Isabela POV:

The boutique was an assault on the senses. Crystal chandeliers dripped from the ceiling, and the air smelled of silk and money. This was a shop exclusive to high-ranking wolves, a place where humans weren't allowed unless they were staff.

Dalia was in the changing room, and Kason was sitting on a velvet sofa, scrolling through his phone. I stood in the corner, holding Dalia's purse and three different pairs of shoes she had discarded.

"Isabela!" Dalia screeched from behind the curtain. "Get in here!"

I shuffled forward. She stepped out, wearing a crimson gown that clung to her curves. It was beautiful, but on her, it looked aggressive.

"It's tight," she complained. Then she smirked, picking up a garment from the floor. It was a dull, olive-green dress, cut like a servant's uniform. "Here. Put this on. If you're going to be my maid, you should look like one. That hoodie smells like the basement."

Kason didn't even look up. "Do as she says."

I took the dress and went into the small stall. My hands shook as I changed. The fabric was rough, but as I zipped it up, I looked in the mirror.

The green didn't make me look dull. It brought out the emerald flecks in my hazel eyes. It hugged my waist and flared at my hips. For a second, I didn't look like a downtrodden Omega. I looked... regal. My wolf lifted her head, a spark of pride flickering in the darkness.

I walked out.

The boutique went silent. Two other she-wolves browsing the racks stopped and stared. Even Kason looked up, his phone freezing in his hand. His eyes widened, and for a second, I saw the old Kason-the one who used to look at me with wonder.

Dalia saw it too. Her face twisted in jealousy.

"You look ridiculous," she spat, marching over to me. She was holding a glass of red wine she had been offered by the staff. "It doesn't fit right."

She pretended to trip. It was so obvious, a clumsy stumble. The wine glass tipped, and the dark red liquid splashed across the front of my dress, soaking into the fabric and chilling my skin.

"Oops," Dalia sneered. "Now you smell like cheap alcohol. Fitting."

She raised her phone to take a picture. "Smile for the forum, Rogue-trash."

I braced myself for the flash, for the humiliation.

But the flash never came.

Instead, the bell above the shop door chimed. And then, the scent hit me.

It wasn't just a smell; it was a physical force. It slammed into me like a tidal wave-the crisp, biting scent of pine needles crushed underfoot, mixed with the electric charge of a coming thunderstorm. Ozone and petrichor.

My heart stopped, then hammered against my ribs so hard it hurt. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. The blood in my veins turned to liquid fire.

My wolf, who had been cowering for months, suddenly stood on her hind legs and let out a roar that shook my very soul.

MATE.

The word echoed in my mind, absolute and undeniable.

I turned slowly toward the door.

A man stood there. He was massive, taller even than Kason. He wore a charcoal suit that strained against his muscles. His hair was dark as midnight, and his eyes... his eyes were the color of storm clouds, gray and swirling with power.

Hadley Payne.

He scanned the room, his gaze passing over Dalia, over Kason, as if they were furniture. Then, his eyes locked on mine.

A jolt of electricity arced through the air between us. My knees went weak, but not from fear. It was a magnetic pull, a gravity that anchored me to him. I felt a sudden, overwhelming sense of peace wash over me, silencing the chaos of the last few months.

He took a step forward. The air crackled.

Dalia, oblivious to the shift in the atmosphere, laughed. "Oh, look, the Supreme Alpha is here. Excuse my clumsy servant, Alpha Payne. She's a bit of a mess."

Hadley didn't look at her. He walked straight to me. He stopped inches away. He didn't touch me, but I could feel the heat radiating from him. He inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering shut for a second as he took in my scent-vanilla and wildflowers, now tainted by wine.

His eyes snapped open, dark and dangerous. He looked at the wine stain on my chest.

"Who did this?" His voice was low, a rumble of thunder that vibrated in the floorboards.

Kason stood up, his own Alpha instincts flaring in defense, though he looked terrified. "Alpha Payne, this is just a domestic dispute within my pack. My... Omega... was clumsy."

Hadley turned his head slowly to look at Kason. The sheer weight of his dominance crashed down on the room. Kason flinched, his neck baring slightly in an involuntary submission reflex.

"I didn't ask you, boy," Hadley said, his voice dripping with contempt.

He turned back to me. He reached out, his large hand hovering near my face. I didn't pull away. I leaned into it. His knuckles brushed my cheek, and sparks-literal, blinding sparks-danced across my skin.

"She is not a servant," Hadley said, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. He pulled a black credit card from his pocket and handed it to the stunned shop manager. "Get her the finest dress you have. Put it on my tab. And burn this green rag."

He looked at Dalia, who was trembling, her glass slipping from her fingers.

"And you," Hadley said, his gray eyes narrowing. "If you ever spill anything on her again, I will ensure you never hold a glass in this city again."

He looked back at me, and for a fleeting second, the storm in his eyes cleared, replaced by a burning intensity.

"Go change," he murmured, his voice soft only for me. "I'll wait."

Isabela POV:

The drive back to the Oneal territory was silent, but it was a silence charged with violence.

Kason drove with white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. Dalia was sobbing quietly in the passenger seat, her ego bruised, but I barely heard her. I was still vibrating. My skin still tingled where Hadley had touched me. The scent of pine and storm still clung to my senses, overpowering the stale air of the car.

He was my Mate. The Supreme Alpha was my Fated Mate.

When we arrived at the Pack House, Kason didn't let me go to the basement.

"Get inside," he ordered, grabbing my arm the moment I stepped out of the car. His grip was bruising.

He dragged me past the main hall, ignoring the curious looks of the pack members, and shoved me toward his private apartment on the top floor.

"Kason, stop! You're hurting me!" I cried out, trying to pry his fingers off.

He threw the door open and hurled me inside. I stumbled, catching myself on the edge of his mahogany desk. The room smelled overwhelmingly of him-cedar and aggression.

He slammed the door and locked it. When he turned to face me, his eyes were glowing a sickly yellow. He was losing control. His wolf was near the surface, feral and confused.

"You smell like him," Kason hissed. He stalked toward me, sniffing the air. "Why do you smell like Hadley Payne?"

"He helped me," I said, backing away until my back hit the wall. "He was just being a gentleman. Something you've forgotten how to be."

Slap.

The sound cracked through the room. My head snapped to the side. My cheek burned, tears springing to my eyes instantly. He had never hit me. Not once in ten years.

"Don't you dare lecture me!" Kason roared. "I smelled the way the air changed! I saw the way he looked at you! Did you seduce him? Is that your plan? To climb the ladder by spreading your legs for a higher Alpha?"

"You're crazy," I whispered, holding my cheek. "You rejected me, Kason. You chose Dalia. You don't get to be jealous."

"I am not jealous!" he screamed, but the lie was palpable in the air. "You are mine! You are Oneal property! You don't get to have another Alpha's scent on you!"

He lunged at me. He didn't strike me this time; he grabbed me, burying his face in my neck, right over my scent gland. He was trying to rub his scent onto me, to mask Hadley's mark. It was a violation. His teeth scraped against my sensitive skin.

"Stay," he used the Alpha Command.

My body froze. My muscles locked up against my will. I couldn't move my arms to push him away. I was a statue, forced to endure his aggressive claiming.

No! my wolf screamed. Fight him! He is not our Alpha! He is not our Mate!

The command was strong, but my wolf was desperate. And somewhere, deep down, the bond I had felt with Hadley gave me a sliver of strength. The connection to a Supreme Alpha trumped the command of a regular Alpha.

My hand twitched.

Kason was distracted, growling against my neck, his hand fumbling with the zipper of my dress. He intended to mark me. If he bit me now, against my will, it would cause a rejected bond-a pain worse than death.

My fingers curled around the heavy silver base of the desk lamp next to me.

Silver.

To a wolf, silver burned like acid. It weakened us, sapped our strength.

With a scream of effort that tore at my throat, I broke through the paralysis of the Command. I swung the lamp.

CRACK.

The heavy silver base connected with the side of Kason's head.

He didn't just stumble; he howled. The silver seared his skin upon contact. He fell back, clutching his temple, blood trickling through his fingers. The smell of burnt flesh filled the room.

"You..." he gasped, his eyes rolling back. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.

I dropped the lamp. My hand, which had touched the silver, was blistering, red and angry. The pain was blinding.

I slid down the wall, curling into a ball in the corner of the room. The adrenaline crashed. The proximity to the silver lamp, combined with the trauma of the Alpha Command and the physical assault, was too much for my weak Omega body.

Black spots danced in my vision.

Hadley, I thought, the name a prayer, before the darkness took me.

Isabela POV:

I woke up to something hard hitting my chest.

I gasped, jerking awake. I was still on the floor of Kason's room. The morning sun sliced through the curtains, illuminating the dust motes in the air. Kason was sitting on the edge of his bed, holding an ice pack to the side of his head. The wound from the silver lamp was healing, but slowly. It looked angry and red.

He had thrown a small cardboard box at me.

I looked down. It was a box of emergency contraceptives.

"Take them," Kason said. His voice was raspy, but he wasn't looking at me. His gaze was fixed on the wall, his jaw tight as if he were holding back a scream. There was a tremor in his hand that he quickly hid by gripping the ice pack tighter.

"What?" I croaked, my throat dry.

"For last night," he said, standing up. He winced slightly. "I don't remember much after you... attacked me. But you smell like sex and fear. I won't have a bastard child complicating my life."

I stared at him in horror. Nothing had happened. I had knocked him out. But I saw a flicker of something in his eyes-not just cruelty, but a desperate need to rewrite the narrative. If he convinced himself we had slept together, then in his twisted mind, I still belonged to him.

"Nothing happened, Kason," I said, my voice trembling. "I hit you. You passed out."

"Don't lie," he sneered, but the words lacked his usual fire. He rubbed his chest, as if his wolf were clawing at him from the inside. "Just take the pills. I don't want you breeding."

He turned away abruptly, marching to the bathroom. Before he slammed the door, I heard a ragged intake of breath, like a drowning man surfacing for air.

I left the pills on the floor. I grabbed my shoes and ran.

Two days passed. I stayed in the basement, barricading the door with old furniture. I only went out when I knew Kason was away on pack business.

The Mating Ceremony-my wedding to Hadley, though Kason didn't know that part-was in less than two weeks. I just had to survive until then.

I spent the afternoon at the pawn shop in the human town, selling the few gold earrings I had left. I needed cash for a taxi to the airport when the time came.

That evening, there was a mandatory pack party to celebrate the upcoming full moon. As an Omega, I was required to serve drinks.

I was carrying a tray of champagne through the crowded hall when it hit me.

A sharp, twisting pain in my abdomen. It felt like someone had shoved a hot poker into my stomach. I doubled over, dropping the tray. Glass shattered. Champagne sprayed everywhere.

"Clumsy bitch!" someone shouted.

I fell to my knees, clutching my stomach. It was Rejection Sickness. My body was physically rejecting the Oneal Pack, rejecting Kason's leadership, and craving the bond with Hadley. The distance from my True Mate was making me physically ill.

The crowd parted. Kason walked through. He looked down at me, annoyed.

Then, he stopped. He sniffed the air.

When a she-wolf is pregnant, her scent changes. It becomes sweeter, milky. But when a wolf is sick from rejection, the scent sours and becomes chaotic.

To an untrained, arrogant nose like Kason's, the biological shift was confusing. He smelled a change in my hormones. He smelled the nausea.

His eyes went wide. He looked at my stomach.

"You..." He pointed a shaking finger at me. "You're pregnant."

"No," I gasped, sweat pouring down my face. "It's... it's not..."

"I told you to take the pills!" Kason roared. The music stopped. The whole pack was watching. "You tried to trap me! You think carrying a pup will make me leave Dalia?"

Dalia pushed through the crowd. "She's pregnant? With whose baby? Probably some Rogue she met in the woods!"

"It's yours, isn't it?" Kason grabbed my arm, hauling me up. I screamed in pain. "You want to use a child to steal the Luna title!"

"I'm not pregnant!" I cried, tears streaming down my face. "I'm sick! Let me go!"

"We're going to the Pack Doctor," Kason snarled, dragging me toward the exit. "And we are getting rid of it. Tonight."

"No! Kason, please!" I begged, digging my heels into the floor.

He didn't listen. He threw me over his shoulder like a sack of grain and marched out of the hall, leaving a trail of shattered glass and rumors behind him. He was driving me to the clinic, convinced he was solving a problem, unaware he was about to shatter the last fragile remnant of our history.