Ariana POV

The Maybach's taillights bled into the cold, rainy night, taking the last four years of my life with them. I looked down at my left hand. The million-dollar pink diamond Holden had slipped onto my finger felt heavier than a silver shackle. It was a brand of my humiliation, a glittering reminder of a mate-bond built on lies.

I pulled it off.

Under the flickering streetlamp, a frail old woman crouched with a basket of wilting flowers. She was soaked to the bone. Without a second thought, I tossed the diamond into her basket.

"Go home," I whispered, my voice hollow. "Buy yourself something warm."

I didn't wait for her response, turning my back and disappearing into the icy downpour.

Blake POV

The tires of my Rolls-Royce Phantom hissed against the wet asphalt as I pulled up to the curb. I stepped out, holding a black umbrella over my grandmother.

"I told you not to sneak out, Granny," I sighed, my Lycan Inner Wolf grumbling at her stubbornness.

She ignored me, her warm amber scent spiking with sudden, frantic excitement. She held up a pink diamond ring. But it wasn't the gem that hit me.

It was the scent clinging to the metal.

Rain-washed white jasmine.

It punched through the damp city air, hitting my senses with the force of a lightning strike. My Inner Wolf, dormant and bored for decades, suddenly roared to life, clawing at my chest with a primal, possessive fury. Mate!

"Go after her, Blake!" Granny ordered, her eyes wide. "That's a White Wolf!"

I dropped the umbrella and let my Lycan senses explode outward. But the rain was too heavy, washing away the tracks. The intoxicating jasmine scent was already dissolving into the night. I cursed under my breath, returning to the car. I placed the ring on the dashboard. The faint aroma filled the enclosed cabin, leaving my blood boiling and my wolf pacing restlessly in my mind.

Ariana POV

Two hours later, I stood dripping wet in the foyer of the Hayes Pack Alpha Estate. My phone buzzed. A text from Holden: Rogue spotted at the border. Pack business. Won't be home tonight. Sleep well, my Luna.

I stared at the screen, feeling nothing but a cold, clinical disgust. I unpinned his number.

Pushing open the heavy oak doors to the master bedroom, my stomach violently lurched. Hours ago, I had prepared this "Nest" to celebrate my medical clearance. Expensive aromatherapy candles flickered, casting a warm glow over the yellow silk sheets, which were meticulously covered in fresh rose petals. A perfect setting to breed his Alpha pups.

A guttural sound tore from my throat. I lunged forward, grabbing the edge of the silk sheets and violently ripping them off the mattress. Petals, pillows, and candles crashed to the floor in a chaotic mess. I stood amidst the ruined nest, my heart hardening into impenetrable iron.

The next morning, the scent of wild bonfire filled the living room. Callie, my best friend and a hidden Rogue, slammed a stack of photos onto the glass coffee table.

"He bought her a villa outside the territory with Pack funds," Callie spat, her eyes blazing with protective fury. "And look at this."

I picked up a photo. It was a screenshot of Bree's social media, flaunting a diamond bracelet. A gift from my Alpha, the caption read.

I didn't cry. I calmly grabbed another black trash bag and shoved a row of designer dresses and perfumes Holden had bought me inside.

"Sell it all," I told Callie, tying the bag shut. "Donate the money to the wolfless orphans in the lower districts."

Callie frowned, crossing her arms. "Ari, Holden's ego is massive. He needs his 'perfect, submissive Luna' to maintain his image. He's not going to just let you walk away."

By evening, the master bedroom was still a graveyard of crushed roses. I sat at the vanity, staring at my reflection when the door opened.

Holden walked in. The heavy cedar scent rolled off him, but beneath it, my heightened senses caught the sickeningly sweet trace of cheap vanilla.

He stepped behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders, playing the devoted husband. "I'm sorry about last night, baby. How about we plan a grand Mating Ceremony? And a honeymoon. Just us."

I looked at his handsome, lying face in the mirror. I needed to test the waters.

"Holden," I said, my voice eerily calm. "Maybe we should sever the mate-bond."

The gentle mask shattered instantly. His Alpha wolf perceived the ultimate threat to his possession. His eyes flashed a dangerous, bloodthirsty red.

Before I could blink, he released a suffocating wave of Alpha's Command. He grabbed my jaw, his grip bruising, forcing my head up to meet his furious gaze.

"Listen to me, Ariana," he snarled, his voice dropping into a feral, terrifying growl. "In our world, an Alpha never lets go of his mate. There is no divorce. Only death can sever this bond."

Ariana POV

Holden's bruising grip on my jaw sent a terrifying tremor through the mate-bond, but I forced my eyes to remain dead and hollow. He wasn't holding me out of love; he was holding me because his Alpha ego couldn't fathom losing a possession.

I slowly reached into the nightstand drawer, my fingers brushing past the ruined rose petals on the floor. I pulled out a thick stack of parchment-a Pack Separation Agreement drafted by a human lawyer.

"If you won't sever the bond, then let's at least divide the territory assets," I choked out, shoving the papers against his chest.

Holden glanced at the title. His eyes instantly flared a bloodthirsty crimson. His Inner Wolf roared at the sheer audacity of my challenge. He didn't even bother to read the clauses. With a feral snarl, his claws extended, shredding the legal document into confetti.

"You are a wolfless dependent, Ariana," he growled, his voice vibrating with absolute Alpha authority as he threw the shredded pieces over the ruined bed. "You own nothing. You are nothing without my protection. Stop throwing these pathetic tantrums over an Omega."

He turned on his heel and slammed the heavy oak door behind him, leaving me in the suffocating silence of the master bedroom. I stared at the torn paper mingling with the crushed roses. Conventional methods would never work. I needed a foolproof plan to execute the irreversible Rejection ritual in exactly one month.

The next evening, the air inside Holden's Maybach was thick with his oppressive cedar scent. We were heading to the Taylor Pack Estate for a family dinner, and Holden was acting as if last night's violent outburst had never happened. His Inner Wolf was smug, convinced that his display of dominance had successfully cowed me.

"If the intern bothers you that much," Holden said smoothly, staring out the rain-streaked window, "I'll have Bree reassigned to the Border Patrols. Consider it a gift."

He turned to me, his gaze hardening with a subtle Alpha warning. "But don't ever push my bottom line again."

Before I could respond, his demeanor shifted seamlessly into the role of the devoted husband. He reached over, wrapping his large hand around mine. "Keep taking the Healer's herbs, my love. I want us to focus on the future. On our strong Alpha pups."

My stomach violently churned at the thought of bearing pups for a man who smelled of another woman's cheap vanilla. I suppressed the urge to gag, subtly sliding my hand out from beneath his.

"Of course," I murmured, staring blankly ahead.

The grand dining room of the Taylor Pack Estate was a monument to their wealth, the long mahogany table groaning under a feast set with pure gold and bone china. Yet, my biological father, Alpha Gene, my mother, Luna Beverly, and my two brothers sat in absolute silence. Our stomachs were empty. We were waiting for Kylie's international video call. Because she was a wolfless Omega, the Pack's mind-link couldn't reach her across the ocean.

I had no patience left for this sick favoritism. I picked up my gold fork and reached for a slice of roast.

"Put that down," Alpha Gene barked, his cedar scent spiking with irritation. "We wait for your sister."

I dropped the fork, letting it clatter loudly against the china. "Why? She's probably too busy throwing herself at high-ranking Alphas or Lycans abroad to remember the time difference."

The reaction was instantaneous. Beside me, Holden stiffened. His scent flared with a sudden, sharp spike of jealousy he couldn't completely mask. He was thinking about Kylie with another man.

But it was my second brother, Bryan, who completely lost his mind.

"Shut your mouth!" Bryan roared. His volatile Alpha wolf surged to the surface. He slammed his fist onto the table, violently backhanding the heavy bone-china tureen of boiling meat stew.

The heavy bowl shattered. The scalding, boiling liquid erupted across the table, splashing directly onto my chest and abdomen.

A searing, blistering agony ripped through my skin. I gasped, gripping the edge of the mahogany table as the hot liquid soaked through my blouse, burning me alive.

"Oh, please," Luna Beverly sneered, rolling her eyes at my trembling frame. She didn't even flinch at my pain. "Stop the pity play, Ariana. Holden isn't going to fall for your dramatic victim act just because you spilled some soup."

"You're a constant embarrassment to this Pack," my eldest brother, Bradford, muttered in disgust.

Holden, finally snapping out of his jealous daze over my comment about Kylie, realized what had happened. "Ariana!" he gasped. He reached out, his Alpha scent flaring in a desperate attempt to soothe my pain, his hands moving to inspect the damage.

I violently shoved his hands away.

My eyes were completely dry, devoid of a single tear, burning with an absolute, glacial hatred. Without a word, I grabbed the hem of my soaked, clinging shirt and yanked it up. I exposed the raw, blistered red flesh to the entire room-and right beneath the fresh burns, the dark, twisted, dead-branch-like scar from the silver poison four years ago.

Ariana POV

The silence in the grand dining room was deafening. I kept my shirt lifted, the raw, blistered flesh of my stomach framing the dark, twisted dead-branch scar of the silver poison. I waited for the shock. I waited for my family's outrage.

Instead, my heightened senses caught a sudden, rancid shift in the air.

A sour, suffocating stench of panic and heavy guilt radiated from Alpha Gene, Luna Beverly, and my two brothers. My blood ran ice-cold. They weren't surprised. The horrifying truth clicked into place-my entire family knew Kylie had hired that Rogue to cripple my Inner Wolf, and they had helped cover her tracks.

Before I could unleash my fury, a feral growl ripped through the room. Holden's cedar scent spiked with aggressive, possessive rage. His Alpha ego couldn't stand the sight of other males looking at his mate's bare skin, nor could he stomach the visual reminder of the dirty deal he had made to protect Kylie.

He lunged forward, his large hands roughly grabbing the hem of my soaked shirt and yanking it down. The coarse fabric scraped violently against my fresh burns.

I gasped, my knees buckling from the searing agony.

"Don't look at her!" Holden snapped at my brothers, his claws extending as he grabbed my wrist in a bruising grip. "I'm taking her to the bathroom to run cold water-"

"Don't touch me!" I snarled, fighting against his iron hold.

Suddenly, a sharp chime echoed through the room. The giant screen at the head of the table flickered to life. Kylie's face appeared, framed by the luxurious backdrop of her overseas villa. Because she was a wolfless Omega, she couldn't use the Pack's mind-link.

Instantly, the suffocating tension vanished. My parents and brothers morphed into doting, affectionate figures.

"Did Holden make you mad again, Ari?" Kylie asked, her voice dripping with fake, sugary innocence. Even through the screen, I could almost smell her nauseating, artificial lily perfume.

I stared at her, my hatred solidifying into a weapon. I stopped fighting Holden's grip. Instead, I forced a sickeningly sweet smile, looping my arm through his and resting my head against his tense shoulder.

"Not at all, Kylie," I purred, staring dead into the camera. "Holden and I were just discussing the Healer's fertility herbs. We're preparing to breed our own strong Alpha pups. They'll be so excited to call you Auntie."

The effect was instantaneous. Kylie's sweet smile froze, her eyes flashing with pure, venomous jealousy. As a low-level Omega, breeding strong pups was her deepest insecurity.

Beside me, Holden went completely rigid. His Inner Wolf panicked. He had been avoiding my bed for months, spending his lust on Bree. My sudden declaration of breeding terrified his guilty conscience. He awkwardly pulled his arm out of my grasp, stepping away.

The sight of both of them breaking character sent a wave of cold satisfaction through me. Without another word, I turned and walked out of the dining room.

I headed upstairs to my old bedroom to find some burn ointment, but I froze in the doorway. My small room had been entirely gutted. It was now a shrine to Kylie's aviation hobby, filled with Blackwood Empire model planes and a massive poster of her in a flight suit.

"You don't even deserve a room here, wolfless," Bryan sneered, stepping up behind me.

I needed my Pack Identification Papers-the legal documents required to sever my ties with the Taylor Pack and execute the Rejection ritual. I couldn't leave without them.

I swallowed my pride and let my eyes well up with fake tears. "I just came to get my Pack Identification Papers," I whispered, looking down. "I want to transfer my Maple Bay penthouse and the Maserati to Mom for her birthday. I just wanted to prove I can be as good a daughter as Kylie."

Bryan's aggressive posture relaxed into smug amusement. He completely bought my pathetic, desperate act. "Finally learning your place," he scoffed. He walked down the hall to the family safe, punched in the code, and tossed the thick envelope at my chest.

I clutched the papers tightly. My ticket to freedom.

I hurried downstairs, heading straight for the front doors. But a heavy Alpha aura slammed into my back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bradford barked, stepping into the foyer. "Get back to the table. You're embarrassing this family."

I slowly turned around and walked back into the dining room. Bradford smirked, thinking I had submitted to his command. I stopped right at the edge of the long mahogany table, my eyes locking onto Alpha Gene and Luna Beverly.

My dormant White Wolf surged with a fraction of her true power. I grabbed the edge of the heavy velvet tablecloth with both hands.

With a violent, explosive yank, I ripped it backward.

Pure gold cutlery, bone china tureens, and a feast fit for royalty crashed to the marble floor in a catastrophic explosion of shattered glass and flying food.

Luna Beverly shrieked. Alpha Gene roared, his chair scraping violently against the floor.

"Enjoy your dinner," I sneer, my voice dripping with absolute venom.

I spun on my heel and stormed out the heavy oak doors into the freezing night. Behind me, Holden's frantic voice echoed over the chaos. "Her burns-she's delirious from the pain!" I heard his heavy, panicked footsteps rushing after me into the dark.