Pain woke her.

Not the sharp kind.

Not the fleeting kind.

But the deep, soul-wrenching agony that felt like something inside her was being ripped apart and crushed at the same time.

Ivy gasped, jerking upright on the narrow cot in the guard chamber, her lungs burning as though she'd been underwater for too long. Cold stone walls surrounded her. Iron bars cut across the narrow window. Torches flickered, casting trembling shadows.

A prison cell.

Her chest tightened.

Memory crashed down on her in a brutal wave.

Rowan.

Gloria.

The announcement.

The rejection.

Her wolf howled inside her, raw and wounded.

She curled forward, pressing her fist to her sternum, trying to breathe through the agony. Every beat of her heart sent fresh lightning through her veins.

They had locked her away like a criminal.

A knock echoed.

Before she could respond, the door swung open.

Two guards entered, their expressions stiff, uneasy.

"The Alpha King summons you," one said.

Her heart stuttered.

Summons.

Hope flared before she could stop it.

Maybe

No.

She crushed the thought before it could bloom.

They escorted her through long corridors carved from ancient black stone. The deeper they went into the royal wing, the heavier the air became, thick with dominance and authority. Powerful wolves lined the hallways elite guards, council members, noble bloodlines.

Every gaze turned toward her.

Some curious.

Some hostile.

Some openly contemptuous.

The omega who dared claim the Alpha King.

The doors to the Great Hall opened.

And Ivy walked back into her nightmare.

The hall was even more crowded than before. Representatives from surrounding packs had arrived, their scents foreign and sharp. The tension in the air was suffocating.

At the front, Rowan stood upon the raised dais, flanked by the Elders.

And beside him

Gloria 

Her hand rested lightly on Rowan's arm, possessive. Her posture was flawless. Her chin lifted.

The future queen.

Ivy's steps faltered.

The bond inside her screamed.

Rowan's eyes found her.

Something dark flickered there conflict, tension, something dangerously close to regret.

But his face hardened.

Cold.

Controlled.

Royal.

She was guided to the center of the hall.

Alone.

Exposed.

Elder Corvin stepped forward, his voice echoing. "Ivy Hale, you stand accused of claiming a false mating bond with the Alpha King."

Murmurs erupted.

Shame burned up her throat.

"I did not lie," Ivy said, her voice shaking but loud. "I felt the bond. He felt it too."

Every muscle in Rowan's body tensed.

"You dare persist?" Elder Corvin snapped.

"I dare speak the truth," she whispered.

Gloria  let out a soft, delicate laugh. "This is becoming embarrassing," she said gently. "Poor thing. The mating heat can cause delusions in low-ranked wolves."

Laughter rippled through the hall.

Ivy flinched.

Rowan said nothing.

Elder Corvin raised his staff. "Alpha King Rowan Blackthorn. Do you acknowledge this omega as your fated mate?"

The hall went dead silent.

Every breath held.

Every eye locked on Rowan.

Ivy's heart pounded so violently she thought it might shatter her ribs.

He looked at her.

For a long, unbearable moment.

Their bond pulsed wildly, screaming, pulling, begging.

She could feel his wolf.

Conflicted.

Furious.

Restrained.

Then his jaw tightened.

"No," Rowan said.

The single word struck like a blade through her soul.

"I do not," he continued coldly. "There is no mating bond. This omega is mistaken."

Gasps.

Outrage.

Shock.

Ivy swayed.

The world tilted.

"No..." she whispered.

Rowan stepped forward, his gaze hard as steel. "I reject you."

The hall erupted.

But Ivy heard nothing.

Her bond exploded.

Agony tore through her veins, searing, violent, absolute.

She screamed.

The pain was beyond anything she had ever known worse than broken bones, worse than burns, worse than death itself.

It felt like her soul was being ripped in half.

She collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest as white-hot lightning ripped through her body.

Her wolf howled in agony.

Her heart fractured.

Her vision blurred.

She barely registered Rowan's sharp intake of breath.

Barely saw him stagger back a step.

Barely heard the elders shouting.

The pain intensified.

Her skin burned.

Her bones vibrated.

Something inside her snapped.

Power surged.

Not omega power.

Not beta power.

Something ancient.

Something forbidden.

The torches lining the walls flickered violently.

Wind exploded through the hall.

The marble floor cracked beneath her palms.

The scent of dominance flooded the air.

Not Rowan's.

Hers.

A thunderous shockwave blasted outward, throwing warriors back several feet. Noble wolves slammed into pillars. Elders stumbled.

Rowan cried out, dropping to one knee.

A strangled gasp tore from his throat.

His aura flickered.

Shattered.

Ivy's head snapped up.

She stared at him in horror.

The Alpha King on his knees.

Power drained.

His dominance crumbling.

"What is happening?" Elder Corvin roared.

Ivy could feel it.

She was pulling something from Rowan.

Draining him.

Consuming his Alpha authority.

"No"  she whispered, terrified. "Stop please"

But her body no longer obeyed her.

Energy surged uncontrollably.

Rowan collapsed fully, both hands braced against the floor, his breath ragged, veins standing out in his neck.

The hall descended into chaos.

"Kill her!"

"Stop her!"

"Shield the Alpha!"

Warriors surged forward.

Elder witches began chanting frantically.

But the power only intensified.

Runes burned to life beneath Ivy's skin.

Her eyes flashed molten gold.

Her wolf roared.

And then

Silence.

The power snapped back into her body.

The hall went deathly still.

Ivy slumped forward, collapsing onto the shattered marble.

Rowan lay several feet away, pale, trembling, his dominance completely gone.

Horrified whispers swept through the hall.

"She drained him..."

"She stole his Alpha power..."

"She's a monster..."

Ivy tried to move.

Tried to breathe.

But darkness closed in.

The last thing she saw was Rowan struggling to reach her.

And  Gloria  screaming in fury.

Pain became everything.

It swallowed Ivy whole.

It tore through her veins, shattered her bones, burned through her soul.

She screamed.

The sound ripped from her throat, raw and broken, echoing violently through the vast Great Hall. Her knees slammed into the marble floor as white-hot agony detonated inside her chest. It felt as though something ancient had awakened inside her and was now tearing its way free.

Her wolf howled in terror.

The bond.

The rejection.

The shattering of something sacred.

It all collided at once, ripping her apart.

"Ivy!" someone shouted.

She barely heard it.

Her vision blurred, golden sparks exploding behind her eyes. The hall spun violently. Faces became shadows. Voices became distant echoes.

And then

Power surged.

Not the gentle warmth of omega energy.

Not the quiet resilience of survival.

This was something monstrous.

Something vast.

Something wrong.

A shockwave blasted outward.

Marble cracked.

Torches along the walls flared violently, flames bending toward her as if bowing. Warriors staggered backward, thrown several feet across the hall. Noble wolves slammed into pillars. The council's protective shields shattered like glass.

At the center of the chaos, Ivy gasped, her body arching as glowing runes ignited beneath her skin.

Rowan cried out.

The sound cut through the madness.

Ivy's head snapped up.

He stood frozen on the dais, his face drained of color. His aura once overwhelming, once crushing flickered violently around him.

And then it collapsed.

A strangled gasp tore from his throat.

His knees buckled.

"No" Rowan whispered, clutching his chest.

He dropped to one knee.

The Alpha King brought low.

A collective cry of horror ripped through the hall.

"What is happening?!"

"Protect the Alpha!"

"Kill her now!"

Ivy stared at him in terror.

She could feel it.

Power was pouring into her.

Not just energy.

Authority.

Dominance.

Alpha command.

She was draining him.

"No please stop!" she sobbed, clawing at her chest. "I don't want this!"

But her body no longer obeyed her.

The bond, broken and burning, had become a conduit.

Energy roared through her veins like wildfire.

Rowan groaned, collapsing fully to the floor, his hands braced against the shattered marble. Veins stood out sharply along his neck, his breathing ragged, uneven.

The once-invincible Alpha King was shaking.

Weak.

Helpless.

Elder Corvin slammed his staff down. "Witches! Containment circle now!"

Three witches rushed forward, chanting ancient words, their hands glowing as they attempted to erect a binding barrier around Ivy.

The power tore through it effortlessly.

Their circle exploded in a burst of blinding light, hurling them backward.

A scream ripped from Gloria Jay's throat.

She rushed toward Rowan, dropping to her knees beside him. "Rowan! Rowan, look at me please!"

But his eyes were unfocused, glassy with pain.

"I I can't feel my wolf," he rasped.

Gloria froze.

Her face drained of all color.

Around them, panic erupted.

This had never happened.

In the history of werewolves, an omega had never drained an Alpha's dominance.

Never.

Ivy's skin burned as the runes beneath it glowed brighter, crawling like living fire across her arms, her collarbone, her throat.

Her wolf was no longer howling.

It was roaring.

Ancient.

Feral.

Territorial.

Her scent shifted violently, no longer soft and submissive, but sharp, commanding, overwhelming.

Royal.

The entire hall reeled beneath it.

Wolves bowed instinctively, their bodies betraying them as her dominance crushed through the chamber.

Elder Corvin staggered. "Impossible..."

Rowan coughed, blood spotting his lips.

That was it.

The sight shattered her.

"No!" Ivy screamed.

She dragged herself across the broken floor, reaching for him. "Stop please take it back I don't want it!"

Her fingers brushed his.

The moment their skin touched

The power snapped back.

The energy collapsed into her body like a dying star, leaving a ringing silence in its wake.

The pressure vanished.

The flames settled.

The hall stilled.

Ivy slumped forward, collapsing beside Rowan, her body trembling violently as the last of the power sank into her bones.

Everything went quiet.

Deadly quiet.

Rowan lay unmoving.

His chest rose slowly, shallow breaths barely stirring.

His aura was gone.

Completely.

The Alpha King had no dominance.

No authority.

No power.

Only flesh and blood.

A broken silence spread across the Great Hall.

Then the whispers began.

"She drained him..."

"She stole his Alpha power..."

"She's a demon..."

"A monster..."

Terror.

Hatred.

Revulsion.

Ivy tried to push herself up, but her limbs refused to obey. Her body felt like shattered glass, every nerve screaming.

She turned her head toward Rowan.

His face was pale, strained, but alive.

Relief nearly crushed her.

At least he was alive.

"Seize her!" Elder Corvin roared.

Heavy hands grabbed her arms, yanking her away from Rowan.

"No-don't touch her!" Gloria screamed, throwing herself in front of Rowan.

"She did this!" one of the elders snapped. "She is a threat to the realm!"

"She must die," another growled.

Execution.

The word echoed in Ivy's mind.

Her heart clenched painfully.

Rowan struggled to lift his head. "Stop..."

The command was weak.

It held no power.

The realization slammed into him with devastating force.

For the first time in his life, his word meant nothing.

Shock flickered in his eyes.

Fear.

Something dangerously close to despair.

Ivy's chest tightened.

She had broken him.

Guards dragged her toward the exit.

Her strength was gone. Her body sagged uselessly between them.

She didn't fight.

She didn't beg.

She simply stared back at Rowan.

Their eyes locked.

The broken bond flickered weakly between them, pulsing with pain and something dangerously close to regret.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Then the doors slammed shut between them.

They threw her into a stone chamber deep beneath the palace.

Chains snapped around her wrists and ankles, cold iron biting into her skin.

The door slammed.

Darkness swallowed her.

Ivy slid down the wall, curling into herself as silent tears streamed down her face.

She didn't understand what she was.

What she had done.

What she had become.

But she knew one thing with terrifying certainty.

Her life as an omega was over.

Far beyond the Blackwood territory, ancient forces stirred.

Forgotten eyes opened.

Old blood recognized its own.

And deep within the shadows, a voice whispered her name.

The moment Ivy was dragged away, the Great Hall erupted.

"Seal the exits!"

"Summon every elder!"

"Where are the witches?"

Voices crashed into each other, panic and fury twisting the air into something suffocating.

Rowan lay on the shattered marble, his chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths. Gloria Jay knelt beside him, her hands trembling as she cradled his head.

"Rowan," she whispered desperately. "Stay with me. Please."

His vision swam.

The world felt... wrong.

Silent.

Empty.

He reached inward, searching for the familiar blaze of dominance, the living heartbeat of his wolf.

There was nothing.

Only hollow stillness.

Fear sliced through him, sharp and unforgiving.

"I can't feel my power," he rasped.

Gloria froze.

Her fingers tightened against his shoulders.

Around them, the elders exchanged grim looks.

Elder Corvin straightened slowly, his ancient face carved from stone. "Then it is as we feared."

The hall fell deathly quiet.

"She has stripped him," Elder Marrek said darkly. "The omega has stolen the Alpha King's dominance."

A wave of rage surged through the nobles.

"Impossible!"

"No omega can do that!"

"She's a monster!"

"A traitor!"

Rowan struggled to sit up, his limbs shaking with unfamiliar weakness. Guards rushed to support him, but he waved them away.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"Taken below," Corvin replied. "She is to be held until judgment is passed."

"Judgment?" Rowan snapped. "On what charge?"

"Treason," Elder Marrek said coldly. "Assault on the Alpha King. Endangerment of the realm."

"She didn't do it on purpose," Rowan growled.

Gloria shot him a sharp look. "Rowan, she nearly killed you."

"I know what I felt," he said hoarsely. "She was terrified."

Elder Corvin's eyes hardened. "Fear does not excuse catastrophe. Her existence now threatens every pack under your rule."

Rowan clenched his fists.

His hands shook.

The loss of his dominance left him exposed, vulnerable in a way he had never known.

And the pack could feel it.

He could sense their shifting loyalty, the subtle pull of uncertainty rippling outward like cracks in ice.

"We must act quickly," Marrek continued. "Word will spread. Other packs will challenge your authority."

Gloria rose to her feet, smoothing her gown. Her eyes glittered with cold resolve. "Then she must die."

Rowan's head snapped up. "No."

"She drained the Alpha King," Gloria said sharply. "She humiliated our throne. If she lives, your reign will never recover."

"She is my mate," he whispered.

The words slipped out before he could stop them.

The hall exploded.

Shock.

Outrage.

Disbelief.

Gloria staggered back a step as if struck.

"What?" she breathed.

Rowan closed his eyes briefly.

"I felt the bond," he said quietly. "I rejected it... but it was real."

Silence slammed down.

Elder Corvin stared at him, long and hard. "Then your mistake may doom us all."

Rowan opened his eyes. "What are you saying?"

"If she is your true mate," Corvin said gravely, "and she holds your dominance, then her power rivals the crown itself."

A dangerous murmur spread.

"She could command us..."

"She could rule..."

"An omega queen?"

Laughter sharp and ugly cut through the tension.

"Never," Gloria said. "She will never sit on that throne."

Her gaze burned with fury.

Rowan studied her, something cold twisting in his chest.

"You seem very certain," he said.

"I will protect this pack," Gloria replied smoothly. "From monsters."

Elder Marrek slammed his staff against the floor. "The council will convene immediately. Until then, the girl remains imprisoned."

"And then?" Rowan demanded.

Corvin's voice was merciless. "Execution."

The word struck Rowan like a blade.

"No," he said hoarsely.

"You have lost the right to overrule us," Marrek snapped. "Without your dominance, your authority is weakened."

Rowan froze.

The truth hit him brutally.

They were already testing him.

Already stripping him of power.

He clenched his jaw. "Then I challenge the council."

A collective gasp filled the hall.

"You cannot," Corvin said sharply. "Not in your condition."

"Watch me."

Rowan pushed himself to his feet, swaying slightly before regaining his balance. Every movement felt foreign, clumsy.

But his gaze was steady.

"If you execute her," he said, "you condemn the realm to civil war."

"Explain," Marrek demanded.

"She holds my dominance," Rowan said. "If she dies, it dies with her. The Alpha throne will remain empty."

The elders stiffened.

That changed everything.

No Alpha power.

No command.

No unified packs.

Chaos.

Gloria's eyes widened. "You're lying."

"I wish I were."

A heavy silence fell.

Elder Corvin exhaled slowly. "Then she becomes even more dangerous."

"She becomes essential," Rowan countered.

"Or a weapon to be destroyed before she destroys us," Marrek said.

The debate erupted, voices clashing violently.

"She must be studied!"

"She must be killed!"

"She must be controlled!"

Rowan listened, fury and helplessness knotting inside his chest.

They were talking about her as if she were a thing.

Not a person.

Not the terrified girl who had collapsed in agony on the floor.

Finally, Corvin raised his staff.

"Enough."

The hall stilled.

"We will delay execution," he announced. "For now."

Rowan's chest loosened slightly.

"But she will remain in chains," Corvin continued. "And should she display the slightest threat, the execution order will be carried out without hesitation."

Gloria's lips tightened.

Rowan closed his eyes briefly, relief and dread tangling inside him.

Far below the palace, in the cold depths of the dungeon, Ivy stirred.

Chains cut into her wrists.

Pain pulsed through every inch of her body.

Her head throbbed.

Her skin burned where the runes had flared.

She forced her eyes open, breath hitching as memory crashed down on her.

Rowan.

The power.

The fall.

Tears welled.

She curled inward, shaking.

"I didn't mean to," she whispered to the darkness.

The shadows shifted.

A soft voice answered.

"We know."

Ivy froze.

Her heart hammered.

"Who's there?" she whispered.

The air rippled.

A faint, ghostly silhouette formed before her-an ancient woman with glowing silver eyes.

"The first witch," the figure said gently. "And the last who remembers your kind."

Ivy's breath caught.

"My... kind?"

The witch knelt before her, studying her with something dangerously close to reverence.

"You are no omega, child," she whispered. "And what you have awakened will change the fate of this world."