Eliana POV:

The next morning, I felt brittle. One wrong move and I'd shatter. I needed to end this. I needed to sever the hope before it killed me.

I marched up the grand staircase to the Alpha floor. This was restricted territory, but as the unspoken future Luna, the guards let me pass, though their eyes held pity I didn't want.

I didn't knock on Jax's door. I pushed it open.

The smell hit me first.

It wasn't just the storm and pine of Jax. It was the cloying vanilla of Catalina. It hung thick in the air, smelling like sex and betrayal.

My stomach turned.

Jax was sitting on the edge of his massive bed, shirtless. Catalina was there, too. She was wearing his football jersey—the one with "Little" on the back. It hung to her knees.

She smirked when she saw me.

"Eliana," Jax said, standing up. He didn't look guilty. He looked annoyed. "You don't barge into an Alpha's room."

"And you don't parade your mistress in front of your mate," I shot back. My voice was steady, surprising even me.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small velvet box. Inside was a Moonstone necklace. It wasn't an engagement ring, but in our pack tradition, it was a promise. A promise of a future mating.

I threw it on the mahogany desk. It landed with a dull thud.

"I don't want it," I said.

Jax's eyes darkened. His pupils dilated, swallowing the iris. The Alpha in him didn't like rejection.

"Pick it up," he growled. The Alpha Aura hit the room like a sudden drop in air pressure.

My knees trembled. My instinct screamed at me to bare my neck, to submit. But the anger in my blood was stronger.

"No," I said through gritted teeth.

I turned to leave.

"Wait!" Catalina chirped. She hopped off the bed and ran to the doorway, blocking my exit. "You're just jealous, Ellie. Jax needs a woman who knows how to please him, not a prude."

"Move, Catalina," I warned.

She laughed and shoved me. "Make me."

We were at the top of the stairs. The landing was narrow. I tried to step around her, but she lunged again, her claws slightly extended.

It happened in slow motion.

She pushed hard against my chest. My heel caught on the edge of the carpet. I tipped backward.

My arms flailed, grasping at empty air.

I fell.

My body tumbled down the hardwood steps. One. Two. Three. I hit the landing hard, my left leg twisting at a sickening angle beneath me. A wet snap echoed in the hallway.

White-hot agony blinded me. It wasn't just a break. It was my knee. My dancer's knee.

I lay at the bottom of the stairs, gasping, white spots dancing in my vision.

Jax appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked down at me, then at Catalina, who was faking a gasp of horror.

"She attacked me, Jax! I had to defend myself!" Catalina lied, her voice trembling perfectly.

Jax descended the stairs slowly. He didn't run to me. He didn't check my leg.

He stood over me, his shadow blocking the light.

"You attacked a guest in my home?" he asked, his voice cold.

"She pushed me..." I gasped, tears streaming down my face from the pain. "Jax, my knee... I can't move it."

"Stop lying," he snapped. "Catalina is half your size."

He leaned down, his face inches from mine. I thought he was going to help me up.

"Get out," he commanded.

He used the Voice. The Alpha's Command.

It hit my brain like a sledgehammer. My body, despite the broken bone, tried to obey. I dragged myself across the floor, sobbing as the shattered pieces of my knee ground together.

"Jax, please," I whimpered. "It hurts."

"Go to the hospital," he said, turning his back on me to comfort Catalina. "And don't expect me to pay for it. You brought this on yourself."

I dragged myself out the front door, leaving a trail of tears on the polished floor.

At the pack hospital, the doctor wanted to use the healing accelerator—a device that uses Alpha energy to speed up bone knitting.

"No," I said, gripping the bedsheets.

"But Miss Carter, it will heal in hours," the doctor argued.

"Let it heal naturally," I whispered. "I want to remember this pain. Every single second of it."

I checked my phone while the nurse cast my leg. A notification popped up. Catalina had posted a photo on Instagram. It was her in Jax's jersey, sitting on his lap.

Caption: My Alpha protects me.

That was it. The last thread snapped.

Eliana POV:

Three weeks later, I was walking with a cane. The cast was off, but the limp was noticeable. The doctor said my dancing career was over.

I didn't believe him. I wouldn't let Jax take that from me, too.

Tonight was the Full Moon Party. Attendance was mandatory for all pack members. It was a time for the wolf spirit to revel in the moon's energy.

I wore a simple black dress that covered my brace. I stood in the corner of the great hall, watching the pack dance and drink.

The music stopped abruptly. The crowd parted.

Jax entered. He was wearing a tuxedo, looking every bit the future king. On his arm was Catalina, draped in red sequins, looking like a triumphant queen.

He reeked of her. He was marking her with his scent intentionally, masking her natural smell with his own to warn off other males.

It was the ultimate disrespect to a Fated Mate.

He scanned the room and locked eyes with me. He frowned when he saw the cane.

I felt a prod at my mental barrier. He was trying to Mind-Link me.

Open the link, Eliana, he pushed.

I kept the wall up. It was solid brick now.

Jax narrowed his eyes. He grabbed a microphone from the stage.

"Let's play a game!" he announced, his voice booming. The crowd cheered, drunk on moonshine and loyalty. "Truth or Dare."

The bottle spun on the large table in the center of the room. It landed on Catalina.

"Dare!" she squealed.

Jax smirked. "I dare you... to kiss the highest-ranking male in the room."

The room went silent. Everyone looked at me. I was the Mate. By law, I was the highest-ranking female. This dare was a direct challenge to my status.

Catalina pretended to look shy. She glanced at me, a mock apology in her eyes, before turning to Jax.

She grabbed his lapels and pulled him down.

Jax didn't pull away. He kissed her back. Deeply. Passionately. He tangled his hand in her hair, pulling her closer, making a show of it.

The crowd erupted in awkward cheers and nervous murmurs.

Look at her, they whispered. The Alpha prefers the mistress. The Mate is defective.

Jax broke the kiss and looked straight at me, wiping lipstick from his mouth.

"Some she-wolves are born to please," he said into the microphone, his eyes boring into mine. "And some are just... burdens."

The silence that followed was deafening.

I didn't cry. I didn't run.

I tapped my cane on the floor, the sound echoing in the quiet hall. I limped forward until I was standing in front of the stage.

I looked up at him. My face was completely void of emotion. No anger. No sadness. Just nothing.

"Are you finished?" I asked. My voice wasn't loud, but in the silence, it carried.

Jax blinked, confused by my lack of reaction. He wanted tears. He wanted me to beg.

"Eliana—"

"You are not a king, Jax," I said calmly. "You are just a male with a title your father gave you."

I looked at Catalina, then back at him.

"And you have poor taste."

I turned around.

"How dare you!" Jax roared. The Alpha Aura slammed into the room, making people drop to their knees.

But I didn't kneel.

The pain in my knee was blinding, but I locked my joints. I kept my spine straight.

"You are nothing to me," I said, not looking back. "Just a common male."

I walked out of the hall. The pressure of his aura pushed against my back, trying to crush me, but I used it as fuel.

I heard glass shattering behind me. Jax had thrown his drink against the wall.

He was angry. Good.

Because I was done being sad.

Eliana POV:

I was passing the Alpha's study on my way to the library when I heard my name.

My wolf hearing, usually dull due to my suppression, pricked up. I stopped, pressing myself against the oak paneling.

"...she's getting defiant, Jax. It's not a good look," said Mason, the pack Beta.

"Let her have her tantrums," Jax's voice replied, dismissive and arrogant. "She's weak, Mason. She needs to be broken down before she can be built up as a Luna."

My breath hitched. Broken down?

"Is that why you're parading Catalina around?" Mason asked.

"Exactly," Jax laughed. It was a cold, calculating sound. "I don't love Catalina. She's a toy. But Eliana... Eliana is too soft. Too proud. I need to tame her. I need to show her that she is nothing without me. Once she learns to submit, completely and utterly, then I'll mark her."

I covered my mouth to stifle a gasp.

It wasn't just cruelty. It was a strategy. He was using psychological warfare to turn me into a docile pet. He didn't want a partner. He wanted a slave.

A low growl vibrated in my chest.

I hurried back to my room, my hands shaking.

When I got there, Jax was leaning against my doorframe. He held a thick envelope in his hand.

The logo on the envelope was unmistakable: Empire Moon Academy, New York.

My heart stopped. Elder Sal had come through.

"Going somewhere?" Jax asked, waving the letter.

"Give that to me," I said, reaching for it.

He held it out of reach. "New York? Don't be ridiculous. You'd be eaten alive in the city. You're a country mouse, Eliana."

"It's my life, Jax."

"It's my life!" he shouted, stepping closer. "You belong to the Iron Claw. You belong to me. I've decided you're going to the West Coast branch. It's a smaller school. Easier. And I have men there who can keep an eye on you."

"I'm not going to the West Coast," I said firmly.

"You will go where I tell you to go!"

Suddenly, his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen.

"It's Catalina," he muttered. "She says she hears a Rogue near the perimeter."

I scoffed. "We live in a gated compound, Jax. There are no Rogues here. She just wants attention."

"You don't know that," he snapped. "I have to go."

He looked at the letter in his hand, then at me.

"This is the last warning, Eliana. Stop dreaming."

He tossed the letter onto his desk, not bothering to destroy it—he was that confident I wouldn't disobey. Then he turned and ran down the hall, rushing to save the girl who was crying wolf.

I stared at the letter.

He chose a lie over my future. Again. But he made a mistake. He assumed I was still the girl who asked for permission.

I bent down and picked up the envelope.

"You're right, Jax," I whispered to the empty hallway. "I won't survive a week."

I opened the door to my room and pulled out my suitcase.

"Not if I stay the girl you think I am."