Kimberly POV:

I was heading for the exit when the world exploded.

CRASH.

The massive crystal chandelier plummeted into the center of the ballroom. Dust and glass shards sprayed everywhere.

"Alex!" Graves roared.

He tore the metal frame aside. Alex lay there, untouched by the heavy iron, but clutching her side, screaming. There was blood, but it smelled wrong—stale, theatrical.

"My side!" she wailed.

"It's a rupture!" Dr. Evans, clearly bribed, shouted over the chaos. "Her core is destabilizing! The silver poisoning... she needs an immediate Essence Graft! We need a donor with White Wolf ancestry!"

It was absurd. Essence Grafts were forbidden blood magic. But Graves wasn't thinking. He was panicking.

His eyes locked on me.

"You," he snarled. "You did this."

"I was by the door, Graves! Check the magic residue!"

"Save her!" Graves commanded the doctor.

"We need the Luna," Evans said, sweating. "She's the only match."

"No," I whispered, backing away. "Graves, this is insanity. She has Rogue Rot, not silver poisoning! She's stealing my life force!"

"I Command you!"

The Alpha's Command hit me like a sledgehammer. My motor functions cut out. I was a prisoner in my own flesh.

"Take her," Graves ordered the Enforcers.

I couldn't scream as they dragged me out. I couldn't fight as they strapped me to the gurney. I could only watch Graves holding Alex's hand, whispering comforts to the parasite while he sentenced me to mutilation.

"Proceed," he said cold-heartedly.

The darkness took me.

Kimberly POV:

Waking up felt like I’d been hollowed out with a rusty spoon. My qi, my essence, was dangerously low. My White Wolf was comatose.

I checked the chart. They had taken a kidney and a liter of spinal fluid. Essence harvesting.

Three days had passed.

I ripped the IVs out. I didn't care about the blood. I had to leave before they came back for seconds.

I took a cab to the penthouse. The smell of Alex’s victory—strawberries and my own stolen power—was suffocating.

She was on the sofa, glowing. Literally glowing. My essence was keeping her young.

"You survived," she said, disappointed. "Your blood is potent, Kim. I feel like a goddess."

Graves walked in from the balcony, wearing swim trunks. "You should be in the hospital."

"I'm here for my things."

"Graves, baby," Alex cooed, brushing past him. "Let's swim."

She threw herself into the pool. She splashed pathetically. "Help! My cramps!"

It was a performance a toddler would find insulting. But Graves dove in like a golden retriever.

He hauled her out. "You stood there?" he accused me. "You’d let her drown?"

"She's a werewolf, Graves. We don't drown in four feet of water."

"Get out," he spat. "You’re a monster."

Something inside me finally died. The last ember of hope.

I walked to the terrace. Below lay the garden of Moon Orchids I’d planted for our wedding.

I summoned the last dregs of my void magic.

Burn.

White fire erupted from my palm. The garden incinerated instantly, turning to ash.

"Consider it a divorce gift," I said to the glass.

I grabbed the cooler box from under the floorboards—my frozen child—and walked out. I didn't look back.

Kimberly POV:

The airport was my sanctuary.

My phone buzzed. Transfer complete. Malibu is yours. Pack Dissolution filed.

I sat in a quiet corner and opened the cooler. The vial sat in dry ice—my unborn child, suspended in time.

I pulled out the parchment. The Blood Pact.

I sliced my palm with a silver penknife. Blood hit the paper. It hissed.

I, Kimberly of the White Wolf, reject you, Alpha Graves.

The bond in my chest ripped open. It felt like a heart attack, sharp and blinding. Then... silence. The constant background noise of Graves’ emotions vanished.

I packed the parchment and the vial into a bio-hazard box. I labeled it clearly.

"Courier," I told the clerk. "Kramer Tower. Priority."

I dropped my phone on the tile and crushed it under my heel.

"Flight 815 to Bali," the announcer called.

Graves was taking Alex to Paris tomorrow. Let him have Paris. I was going where the sun would burn his touch off my skin.