Kian POV

My senses were entirely hijacked. The heavy bass of the club faded into a dull hum, drowned out by an intoxicating, irresistible scent—night-blooming tuberose, rich vanilla, and crisp moonlight.

It hit me with the force of a physical blow. My inner wolf clawed frantically at the edges of my mind, roaring with a violent, primal desperation I had never felt before. *“Mate! Find her! Mine!”*

I followed that blood-boiling aroma through the suffocating crowd, my eyes scanning the strobe-lit dance floor until they locked onto her.

Adella.

But this wasn't the drab, scentless shadow of a woman who had kept her head bowed in my house for six years. She was glowing in a backless emerald silk dress that clung to every curve, radiating an aura that was driving me absolutely insane. And some death-wish-having stranger had his hand resting casually on her waist, swaying with her to the music.

A dark, primitive rage consumed me. I didn't think; I just moved. I strode across the floor, grabbed her bare arm roughly, and yanked her out of the man's embrace.

The second my skin made contact with hers, a violent, electric jolt surged through my entire body. It was a blinding spark of pure pleasure and possession that nearly buckled my knees.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I demanded, a possessive, guttural growl tearing from my throat that barely sounded like my own voice.

Adella didn't cower. Her icy blue eyes, usually so submissive, blazed with pure fury. She yanked her arm, trying to shake off my grip, her sudden strength catching me off guard.

I needed to regain control. I needed to force her back into the weak Omega box I understood. "Have you no shame?" I snarled, my Alpha ego fighting the chaotic satisfaction of my wolf. "Fraternizing with a stranger in public? Are you trying to ruin the Blackwood Pack's reputation?"

She let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Shame? You have no right to speak to me about that word, Kian. Who was shamelessly parading his mistress around days ago, even threatening me with rejection? Keep your hypocritical preaching to yourself."

Her sharp retort left me momentarily speechless. My wolf swelled with pride at her fire, but my pride as an Alpha was deeply offended by her public defiance.

Before I could formulate a response, Ember appeared, pressing her body against my side. "Adella?" she asked, her voice dripping with sweet, manufactured surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Adella didn't even spare her a glance. She kept her piercing gaze on me. "Keep your Rogue mistress in check, Kian. Don't let her bother me."

The word *Rogue* hung in the air like a physical slap. The atmosphere around us froze. Ember’s face drained of all color, her eyes widening in humiliation.

Tears immediately welled in Ember's eyes. She looked up at me, her voice trembling. "Kian, don't blame her. She must be terrified. She knows she'll have nothing once you reject her, so she's hysterical, desperately looking for the next Alpha to provide for her."

Her words acted like a key, unlocking the chaotic mess in my head. Yes. That made sense. That was the Adella I knew—weak, dependent, desperate for money. I ruthlessly shoved down the agonizing whines of my inner wolf and chose the logic I was comfortable with.

I looked at Adella coldly. "I won't tolerate you dragging my name through the mud."

A profound, heavy disappointment washed over Adella's features. She looked at me as if I were the most pathetic creature she had ever seen, then shifted her gaze to Ember.

"Slut," Adella spat.

My temper snapped. I grabbed her arm again, towering over her with absolute arrogance. "Apologize to me and Ember. Right now. I'll give you fifty million."

I expected her to break. I expected her to hesitate at the mention of the money.

She didn't. She just smirked, stepping closer until her intoxicating scent completely suffocated me. She looked dead into my eyes, her voice terrifyingly calm.

"Keep your blood money, Kian. I've already submitted the Rejection application."

The world stopped spinning.

*Rejection?* Submitted by her? An Omega—a woman I thought was a wolfless nobody—initiating a rejection against me, an Alpha? It defied every rule of our world.

Before my paralyzed brain could process the magnitude of what she had just said, she ripped her arm from my loosened grip. She turned her back on me and walked out of the club without a single ounce of hesitation, leaving me standing frozen in the flashing lights, drowning in her lethal scent and the shattering reality of her words.

My wolf was tearing at the confines of my mind, a feral howl shredding my sanity. “Mate! Chase her!”

I lunged toward the fading scent of tuberose and moonlight, but a hand clamped onto my bicep. "Kian, ignore that madwoman," Ember purred.

Her poppy scent suddenly reeked like rotting syrup. My wolf snarled, repulsed by any touch when our true mate fled. I ripped my arm free. "Don't. Touch. Me." The icy growl turned her face chalk-white.

The street was empty when I burst outside, neon bleeding into shadows. Rage ignited in my chest—not just at her escape, but at her defiance. She needed to bleed for this.

I activated the mind-link, my Alpha Command crackling like lightning: “Liam! Status report on the Woodlands sanctions. I want Asia Watkins’ pack collapsing NOW.”

The silence lasted three heartbeats. “Alpha…” Liam’s voice tightened. “The embargo crushed them within 48 hours as ordered. But thirty minutes ago… Silvermoon Pack absorbed all their trade routes. They injected ten times our capital.”

Silvermoon. The name stabbed my spine. Adella hadn’t just escaped—she’d gutted my victory. How? The question burned. A wolfless pawn couldn’t move Silvermoon’s pieces—

My thoughts shattered as polished metal glinted down the block.

The armored SUV’s door yawned open. Adella stood framed in its steel jaws, her spine rigid as a blade. The warrior beside her dropped to one knee. Moonlight caught the obsidian card he offered—etched with a wolf crowned in stars. The Gray Dynasty crest.

Ember’s poison hissed in my skull: …spreading her legs for the next Alpha…

Reality warped. The kneeling warrior wasn’t a lover. He was a subject.

And the Gray bloodline ruled Silvermoon.

My claws tore through my palms as I mind-linked my tracker:

“Larsen. Surveil Adella Gray. Document every ally, every whisper. I want proof of how deep Silvermoon’s corruption runs—and her role in it.”

The SUV devoured the night. My teeth ground bone-deep.

She’d played me. Used her name like a hidden blade.

At the Rejection Ceremony, I’d expose that blade—and break it.

Adella POV

The scent of night-blooming tuberose and warm vanilla filled my luxurious Silvermoon penthouse, a stark contrast to the sterile, suffocating air of the Blackwood estate. It had been days since I submitted the Rejection paperwork, yet Kian’s silence was deafening.

I stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at the city that had once been my prison.

*“My Lady,”* Elder Magnus’s respectful voice echoed through our mind-link. *“The Blackwood Pack has not responded. They are deliberately stalling the official procedures.”*

A hot spark of anger ignited in my chest. Even now, Kian was trying to exert his dominance, using bureaucratic delays to keep me tethered to him. I was done waiting in the shadows. I grabbed the brown envelope containing the Rejection documents from the counter. I would force the Alpha to face what he was so desperately trying to avoid.

The Blackwood Group tower loomed like a monument to Kian’s ego—cold steel and black glass. But before I could even reach the massive revolving doors, a manicured hand clamped onto my wrist.

"Look who it is," Jean Blackwood sneered, her expensive perfume failing to mask the sour stench of her jealousy. "A discarded Omega, daring to show her face on our territory."

Beside her, Kian’s sister, Kailyn, wrinkled her nose. "Do you smell that, Mother? A pathetic mix of desperation and cheap herbs."

For six years, I had swallowed their venom. Not anymore. I ripped my arm from Jean’s grasp with a sudden, fluid strength that made her stumble backward.

"I'm here to get your Alpha's signature," I said coldly, holding up the envelope. "Once he signs this, I am done with the Blackwood family forever."

Jean’s face contorted into an ugly mask of pure rage. "You ungrateful little bitch!"

Her hand cracked across my cheek. The sharp sound echoed through the marble lobby, freezing the air. But before her triumphant smile could fully form, my White Wolf instincts flared, demanding immediate retribution.

I swung back. My palm connected with her jaw with a sickening crack. Jean shrieked as the force sent her crashing to the polished floor, her designer pearls scattering like teeth.

"Mother!" Kailyn screamed, lunging at me with her claws extended.

She never reached me. A massive, scarred hand caught Kailyn’s arm mid-air, halting her instantly.

I turned to see Kian standing near the entrance, having just stepped out of a sleek Rolls-Royce. His eyes were wide with shock, fixed on the red handprint blooming on my cheek. But it was the imposing older Alpha beside him who had stopped Kailyn. Lord Timothy Carson.

"Blackwood," Lord Timothy’s voice boomed, cold and lethal. "Is this how you allow your family to treat the heir to the Silvermoon Pack? Perhaps our billion-dollar partnership needs to be reconsidered."

The word *heir* dropped like a bomb. The color instantly drained from Kian’s face. Jean and Kailyn froze, their eyes darting between me and the furious Lord Timothy in absolute terror.

Under the crushing weight of Timothy’s glare, Jean and Kailyn muttered trembling, humiliated apologies. I didn't even look at them. I locked eyes with Kian.

"And you, Alpha Blackwood?" I mocked, my voice dripping with disdain. "Your mate is assaulted on your territory, and you just stand there? Or is the Alpha of the Blackwoods just a coward hiding behind women?"

His jaw ticked so hard I thought his teeth might shatter. The Alpha command in his blood fought against the reality of losing his most crucial business alliance. Slowly, agonizingly, the businessman won.

"I'm... sorry," Kian ground out, the words visibly choking him.

I nodded, stepping forward to slap the Rejection envelope hard against his chest. He caught it reflexively. "Don't forget to sign it."

I turned my back on him, accepting Lord Timothy’s offered arm. As we walked out of the glass doors, I could feel Kian’s furious, disbelieving gaze burning into my spine. Let him seethe. Let him order his trackers to dig into my past. They would find nothing but the impenetrable, ancient shields of the Silvermoon Pack, leaving him completely in the dark.