I should have taken the main entrance.

The thought hit me the second I turned the corner into the narrow service corridor, my heels clicking against marble that had seen better days. This hallway was supposed to be empty—a shortcut the hotel staff used, one that would let me slip into the ballroom without causing a stir before my father's signal.

Instead, I walked straight into my past.

Ace stood there, Saylor draped on his arm like an expensive accessory. They were laughing about something, his head tilted toward hers in that intimate way that used to make my chest ache. Now it just made my wolf bare her teeth.

I froze. They looked up.

For a heartbeat, nobody moved. I watched recognition flicker across their faces—confusion first, then shock, then something uglier.

"Aurora?" Saylor's voice pitched high with disbelief. She straightened, her grip on Ace's arm tightening. "What are you doing here?"

I kept my face blank, my aura locked down tight. My father had taught me that—how to shield my presence, make myself seem like nothing more than a regular wolf. It was harder than it looked, like trying to hold your breath underwater.

"Excuse me," I said quietly, moving to step around them.

Ace shifted, blocking my path. His eyes raked over me—over my midnight blue gown, my carefully styled hair, the way I held myself now. Nothing like the broken omega who'd fled his pack a year ago.

He laughed. Actually laughed.

"Did you sneak in?" He leaned closer, and I caught his scent. Cedar and rain. My wolf snarled, but I held her back. "What are you, a servant? Or did you come back hoping to spread your legs for a real Alpha this time?"

The words hit like a slap. Saylor giggled, the sound grating against my nerves.

"I need to pass," I said, my voice steady despite the fury building in my chest.

"Oh, I don't think so." Saylor released Ace's arm and stepped toward me, her eyes glittering with malice. She snatched a glass of red wine from a passing waiter's tray—he squeaked in protest but scurried away when Ace shot him a look.

I knew what was coming. I could have moved. Should have moved.

But I stood my ground.

Saylor's smile turned vicious. "Oops."

She tipped the glass, and red wine cascaded down the front of my dress. The liquid was cold, soaking through the delicate fabric instantly. It spread like blood across the midnight blue, ruining hours of careful preparation.

"Saylor!" I gasped, stumbling back.

"Oh no," she cooed, her voice dripping false concern. "I'm so clumsy. But then again, trash like you shouldn't be wearing white to a formal event anyway. Were you trying to look like a bride? How pathetic."

I tried to step around her, my hands shaking as I assessed the damage. The dress was ruined. Completely ruined.

Saylor moved with me, her heel coming down hard on the hem of my gown.

The fabric ripped with a sound like tearing paper. The delicate beadwork scattered across the floor, tiny stars dying on cold marble.

"Look at that," Saylor said, examining her nails. "Cheap material. Just like the girl wearing it."

My wolf was screaming now, demanding I shift, demanding I show them what I really was. But not yet. Not yet.

Ace stepped forward, and for one stupid second, I thought he might actually stop this. Might show a shred of the man I'd once thought I loved.

Instead, his eyes locked on my throat.

On my mother's pendant.

The crack in the silver seemed to catch the light, a thin line of weakness in something that should have been whole.

"Is that—" His hand shot out, fingers closing around the chain. "You stole from the pack treasury?"

"What? No, I—"

"This belongs to Silvermoon." He yanked, hard.

The chain snapped. I felt it break, felt the weight of my mother's memory torn from my throat.

"Ace, don't—"

He held the pendant up, examining it with mock curiosity. Then his eyes met mine, cold and cruel.

"Thieves don't deserve treasures," he said.

He dropped it.

The pendant hit the marble with a delicate clink. And then his boot came down, grinding the silver filigree into the stone. I heard it crunch, watched the delicate metalwork crumple and break.

Something inside me cracked too.

My phone buzzed in my clutch. My father's signal.

I looked up at Ace, at Saylor, at the ruins of my dress and my mother's pendant scattered at their feet.

"You're right," I said softly. "Thieves don't deserve treasures."

I stepped past them, my ruined dress trailing wine and torn fabric.

"But Alphas do."

I pushed open the ballroom doors, my father's presence washing over me like a tidal wave. Every head in the room turned.

It was time.

The ballroom doors loomed before me, my ruined dress trailing wine and torn fabric like a battle standard. Behind me, I heard Ace's sharp intake of breath.

"Aurora." His voice cracked like a whip. "Stop."

I didn't.

My wolf surged forward, lending me strength I hadn't known I possessed. The rage that had been building for a year—every humiliation, every cruel word, every moment I'd swallowed my pride—crystallized into something cold and unbreakable.

"I said stop!" Ace's Alpha tone rolled over me, the command laced with power that should have driven me to my knees.

Should have.

Instead, I felt it wash over me like water off stone. My wolf didn't even flinch. If anything, she laughed.

I turned slowly, meeting his eyes. Something flickered there—confusion, then alarm.

"Kneel," he commanded, his voice dropping into that register that made other wolves tremble. "Kneel and apologize to Saylor for your disrespect."

The air itself seemed to vibrate with his power. Down the corridor, I heard a servant drop something with a crash. Even Saylor swayed slightly, caught in the edges of his aura.

I stood perfectly still.

"What—" Ace's face went pale. He tried again, pushing more force into his words. "I command you to—"

"No."

The word came out quiet, but it landed like thunder. My own aura leaked out, just a fraction, just enough. The air around me shimmered silver.

Ace stumbled back a step. "How are you—"

"Security!" Saylor's shriek cut through the moment. "Someone call security!"

Footsteps thundered down the corridor. Two massive wolves in formal security uniforms rounded the corner, their expressions professional but alert.

"What's the problem here?" The taller one's eyes swept over us—Ace and Saylor in their pristine formal wear, me in my wine-stained, torn gown.

"This woman is causing a disturbance," Saylor said quickly, her voice pitched to sound frightened. "She's been harassing us, and we think she might have stolen—"

"I'm leaving," I said simply. I turned back toward the ballroom doors.

"Wait." The security guard held up a hand. "Miss, we need to—"

I pushed through the doors.

The Grand Alliance Gathering sprawled before me in all its glittering glory. Crystal chandeliers cast rainbow light across hundreds of wolves in formal attire. The air hummed with power—Alphas, Betas, visiting dignitaries from packs across the continent. At the far end, elevated on a dais, sat the High Council table.

Where my father waited.

Every head in the vicinity turned as I entered. I felt their stares like physical weight—taking in my ruined dress, my bare throat where my mother's pendant should have been, the wine stains that looked like blood in the dim light.

I lifted my chin and walked.

Not toward the edges. Not toward the shadows where someone like me—someone they thought was me—belonged.

I walked straight down the center aisle, heading for the High Council table.

The whispers started immediately, a susurrus of confusion and speculation that followed me like a wake.

"Who is that?"

"Look at her dress—"

"Is she lost?"

"Someone should stop her—"

Behind me, I heard Ace and Saylor burst through the doors, the security guards in tow.

"Stop her!" Ace's voice boomed across the ballroom. Conversations died mid-sentence. The orchestra faltered. "Everyone, please—this woman is a rogue who has infiltrated our gathering!"

I kept walking. Twenty feet from the High Council table. Fifteen.

My father's eyes met mine. He didn't move, but I saw the slight nod. The permission.

"She's been harassing my Beta's daughter," Ace continued, his Alpha presence flooding the room now, making lesser wolves bow their heads. "She stole a sacred artifact from my pack and has been masquerading as—"

"As what?" I stopped, turning to face him. My voice carried in the sudden silence, clear and cold. "What exactly have I been masquerading as, Ace?"

He stalked toward me, Saylor clinging to his arm, security flanking them. The crowd parted like water, giving them a clear path.

"As someone who belongs here," he snarled. "You're nothing but a rogue, Aurora. An omega who couldn't accept her rejection. You broke into this event, you attacked Saylor, and you stole from my pack."

He was close now, close enough that I could see the confusion still lingering in his eyes. Close enough that he could probably sense what I was barely holding back.

My wolf pushed against my control, demanding release.

Not yet, I told her. Not yet.

"Security," Ace commanded, not taking his eyes off me. "Remove this woman and hold her for questioning. She'll face pack justice for her crimes."

The guards moved toward me.

I smiled.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said softly.

Behind me, I heard a chair scrape against marble as my father stood.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.