Brooke POV:

The penthouse felt suffocating. I stood by the door, heart pounding.

I wasn't leaving without leverage.

Krystal sauntered in, holding an Apex Pack folder. She adjusted the collar of my bathrobe, revealing a reddish mark on her neck.

I squinted. The edges were too neat. Makeup. Or a curling iron burn. A real Mark pulsed. This was a hickey.

"Still here?" Krystal sneered. "Caleb, baby, Apex sent the contract. They're impressed with the security infrastructure. They think we built a fortress."

"They think Silver Moon built it," Caleb corrected, pouring whiskey. He eyed me. "Which is why you need to hand over the master encryption keys, Brooke. Now."

"Or what?" I asked. "You'll growl at me again?"

"Don't test me. I am your Alpha."

"You're a tyrant. And that infrastructure? It runs on the Alpha Code. It's keyed to my biometrics. Without my daily authentication, the system assumes a hostile takeover."

Caleb froze. "What does that mean?"

"It means," I smiled coldly, "if I don't log in within twenty-four hours, the firewall turns inward. It locks the accounts. Encrypts the data. Shuts down the grid."

Krystal gasped. "She's lying! She's just a weak Omega!"

"Am I?" I looked at Caleb. "Remember the Rogue attack? Who rerouted the sensors? Krystal? Or the 'weak' IT girl?"

Caleb set the glass down. "Give me the keys."

"No."

"I Command you!"

The Alpha Command hit me like a physical blow. A giant hand pushing me down. Submit, the instinct screamed.

I gritted my teeth, sinking.

Then, a flutter in my abdomen.

The pup.

A fierce, protective heat surged from my womb. Not Omega submission, but motherly rage. It pushed back.

I groaned, bones creaking, but I straightened my legs. I stood up.

Caleb's eyes widened. An Omega resisting a direct Command? Unheard of.

"How..."

"I am leaving the Pack," I declared. "I want a buyout. Five million for the patent rights. And I take my personal belongings."

"You're insane," Krystal screeched.

"Then the system crashes at midnight tomorrow," I said. "And when Apex sees your security is a joke, they walk. Silver Moon goes bankrupt."

I walked past them into the bedroom. Krystal tried to block me; I shoved her aside.

I went to the vanity. My expensive herbal lotions-custom formulated to soothe my skin during the pregnancy-were half empty.

"You've been using my things," I said, disgusted.

"I'm improving them," Krystal spat. "You have no taste."

I grabbed my bag, throwing in my laptop, hard drive, and my mother's ring.

"Twenty-four hours, Caleb," I called out. "Wire the money. Or enjoy the stone age."

"Brooke, wait!" Caleb stepped forward, wearing that manipulative mask of concern. "Think about what you're doing. You're emotional. It's... the hormones, isn't it? We can work this out."

"The Pack?" I laughed. "You don't care about the Pack. You care about your ego."

"I care about our future!"

"There is no 'our' future. And you don't deserve to be a father."

His face went pale. "Father? What are you talking about?"

I didn't answer. I opened the door.

"Midnight, Caleb. Tick tock."

I walked out. The moment the door clicked shut, my legs gave out. Resisting the Command had drained me.

My phone buzzed.

Black SUV. North corner. Get in. - E

Easton.

I pushed off the wall. I could feel eyes on me. Not human. Wolf.

Shadows moved in the hallway corners. Blood River warriors. They'd infiltrated the building.

I wasn't safe yet. But I wasn't alone.

Brooke POV:

The black SUV smelled of leather, dark chocolate, and ozone. Easton's scent.

The driver, a massive warrior with a scar down his jaw, drove with terrifying precision.

My phone rang. Secure video link.

Easton's face filled the screen. Shadows played across sharp features, his eyes a piercing, unnatural blue.

"You made it out," he rumbled.

"Barely. I gave him an ultimatum."

"I heard," Easton said, a dangerous smile playing on his lips. "Locking down their grid. Ruthless. I like it. You'll fit in well as my CTO."

"CTO? I thought I was a refugee."

"I don't collect refugees, Brooke. I collect assets. And you are the most valuable asset Silver Moon has. CTO of Blood River Corp. Full autonomy. Triple your salary. Highest clearance."

My heart skipped. "Why?"

"Because I smell power on you. And because watching Caleb Roy realize he threw away a diamond for a rock will be the highlight of my year."

"I accept. But I need to stop at my old apartment. The one I lived in before the penthouse. I have my server there. My backups."

"My warriors will escort you. Be quick. Caleb isn't smart, but desperation makes men dangerous."

The SUV pulled up to the run-down brick building. I hurried up the stairs, a Blood River warrior guarding the entrance.

The apartment smelled stale. I went straight to the closet where I kept my old rig-a shielded server tower hidden under the floorboards.

I booted it up. The fans whirred to life.

"Come on," I muttered, fingers flying across the keyboard.

I needed to secure the Alpha Code backups before Caleb's IT guys tried a brute force attack. I logged into the cloud admin panel.

My breath hitched.

There was an active sync occurring. Caleb's personal cloud.

"Idiot," I whispered. "You never changed your shared permissions."

Because I set up his devices, his phone automatically backed up to my secure server. I opened the latest message log.

Texts between Caleb and "K."

Caleb: Board is pushing for the merger. I need the cash.

K: Dump the bitch. She's useless.

Caleb: I can't. She holds the keys. And... I think she might be pregnant. She's been throwing up.

I gasped. He suspected?

K: Even better. If she pops out a pup, we sell it. High-ranking couples in the South pay millions for Alpha blood.

I slapped a hand over my mouth, bile rising. Sell it? Sell my baby?

Caleb: You think?

K: Solves everything. We get cash, ditch the brat, declare her mentally unstable. Make her a Rogue.

Caleb: Fine. But after the merger. Keep her docile.

Docile.

Tears streamed down my face. They weren't just leaving me. They were trafficking my child.

"Monsters," I hissed.

I quickly downloaded the logs to an encrypted drive.

I looked in the mirror on the closet door. My face was pale, but my eyes...

My muddy brown eyes were glowing. A ring of gold. And deeper... a flash of white.

White.

The White Wolf. The Moon Goddess's avenger. A myth.

The sound of a key in the lock froze my blood.

"Brooke?"

Caleb.

I shoved the drive into my bra.

He stood in the doorway, chest heaving. He'd tracked my scent. Krystal was behind him, smirking.

"We need to talk," Caleb said, stepping in. He locked the door. The click echoed like a gunshot.

"I have nothing to say to you," I said, backing up.

"Oh, but we have plans for you," Krystal laughed. "We can't have you running to the enemy with our secrets. Or with that little... complication inside you."

She looked at my stomach.

They knew.

And the Blood River warrior was downstairs. I was trapped.

Brooke POV:

The room shrank.

"You shouldn't have run, Brooke," Caleb said, deceptively calm. "Makes you look guilty."

"Guilty of refusing to be abused?" I shielded my stomach.

"Treason," Krystal chimed in, picking at her nails. "Running to Blood River? Death sentence."

"I haven't told them anything yet," I lied. The drive burned against my skin. "Let me go, and I disappear."

"Can't take that risk," Caleb said, stepping closer. He smelled like burning rubber-aggression. "And we can't let you take the pup. That is Pack property."

"Property? It's a child!"

"It's my heir!" Caleb roared. "I decide its future!"

I glanced at the bathroom door, seeing the bottles of my lotion visible on the counter-the ones Krystal had been stealing.

"Stay back!" I warned.

Caleb laughed. "What are you going to do?"

He moved faster than I could track. One moment he was by the door, the next his hand was wrapped around my throat. He lifted me off the ground.

"Caleb!" I choked.

"You need a time out. Until you give me the encryption key."

He dragged me toward the bedroom. Not to the bed, but to the walk-in closet. My "Faraday Cage"-a reinforced room I built for sensitive hardware testing.

"No!" I kicked out. "Caleb, please! The walls are lined with silver mesh!"

He threw me inside. I crashed into the shelves, shoulder taking the impact.

"Lock it," he ordered Krystal.

Krystal slammed the heavy door. The deadbolt slid home.

"Let me out!" I pounded on the door. "Caleb!"

Then, the pain started.

The silver mesh in the walls-designed to block signals-was reacting to my wolf. It felt like my skin was being held over an open flame. My wolf howled in agony, retreating deep into my mind.

"It burns!" I screamed, sliding down the door. "Caleb, the silver radiation! You're killing us!"

"Stop being dramatic," Krystal's muffled voice came through. "It's just a closet. Give us the password, and you come out."

"I can't... breathe..."

The silver suppressed my healing. It suppressed my strength. And it was attacking the most fragile thing in my body.

A sharp, tearing pain ripped through my abdomen.

I gasped, doubling over. A knife twisting inside.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no."

I felt warm wetness between my legs. Blood. Bright red, soaking my jeans.

"Help!" I shrieked. Pure, primal terror. "My baby! I'm losing the baby! Caleb!"

"She's faking it," Krystal said. "Don't open it, Caleb. She's trying to trick you. She knows we need the key."

"Are you sure?" Caleb sounded hesitant.

"Trust me. She's an Omega. She's manipulating you."

The pain came in waves. Black spots danced in my vision. I curled into a ball, clutching my stomach, trying to hold the life inside.

Hold on, little one, I pleaded.

But the connection-that tiny spark-was fading. The silver was poisoning it.

"Caleb..." My voice was a whisper. "You're killing... your son..."

Silence.

I lay in the pool of my own blood. The burning became a dull thrum. The cold took over.

I felt the exact moment the spark went out.

It was like a light switch flipping in my soul. The future I dreamed of vanished.

My wolf let out a sound that wasn't a howl. It was a death knell.

Then, darkness took me.