Aleida POV:

I sat in my car in the underground parking lot, the engine off, the darkness wrapping around me like a shroud.

I hadn't left the building yet. I couldn't. My body was frozen, caught between the instinct to flee and the instinct to fight.

I cracked the window open just an inch. My hearing strained upward, focusing back on that office on the top floor.

"She's going to be an Omega when this is done," Edison's voice drifted down, faint but clear to my focused senses. "No, lower. She'll be Rogue trash. We'll strip her of the pack name."

"She deserves worse," Derek said. The hatred in his voice was a physical blow. "Do you remember when Elsa left? Crying her eyes out?"

I remembered.

Elsa, Derek's adopted sister. The pack darling. Two years ago, she had come to me, weeping, saying the pressure of the pack was too much, that she wanted to study art in Paris but had no money.

I had given her my savings. I had helped her pack. I had driven her to the airport.

"Aleida forced her out," Derek continued, rewriting history with every word. "She threatened Elsa. She paid her to leave so she could have me all to herself. She broke our family apart."

My jaw tightened. Elsa had lied. She had taken my money and spun a story of victimization to keep Derek's sympathy.

"And now," Derek said, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl, "Elsa is coming home. Just in time to see the usurper fall."

"The timing is perfect," Edison said. "The Gathering is in two days. Elsa's return ceremony."

"We'll make it a double feature," Derek said. "Welcome Elsa, and unveil Aleida's infidelity. I want everyone to see the DNA test when that bastard is born. I want the rejection to be public."

"Let's raise the stakes," Edison suggested, his tone dripping with slime. "Double the pot. We bet on when she breaks. I give her ten minutes into the party before she starts crying."

"Five," Derek said.

"You know," Edison added, and I could hear the leer in his voice, "It's a shame you got snipped, Alpha. But I have to admit... before she got so big, I sampled the goods a few times while you were away on business. She wasn't bad."

I gagged. Bile rose in my throat, burning and acidic.

A lie. A filthy, disgusting lie. I had never touched another man. I had been faithful to Derek with every fiber of my being, with every instinct of my wolf.

"Did you?" Derek sounded indifferent. "Well, she's community property now. Or she will be soon."

My wolf howled. It was a sound of pure agony, echoing inside my skull.

He doesn't claim us. He shares us.

The bond-the sacred tie that the Moon Goddess weaves between mates-was being dragged through the mud. Derek wasn't just rejecting me; he was dehumanizing me. He was stripping away my dignity as a Luna, as a woman, as a mother.

I gripped the steering wheel until the leather creaked.

I wiped the tears from my face. They were useless. Tears wouldn't save my baby. Tears wouldn't clear my name.

I looked at my reflection in the rearview mirror. My eyes, usually a soft hazel, were flashing gold. My wolf was surfacing, fueled by a rage that burned hotter than the sorrow.

"No," I whispered to the empty car.

I wouldn't just run away. I wouldn't just disappear into a clinic and erase the evidence.

They wanted a show? They wanted to gamble on my life?

I would give them a show.

I canceled the call to the underground doctor.

"Hold on, little one," I murmured, rubbing my belly. "Mommy has a plan."

I would go to that party. I would face Elsa. I would stand before the entire Obsidian Pack.

And I would use their own laws, their own arrogance, to bring this skyscraper crashing down on their heads.

I started the engine. The roar of the motor sounded like a war cry.

Aleida POV:

I was sitting on the couch in the living room of the Alpha's mansion when Derek came home.

I had practiced my expression in the mirror for an hour. Soft. Tired. Oblivious.

"Aleida," Derek said. He walked in, smelling of brandy and Edison's cheap cologne. He held a mug in his hand. "I brought you some warm milk. For the baby. It helps with the calcium."

He smiled. It was the smile of a predator watching a trapped rabbit.

"I'm not thirsty, Derek," I said, keeping my voice steady.

His eyes narrowed slightly. The air in the room grew heavy. A low, vibrating pressure pressed against my skull.

Alpha's Command.

"Drink it, Aleida," he said softly. "It's good for you."

My hand moved on its own. My body betrayed me, obeying the biological imperative to submit to the Alpha. I took the mug. My wolf snarled in protest, but the Command was like iron chains around my limbs.

I took a sip. It tasted sweet, masking a bitter, metallic aftertaste.

Sedatives.

"Good girl," he said, patting my head as if I were a dog. "Rest now."

I feigned drowsiness almost immediately. I let my eyelids flutter and slumped back against the cushions.

Derek watched me for a moment, then pulled out his phone. "She's out. Come in."

I kept my breathing slow and rhythmic, peering through the slit of my eyelashes.

The back door opened. Edison walked in, followed by a woman I hadn't seen in two years.

Elsa.

She was more beautiful than I remembered, but her scent had changed. It was cloying, like rotting flowers.

"Is she asleep?" Elsa asked, looking at me with undisguised loathing.

"Like a log," Edison laughed.

Elsa reached into her designer bag and pulled out a small vial. inside, a liquid glowed with an eerie, phosphorescent blue light.

"Wolfsbane Submission Serum," she announced proudly. "I had it brewed by a witch in New Orleans."

My blood ran cold.

Submission Serum was illegal. It forced a she-wolf's inner wolf into a coma while leaving the human mind awake but paralyzed. It was used by traffickers. It was used for torture.

"Will it work on a pregnant bitch?" Edison asked.

"It's better," Elsa smirked. "It heightens the nerve endings. She won't be able to move a muscle, but she'll feel everything. Every touch. Every pain. Ten times the intensity."

Derek nodded, looking at the vial with approval. "Perfect for the party. I want her frozen when I announce the rejection. I want her to scream inside while she can't make a sound."

"And the inspection?" a new voice asked.

I almost flinched. A fourth person had entered. A man I didn't know. He smelled of dirt and old blood. A Rogue.

"Go ahead," Derek said, waving his hand toward me. "Check the merchandise. If you like what you see, you can bid on her after the ceremony."

The Rogue stepped closer. I felt his rough, calloused hand grab my chin. He turned my face side to side. His other hand moved down, groping my breast roughly.

It took every ounce of my willpower not to Shift. My wolf was screaming, clawing at the walls of my mind, desperate to rip his throat out.

Wait, I told her. Wait.

"She's ripe," the Rogue grunted. "I'll pay top dollar for the first hour."

"Get in line," Edison chuckled.

Elsa stepped forward. "Open her mouth."

Edison forced my jaw open. Elsa used a swab to collect saliva from my tongue.

"I need to test the dosage against her DNA," she said. "We don't want to kill her. Not yet. We need the 'Pot of Gold' to come out first."

She pointed a manicured nail at my stomach.

Pot of Gold. That was what they called my baby. A bargaining chip.

Derek checked his watch. "Get out. She'll wake up in an hour. We need to be ready."

They left, filing out the back door like rats scuttling into the dark.

As soon as the door clicked shut, I opened my eyes.

I stumbled to the bathroom and stuck my finger down my throat, retching up the milk before the sedative could fully digest.

Then, I went to Derek's study.

I didn't need to guess. Weeks ago, when I first suspected Derek was hiding assets, I'd installed a simple keylogger on his desktop. I pulled up the logs.

I logged into his computer. I found the hidden camera feeds. He had installed them to spy on me, but tonight, they had recorded his conspiracy.

I downloaded the footage.

Then, I saw a flashing icon on his taskbar. An encrypted chat app. He hadn't even bothered to log out.

I clicked it open. The group name made my blood freeze.

"The Luna Auction."

Aleida POV:

The chat log scrolled endlessly on the screen, a waterfall of depravity.

Derek (Alpha): Current bid for the first night with the ex-Luna starts at 50k.

RogueOne: Does that include the pregnancy hormones? I like them soft.

Edison (Beta): She's all yours, mate. Just don't damage the face. We want her pretty for the photos.

I read the words, and a part of me died. The part that still remembered Derek proposing to me under the moonlight. The part that believed in the sanctity of the Mate Bond.

He wasn't just rejecting me. He was selling me. He was trafficking his own wife to the highest bidder among the pack's enemies and lowlifes.

I scrolled up.

Elsa: Attached: Ultrasound image.

Elsa: Target: The Pot of Gold. Once the brat is born, we use it to extort her family for the land rights in the North. Then we dispose of it.

Dispose of it.

My hand hovered over the keyboard. I was shaking, not with fear anymore, but with a cold, calculating fury.

I selected everything. The video of them plotting in the living room. The chat logs. The audio of the bet in the office.

I hit Send.

The progress bar crawled across the screen. 50%... 80%... 100%.

Upload Complete.

I sent the files to a secure cloud server, one I had set up years ago for my photography hobby. Then, I set a timer.

48 hours.

Exactly when the party would be at its peak.

I heard the front door open. Derek was back.

I quickly closed the windows, wiped the browser history, and ran back to the couch. I arranged myself exactly as I had been, slowing my breathing.

"Aleida?" Derek's voice came from the hallway.

I stirred, faking a groggy awakening. "Derek? I fell asleep."

He walked in, looking at me with that mask of concern. "The milk must have helped. How is the baby?"

"Moving," I said, placing a hand on my stomach. "He's strong."

Derek's eye twitched. "Good. You need your strength. The Gathering is in two days."

"Do I have to go?" I asked, making my voice sound small and pathetic. "I feel so heavy."

His face hardened. "You are the Luna. You have duties. You will be there, Aleida. And you will look perfect. I don't want anyone saying I don't take care of my mate."

"Yes, Alpha," I whispered.

"Wear the red dress," he commanded. "The one with the open back."

I knew why. The red dress was easy to tear.

"I will," I promised.

He turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "Oh, and Aleida? Don't embarrass me. If you act out, if you cause a scene... the pack laws regarding disobedient Lunas are very severe."

He was threatening me with physical punishment.

"I understand," I said.

He left me alone in the dark room.

I looked down at my belly.

"They think this is a hunt," I whispered to my unborn son. "They think I am the prey."

I stood up, feeling the weight of my body, the ache in my back, and the fire in my soul.

"But they forgot one thing, little wolf. A mother protecting her young is the most dangerous creature on earth."

I went to the closet and pulled out the red dress.

It would be the color of their ruin.