Celine POV

The morning sunlight spilled across the lavender velvet rug of my childhood suite, warming the space that had always been my sanctuary. For the first time in three years, the air wasn't choked with the oppressive scent of the Blackwood Pack. Instead, my own natural scent—jasmine under moonlight and silver frost—filled the room, grounding me.

"You should march into the Elders' council right now," Gennie Gamble said, pacing at the foot of my bed. My best friend’s eyes flashed with protective fury. "You are the White Wolf heir, Celine. The sole inheritor of the Silver Crescent Pack. You could crush Damian and that pathetic Omega with a single word."

I sat up, pulling my knees to my chest. The phantom pain of the Rejection still throbbed in my chest, but my mind was clearer than it had been in years.

"No, Gennie," I said softly, sliding out of bed. I walked over to my mahogany desk and pulled out a thick leather binder. "For three years, I was treated like a wolfless disease. I was stripped of my dignity and told I was worthless. If I use my grandfather's power to destroy them now, I’m just hiding behind a title."

Gennie stopped pacing, her brow furrowing. "Then what are you going to do?"

I opened the binder, revealing my human university degree and my architectural design portfolio.

"I’m applying for the junior designer position at Universe Group. I need to build my life with my own two hands. Not because I’m weak—but because I want to prove to myself that I can stand on my own, without the White Wolf crown, before I ever choose to wear it."

Gennie stared at the sketches, then looked up at me. The anger in her eyes melted into profound respect. "You're going to start from the bottom."

"I'm going to start from scratch," I corrected, a genuine smile touching my lips for the first time in months. “My wolf is awake now. But power without purpose is just tyranny. I need to know who Celine is before I decide what kind of Queen I want to become.”

*

Damian POV

The dark mahogany walls of my office felt like a suffocating cage. The realization that I had rejected my true Mate—a White Wolf and a future Queen—was tearing my sanity to shreds. My scent, usually a commanding blend of pine and leather before a storm, was now soured with frantic, uncontrollable agony.

The heavy oak doors flew open, slamming against the walls.

"You froze my accounts?!" Marina shrieked, storming into the room. My sister’s face was twisted in spoiled, self-righteous fury—though I caught the flicker of fear beneath it.

She knew she should be in the dungeon for her role in the blood ritual conspiracy, but our mother had begged for her temporary release. A mistake I was already regretting.

"My black card was declined at the boutique! How could you do this to your own sister over that—?"

She hesitated, her eyes darting away. Even she couldn’t deny what we had witnessed in the Ritual Chamber: Celine had thrown two Warriors across the room with raw, ancient power. But Marina’s prejudice ran deeper than logic. “—over her?”

A low, dangerous growl vibrated in my chest. "You helped Kacie orchestrate a lie that nearly drained my Mate's blood."

"I was protecting Kacie!" Marina yelled, slamming her hands on my desk. "Celine is a jealous, manipulative—she doesn’t even deserve—"

My control snapped.

*"Silence!"*

The Alpha's Command ripped from my throat, heavy and absolute. Marina’s jaw snapped shut, her body freezing against her will as the sheer force of my aura forced her to her knees. Her eyes widened in sheer terror.

"Celine is my Fated Mate," I snarled, rounding the desk to tower over her. "She is the future Luna of this Pack. You will never speak her name with disrespect again."

Before Marina could fight the compulsion to reply, my Beta rushed into the office, his face pale. He held a thick parchment envelope sealed with shimmering silver wax—the crest of the Silver Crescent Pack.

The compulsion lifted slightly, and Marina gasped for air.

Despite her terror, her venomous nature clawed its way back. “See?” she sneered, though her voice trembled. “She’s sending letters already. Probably demanding money. That’s all she ever wanted.”

A desperate, pathetic spark of hope ignited in my chest. Maybe Marina was right. Maybe Celine was just angry. Maybe I could still fix this with wealth, with apologies, with anything she wanted.

I wanted to believe her. I wanted to believe that Celine was just another gold-digger, that I could throw wealth at the wound and make it heal.

But I knew the truth. I had read the reports. Celine Moon was the granddaughter of a former Alpha King. She had more money and power in her little finger than I had in my entire Pack.

And yet, a desperate, pathetic spark of hope ignited in my chest anyway. Maybe she wants to negotiate. Maybe she still wants something from me.

My hands trembled as I broke the silver wax seal.

I turned the envelope over.

A piece of plastic clattered onto the polished wood of my desk.

It was the limitless black card I had instructed my assistant to deliver to her yesterday—an insult I had sent through a third party because I couldn’t even be bothered to face her myself. I had never thrown it in her face. I had never touched her with it. But the cowardice of that gesture made it worse, not better.

Then, the heavy parchment slid out.

It wasn't a demand for money. It wasn't a letter of negotiation. It was a Rejection Scroll, written in cold, shimmering ink. At the bottom, Celine Moon’s signature was already slashed across the page, elegant and ruthlessly final.

Marina’s smug laughter died in her throat.

I stared at the scroll, the air leaving my lungs. The black card mocked my arrogance, but the scroll... the scroll was a death sentence. My Inner Wolf let out a bloodcurdling howl of pure devastation as the reality of what I had lost finally, truly shattered my soul.

She wasn’t coming back. Not for money. Not for apologies. Not for anything I could offer.

Damian POV

The bloodcurdling howl of my Inner Wolf still echoed in the suffocating silence of my office. The Rejection Scroll lay on my desk, its shimmering silver ink mocking the very foundation of my existence. My scent, once a proud storm of pine and leather, was now a rancid cloud of panic and despair.

Marina scoffed, the sound slicing through my agony like a rusted blade.

"See? It's exactly what I said," she sneered, crossing her arms as she stared at the scroll. Her deeply ingrained prejudice blinded her to the reality of the Silver Crescent seal. "Sign it, brother. Call her bluff. Dump that wolfless disgrace once and for all. Kacie is the Luna you actually deserve."

The name *Kacie* hit my ears like a physical blow. My soul was actively bleeding from the tearing Mate-bond, and my sister’s sheer, venomous stupidity was the final strike against my fractured sanity.

A monstrous, inhuman snarl ripped from my chest.

*"Get out!"*

The Alpha's Command exploded from me, heavy, dark, and absolute. Marina’s eyes bulged in sheer terror as her body locked up entirely, her knees slamming into the hardwood floor against her will.

I didn't even look at her. I forced a Mind-Link to my Beta, who was hovering just outside the door. *"Drag her out. If she steps foot in this wing again without my permission, I will strip her of her rank."*

My Beta rushed in, his face pale as he grabbed Marina by the arms, hauling her rigid, trembling body out of the room. The heavy oak doors clicked shut, leaving me entirely alone in a tomb of my own making.

My hands gripped the edge of the mahogany desk until the wood splintered. Driven by a blind, pathetic desperation, I gathered every ounce of my willpower and forced a Mind-Link through the agonizing, static-filled remnants of our sacred bond.

*"Celine!"* I roared into the mental void, my voice cracking with a plea I had never used in my life.

For a second, there was nothing. Then, her voice echoed back—cold, distant, and biting like a Siberian winter wind.

*"What is it, Alpha Blackwood? Did you get the scroll? Sign it."*

Her absolute indifference shredded my heart. She didn't care. She felt nothing for me. The realization twisted my grief into a frantic, irrational jealousy.

*"Is it someone else?"* I demanded, my breathing ragged. *"Did you go back to the Silver Crescent Pack for another Alpha?! Is that why you're doing this so fast?!"*

A soft, humorless laugh echoed in my mind. *"That is none of your business. Go tend to your Omega, Kacie. My biggest mistake was ever believing the Moon Goddess made you for me."*

*"Celine, wait—"*

*Snap.*

She severed the Mind-Link with the brutal force of a guillotine. The sudden, deafening silence in my head felt like a physical blow from a sledgehammer. I stumbled back, clutching my chest as my Inner Wolf whimpered, clawing frantically at the walls of my mind.

She was gone. She wasn't coming back. She would never forgive what Kacie and I had done.

Driven by the blinding, suffocating agony of humiliation and a shattered heart, I snatched the silver pen from my desk. My hand shook violently as I pressed the nib to the heavy parchment. I slashed my signature beneath hers, officially accepting the Rejection.

The moment the ink dried, the world stopped.

A horrific, soul-cleaving pain erupted in my chest, as if invisible hands had reached into my ribcage and ripped my heart in two. I gasped, falling to my knees as a mouthful of dark blood spilled from my lips, staining the velvet rug.

The sacred Mate-bond snapped completely.

I lay on the floor, gasping for air, waiting for the pain to subside, waiting for the release I thought the Rejection would bring. But there was no release.

I inhaled sharply, searching for her. But the faint, lingering scent of jasmine under moonlight and silver frost—the scent that had secretly anchored my soul for three years—was gone. It was wiped from my senses entirely, as if Celine Moon had never existed.

*You killed us,* my Inner Wolf snarled, his voice dripping with pure, venomous hatred toward me. *You threw away our soul.*

I stared at the blood on the floor, the gray, hollow emptiness swallowing me whole. I hadn't just lost a Mate. I had severed the very tether that kept me human, leaving behind a bleeding black hole that would never, ever heal.

Celine POV

The phantom ache in my chest was finally fading into a dull, manageable throb. It had been a few days since the Rejection was finalized, severing the Mate-bond completely. While Damian was likely drowning in the consequences of his own arrogance, I was standing in the sleek, glass-walled lobby of Universe Group, ready to rebuild my life from the ground up.

The air in the corporate headquarters was a sharp mix of roasted coffee, fresh printer paper, and the faint, underlying pheromones of the werewolf employees bustling around me.

I was led into a minimalist glass interview room overlooking the city. Sitting across the long table were three interviewers, but my eyes immediately locked onto the woman in the center.

Vickie Thorne.

She was from a low-ranking family in the Silver Crescent Pack. Even before I was sent away to the human world as a child, she had harbored a bitter, venomous jealousy toward me. Now, seeing me sitting across from her, her eyes gleamed with undisguised malicious glee.

"Well, well," Vickie sneered, carelessly flipping through my portfolio before tossing it aside. "A rejected Mate. A wolfless disgrace dumped by Alpha Blackwood. Why would Universe Group ever hire a stain on our kind? I bet your degree from the Presal Institute of Art is as fake as your pedigree."

I kept my posture perfectly straight, refusing to give her the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. "My qualifications speak for themselves, Ms. Thorne. Professionalism dictates we focus on the role, not personal grudges."

My calm demeanor only infuriated her more. Her face flushed, and she snatched a thick, blue folder from the table, slamming it down in front of me.

"Fine. Let's test those 'qualifications,'" she spat. "This is a stalled coastal resort project. Construction was halted because the layout disrupted the local Pack's ecosystem, driving their Inner Wolves into a manic frenzy. Solve it. Right now."

She leaned back, crossing her arms, waiting for me to humiliate myself.

I opened the file. I didn't need to analyze the complex human engineering data. Deep within my soul, my hidden White Wolf stirred. The ancient, sacred connection to the Moon Goddess hummed in my veins, allowing me to feel the very pulse of the earth and the tides through the blueprints.

"The current layout blocks the natural ley lines," I said smoothly, tracing a finger over the map. "If we realign the main structures to flow with the tides and channel the moonlight through open-air atriums, it won't just restore the ecosystem. It will create a sanctuary. The architecture itself will resonate with the lunar cycles, naturally soothing a wolf's primal instincts."

The two older werewolf executives sitting beside Vickie leaned in, their eyes wide with absolute fascination. I could literally feel their own Inner Wolves settling, lulled into a state of peace by the mere concept of my design.

"Brilliant," one of the men murmured, looking at me with newfound immense respect. "It breathes with the Pack. You're hired."

"No!" Vickie shrieked, slamming her hands on the table. Her face was twisted in ugly, desperate rage. "She stole this! She probably stole it from some filthy Rogue architect! That's why Blackwood rejected her—she was sent away because she has tainted, Rogue-loving blood!"

The two executives hesitated, the heavy accusation of Rogue association hanging in the air. I took a breath, preparing to tear her lies apart, but I didn't have to.

The heavy glass door swung open.

Instantly, the air in the room grew impossibly heavy, saturated with the commanding, authoritative scent of sun-warmed parchment and cedar. The sheer Alpha aura radiating from the doorway forced the two executives to lower their heads in immediate submission.

Alpha Carter Steele, the acting CEO of Universe Group and my grandfather's most trusted ally, stepped into the room.

He didn't even glance at Vickie. His eyes, warm yet holding an undeniable power, met mine.

"Welcome to Universe Group, Ms. Moon," Carter said, his voice a smooth, resonant baritone that left no room for argument. "Your office is already prepared."

Then, he slowly turned his head toward Vickie. The warmth in his eyes vanished, replaced by an icy, suffocating glare that made her tremble violently in her chair.

"As for you, Ms. Thorne," Carter said, his tone dropping to a lethal whisper. "My office. Now. We need to have a serious discussion about your loyalty to this Pack."