Ava POV

I woke to the cloying stench of mold and damp stone. My head throbbed in violent rhythm with my heartbeat.

I tried to shift my weight, but my legs screamed in protest. My knees were swollen, pulsing with an agony that confirmed they were fractured—shattered by the crushing weight of the Alpha Command.

"Ava?"

A whisper drifted from the bars.

It was Ben. His face was pale, eyes darting nervously in the gloom. He clutched a medical bag to his chest.

"Ben," I croaked, my throat like sandpaper. "Go away. If he sees you..."

"He's busy," Ben hissed, unlocking the cell door with a trembling hand. "He's calming the guests. Cleaning up the mess with the Rogue."

Ben rushed in and dropped to his knees beside me. He immediately began cleaning the gash on my head with efficiency born of panic.

"I heard what happened," Ben said, his voice thick with suppressed emotion. "He... he used the Command on you. To protect *her*."

"I know," I said. My voice was devoid of emotion. The pain had burned it all away, leaving only ash.

"We have to get you out," Ben insisted. "He's planning a public trial tomorrow. Chloe is demanding exile. Or execution."

"Let her demand," I rasped. "I'm leaving tonight."

"How? You can't walk."

"I'll crawl if I have to," I said, meeting his eyes. "Ben, did you bring the kit?"

He nodded, swallowing hard. He pulled a syringe and a vial of clear, viscous liquid from his bag.

"This will slow your heart rate to near-zero," Ben explained, his voice shaking. "It mimics death perfectly. It lasts for two hours. I'll declare you dead from your injuries, have your body moved to the morgue, and then smuggle you out the back entrance to my car."

It was a desperate plan. A dangerous plan.

"Do it," I said.

"Ava... the baby," Ben hesitated, the needle hovering. "This drug... it's risky for the fetus."

I pressed a hand against my stomach. Beneath the pain, I felt a hum of energy.

"We are strong," I whispered. "My wolf is healing me. She will protect the child."

Ben nodded, steeling himself. He tied a tourniquet around my arm.

"Wait," I said, gripping his wrist.

"What?"

"I need to see her," I said.

"Who?"

"Chloe."

"Are you insane?" Ben hissed, eyes widening. "She's in the Alpha suite."

"No," I said, shaking my head slightly. "She'll come here. She wants to gloat. She won't be able to resist seeing me broken before I 'die'."

I was right.

Ten minutes later, the sharp staccato of heels clicking on stone echoed down the corridor.

"Leave us," a female voice commanded the guard.

Chloe appeared at the bars. She was still wearing her pristine white gown, looking like a beautiful angel of death.

Ben shrank back into the shadows of the corner cell, making himself invisible.

"Look at you," Chloe laughed softly, the sound echoing off the damp walls. "The brilliant scientist. Rolling in the dirt."

I pulled myself up to a sitting position, fighting the nausea. I stared dead at her.

"You aren't pregnant," I said calmly.

Chloe’s smile didn't falter. "So? Ethan thinks I am. That's all that matters."

"He'll find out," I said. "Nine months is a long time to fake a belly."

"Oh, I have a plan for that," Chloe said, idly examining her manicured nails. "A tragic miscarriage in a month or two. Caused by the stress of your 'treason.' Ethan will be so heartbroken, he'll hate you even more. And he'll be bonded to me forever through our shared grief."

She was a monster. A calculated, soulless monster.

"Why?" I asked. "Why me? I never hurt you."

"Because you have what I want," Chloe spat, her face twisting into a snarl. "You have his respect. Even as an Omega, he listens to you. He relies on you. I needed you gone so I could be the only voice in his ear."

She leaned closer to the bars, gripping the cold iron.

"And besides," she whispered, her nostrils flaring. "I smell it on you. Under the dirt and blood."

My blood ran cold.

"You smell... powerful," Chloe murmured. "Ancient. If Ethan ever figured out what you really are, he'd never look at another woman again. I couldn't take that risk."

She knew. She suspected the White Wolf blood.

"You're pathetic," I said.

"I'm the Luna," she corrected, straightening up. "And you're dead."

She turned and walked away, her heels clicking a victory rhythm.

"Goodbye, Ava. I hope it hurts."

As her footsteps faded, Ben emerged from the shadows. He looked sick to his stomach.

"She's... evil," Ben whispered.

"She's a walking corpse," I said, my voice hard. "She just doesn't know it yet."

I held out my arm.

"Do it, Ben."

Ben positioned the needle against my skin.

"I'll see you on the other side," he said, tears welling in his eyes.

He injected the serum.

Cold.

Instant, glacial cold rushed through my veins, freezing the blood in my arteries. My heart stuttered. My vision blurred into gray static.

The darkness came rushing in like a tide.

My last thought was of Ethan’s face when he broke my knees.

*I reject you,* I thought, screaming it silently into the void as the blackness swallowed me. *I reject you, Ethan Reed.*

And then, nothing.

*

The monitor flatlined.

A long, high-pitched beep filled the cell, signaling the end.

Ben stood up, wiping his eyes, and opened the cell door to call the guards.

"The prisoner is dead," he announced, his voice breaking perfectly.

But deep inside Ava's cooling body, a spark of silver light ignited in the darkness of her womb—the White Wolf was not dying. It was waiting.

Ava POV

Gasps tore through my throat as the darkness finally receded.

The death serum Ben had administered was wearing off, leaving my blood feeling like glacial sludge moving through my veins.

"Ava? Can you hear me?" Ben’s voice was a frantic whisper.

I blinked, my vision swimming in and out of focus. We were still in the holding cell, but the heavy steel door was open.

"I'm... alive," I rasped, my voice sounding like grinding stones.

"Barely," Ben said, hooking his arm under mine to help me sit up. "The guards bought the act. They took your 'body' to the morgue. I intercepted the cart halfway there. We have to go. Now."

My head pounded, but a strange, icy clarity washed over me.

The pain in my shattered knees was duller now, masked by the adrenaline and the awakening power of my White Wolf blood.

*Ava.*

Ethan’s voice slammed into my mind like a physical blow.

It wasn't the usual imperious command. It was panicked.

*Where are you? The bond... it feels cold. Answer me!*

I closed my eyes.

For ten years, that voice had been my sun and my moon. Now, it sounded like a stranger shouting from the bottom of a deep, dry well.

*I am gone, Alpha,*

I thought the words, not directing them to him, but letting the wall of silence slam down between us.

*Ava! I command you to answer!*

The Alpha's Command hit my mental shields.

Usually, it would force my body to obey. To kneel. To speak.

But this time? Nothing.

It felt like a gentle breeze breaking against a granite cliff. My Inner Wolf didn't cower. She sneered.

"He's trying to Command me," I whispered to Ben, awe coloring my tone. "It's not working."

Ben’s eyes widened. "The White Wolf... it breaks the hierarchy."

"We need to move," I said.

I leaned heavily on Ben, my legs trembling under my weight. We navigated the back corridors of the Pack hospital, heading toward the exit.

Suddenly, a scream echoed from the adjacent lab—Chloe’s private medical suite.

It was a man’s scream. Raw, guttural, and filled with agony.

"That sounded like..." Ben froze, his face draining of color. "That sounded like my assistant, Josh."

"We keep moving," Ben said, pulling me forward.

"No," I said, stopping dead.

My nose twitched. Under the sharp sting of antiseptic, I smelled blood. Fresh, arterial blood. And magic.

"She's butchering someone in there."

I didn't wait for Ben. I limped toward the door and pushed it open.

The scene before me was a waking nightmare.

Chloe stood over an operating table. Her pristine white gown was splattered with crimson.

Josh, the young Beta intern, was strapped down, unconscious but groaning through a gag.

Chloe held a scalpel poised over an incision. Her eyes were manic, dilated and black.

"It's not compatible!" she shrieked at a terrified nurse cowering in the corner. "His kidney isn't compatible! I need a replacement! My body is failing!"

"Chloe!" I shouted.

She spun around.

When she saw me—bloodied, dirty, and supposed to be dead—she didn't look scared. She looked annoyed.

"You," she hissed. "You just won't die, will you?"

"You're harvesting organs?" I stared at her, horror replacing my anger. "To fix yourself?"

"To keep the lie alive!" Chloe screamed, gesturing wildly with the bloody blade. "My body is rejecting the synthetic hormones I take to fake the pregnancy scent! My organs are shutting down! I need fresh ones!"

She lunged at me with the scalpel.

I was weak, but I was angry. I sidestepped, grabbing her wrist mid-swing.

"You are sick," I growled.

"And you are in my way!"

She kicked my broken knee.

White-hot pain exploded up my leg. I collapsed, gasping.

"Ben!" I yelled.

Ben rushed in, tackling Chloe. But Chloe was fueled by madness and desperation. She scratched his face, drawing deep lines of blood.

"Guards!" Chloe screamed, her voice piercing. "The traitor is alive! She's attacking me!"

Heavy footsteps thundered down the hall.

My heart sank.

Ethan.

His scent—storm clouds and ozone—flooded the room before he even appeared.

He burst through the door, his eyes glowing Alpha red.

He saw me on the floor. He saw Chloe disheveled and screaming, blood on her hands that he assumed was her own.

"Ethan!" Chloe wailed, throwing herself into his arms. "She tried to kill me! She tried to cut the baby out of me!"

Lies. Always lies.

Ethan looked down at me.

There was no love in his eyes. Only cold, hard judgment.

"I thought you were dead," he said, his voice devoid of humanity. "I should have made sure."

Ava POV

I lay on the cold tiles of the lab, my breath coming in ragged, shallow rasps.

"She's harvesting organs, Ethan," I said, my voice steady despite the agony radiating through my chest. "Look at Josh. Look at the scalpel."

Ethan didn't look. He refused to. To look would be to admit he was a fool, and his pride wouldn't allow it.

"Silence!" he roared. "You conspire with Rogues. You fake your death. And now you attack your Luna?"

"She is not my Luna," I spat, blood coating my teeth. "And she is playing you like a fiddle."

"I said SILENCE!"

Ethan grabbed me by the throat. He lifted me off the ground with terrifying ease. My toes scrabbled uselessly against the air. My airway closed.

"You are toxic, Ava," he sneered, bringing his face close to mine. "I kept you around because you were useful. Because your mind made this Pack rich. But now? You are a liability."

He squeezed. Black spots danced like mocking fireflies in my vision.

"I'm going to lock you in the Silver Cage," he whispered. "And I'm going to let you rot until you beg Chloe for forgiveness."

The Silver Cage. A torture device reserved for the worst traitors. It didn't just contain you; it burned the skin and poisoned the blood.

My Inner Wolf woke up fully then. She didn't howl in sadness. She roared in ancient rage.

*Enough,* she commanded.

I clawed at Ethan’s hand. I didn't try to loosen his grip. I dug my nails into his flesh until I drew blood.

He hissed in surprise and dropped me.

I fell to my knees, coughing violently as oxygen rushed back into my lungs. I looked up at him.

"I'm done begging, Ethan," I said. The air around me began to drop in temperature. Hoarfrost crept across the floor tiles, cracking as it expanded.

Ethan took a step back, confusion flickering in his eyes. "What are you doing?"

I stood up. My broken knees screamed, but the power of the White Wolf held me upright like a marionette made of steel.

"Ethan Reed," I said, my voice echoing with a power that shook the glass beakers on the shelves until they rattled.

"Don't," he warned, his Alpha instinct sensing the shift in the atmosphere. "I command you to stop!"

"I, Ava Miller," I continued, the words burning like cold fire in my throat, "reject you as my Mate."

The silence that followed was deafening, heavier than the air itself.

Then, the pain hit.

It wasn't physical. It was the sound of a soul snapping in two.

Ethan doubled over, clutching his chest. He roared in agony. The bond was tearing, shredding the connection that the Moon Goddess had forged.

"You... you rejected me?" he gasped, looking at me with wide, shocked eyes. "You can't! I am an Alpha!"

"I just did," I said coldly.

I turned to leave.

A klaxon wailed through the facility, cutting through the tension like a knife.

The Pack alarm. Red lights flashed in the hallway, bathing us in blood-colored strobes.

"Rogue attack!" A warrior shouted from the corridor. "Breach at the Northern Wall! They're swarming!"

Ethan looked at me, then at the door. He was torn. His mate bond was bleeding out, but his Alpha duty was calling.

Chloe grabbed his arm, her nails digging into his bicep. "Ethan! The baby! The stress! You have to protect us!"

Ethan looked at me one last time. I stood there, bleeding, broken, but unbowed.

"Guard her," Ethan barked to a subordinate. "Don't let her leave. I will deal with her after I kill the Rogues."

He turned and ran. He chose his fake heir and his pride over me. Again.

As he left, the bond snapped completely.

I fell to the floor. The backlash of the Rejection hit me like a physical blow, knocking the wind from me.

Then, the cramps started.

Violent. Sharp. Unforgiving.

I looked down. Blood was soaking through my dress. Not from my head. From between my legs.

"No," I whispered, my voice trembling. "No, no, no."

My baby.

The stress. The Alpha Command. The Rejection. It was too much.

I curled into a ball on the cold floor, clutching my stomach as my world went dark.

*Survive,* my Wolf whispered in the encroaching blackness. *We must survive to kill them all.*