass with water from the bathroom. Evidence. I needed evidence.

"I have to go," I said softly. "But Leo? I'm going to come back. And I'm going to help you feel better."

He looked at me with those eyes—my eyes—confused and scared and so, so tired.

"Promise?" he whispered.

"Promise."

I left before Sara's lies could poison him further. Before my wolf could break free and tear this entire building apart.

In my basement cell, I held the vial up to the bare bulb. The liquid inside glowed faintly purple.

Proof.

Sara wasn't just keeping Leo from me. She was slowly destroying him from the inside out, terrified of the Alpha power that ran through his veins.

My hands curled into fists.

She'd made a mistake. A fatal one.

She'd given me a reason to stop playing nice.

The summons came at dawn.

A sharp knock on my cell door, followed by Ryan's gruff voice. "Alpha Kenneth wants you in his office. Now."

I'd barely slept, the vial of poisoned juice hidden in my pocket like a burning coal. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Leo's tired face, heard his small voice calling Sara his mother.

Kenneth's office occupied the top floor, all floor-to-ceiling windows and sleek furniture that screamed power. He stood by the glass, his back to me, hands clasped behind him like some corporate king surveying his kingdom.

"Close the door," he said without turning.

I did, my wolf stirring uneasily.

He turned then, and something in his expression made my skin crawl. Not anger. Not the cold calculation I'd expected. Something worse.

Hunger.

"You look different," he said, moving closer. "Stronger. The shift suits you."

I held my ground. "You wanted to see me?"

"I wanted to talk." Another step. "About us."

"There is no us."

"Isn't there?" His voice dropped, taking on that intimate tone he used to use when we were alone. When I'd been stupid enough to believe he loved me. "The bond is still there, Mya. I feel it. You feel it too."

I did feel it—that old pull, like a hook buried deep in my chest. The mate bond didn't die just because you wanted it to. It lingered, a ghost of what the Moon Goddess intended.

But my wolf snarled, rejecting it with every fiber of her being.

"I feel nothing," I lied.

He was close now, close enough that I could smell his scent—burnt cedar and rain, mixed with expensive cologne. His hand reached for my face, fingers brushing my cheek.

"Liar."

The touch sent electricity through me, but it wasn't desire. It was revulsion wrapped in the bond's twisted magic.

His other hand found my waist, pulling me closer. "Sara is Luna. That won't change. But you—you could be mine again. We could—"

"No." I tried to step back, but his grip tightened.

"The bond wants this," he murmured, his lips near my ear. "Your wolf wants this. Stop fighting it."

My wolf didn't want this. She wanted blood.

His mouth found my neck, right where Devon's mark sat, and something inside me snapped.

Power surged through my veins—not the borrowed strength of my white wolf, but something older. Deeper. The Lycan blood I didn't know I carried roared to life, and my hands moved before my mind caught up.

I shoved him.

Kenneth flew backward like he weighed nothing, his body slamming into the wall hard enough to crack the drywall. He slid down, eyes wide with shock, gasping for air.

I stood there, my hands still raised, golden light flickering around my fingers like dying embers.

"I'm here for my son," I said, my voice coming out wrong—layered with power that made the windows rattle. "Not for you. Touch me again, and I'll rip your throat out."

Kenneth stared at me like he'd never seen me before. Like I was something terrifying and beautiful and completely beyond his control.

Good.

I left him there, slumped against his broken wall, and walked out with my head high.

Ryan was waiting in the hallway.

He moved fast, blocking my path to the elevator, his bulk filling the corridor. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to my room."

"Your cell, you mean." His lip curled. "That's where Omegas belong. Or did you forget your place?"

My wolf stirred, and with her came that strange power again—the one that had thrown Kenneth like a ragdoll.

"Move," I said quietly.

Ryan laughed. "Make me."

So I did.

The command came from somewhere deep inside, a place I didn't know existed. It rolled out of me like thunder, wrapped in authority that made the air itself bend.

"Kneel."

Ryan's knees hit the floor before he could stop himself. His eyes went wide, his wolf forcing submission even as his human mind fought it. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his whole body shaking with the effort of resisting.

But he couldn't. Whatever bloodline ran through my veins outranked his Alpha's command.

"What—what are you?" he gasped.

I crouched down, meeting his eyes. "Someone who's done playing games."

I pulled the vial from my pocket, holding it up to the light. The purple liquid glowed faintly, damning.

"Wolfsbane," I said. "Mixed with suppressants. Sara's been feeding this to Leo. Your future Alpha. She's poisoning him because she's terrified of what he'll become."

Ryan's face went pale. "That's—that's not possible. Luna Sara would never—"

"Wouldn't she?" I let the question hang. "She's not his real mother. She has no mate bond with Kenneth. She's a fraud, Ryan, and she's destroying the pack's heir to protect her lie."

I stood, releasing him from the command. He stayed on his knees, staring at the vial like it was a bomb.

"You're Beta," I said. "Your loyalty is to the pack's future. Not to a false Luna who's killing it."

I left him there, kneeling in the hallway, the evidence of Sara's crime clutched in his shaking hands.

In my cell, I pressed my back against the cold concrete and reached for the bond.

Devon.

The mind-link was faint, stretched thin by distance, but it held. I felt him on the other end, his presence like a warm hand in the dark.

Mya? His voice came through broken, desperate. Are you okay?

I'm fine. I sent him the coordinates of the pack house, the layout I remembered from my time as an Omega. Kenneth's hosting an Alpha Ball in three days. Security will be focused on the guests. That's when we move.

Silence. Then: I'm coming. Tonight.

No. I pushed as much certainty through the bond as I could. Three days. I need time to get Leo ready. To make sure he's safe when this goes bad.

Mya—

Trust me. Please.

Another pause. Then, reluctantly: Three days. But I'm bringing everyone. Marcus, Elena, every warrior we have. And if Kenneth touches you again, I'll burn his pack house to the ground.

I smiled despite everything. I love you.

Come back to me.

I will.

The bond faded, leaving me alone in the dark.

Three days.

Three days to save my son, expose Sara's crimes, and escape this nightmare.

Three days until Devon came with an army.

I touched the mate mark on my neck, drawing strength from it.

Kenneth thought he'd won by bringing me here. Thought he could control me with threats and the ghost of our bond.

He had no idea what he'd unleashed.