Charlotte POV:

I sat on the edge of the bed, a suitcase open at my feet. Just clothes I bought with my allowance, sketchbooks, and trinkets that didn't belong to the estate.

On the nightstand sat a document I'd printed from the library. Dissolution of Mate Bond. In the human world, divorce papers.

The door handle turned. The air grew heavy—Alpha aura. It felt like walking underwater.

Aiden walked in, smelling of cedar and rain.

"Why is it so quiet?" he asked, loosening his tie. He didn't look at me.

"I was packing," I said.

He turned, eyes narrowing at the suitcase. "Going to the countryside estate? Good. You look like a ghost. The city air doesn't suit you."

He tossed a velvet box onto the bed.

"Happy anniversary," he said. "Or whatever. Haven reminded me."

I opened it. A silver anklet.

My stomach turned. Silver is poison to us. It burns the skin and suppresses the spirit. For someone with a dormant wolf like me, it just made me feel like I had a permanent flu.

"Thanks," I lied, voice hollow.

"Put it on," he commanded. "It has a tracker. With all the Rogues roaming around, I need to know where you are."

It wasn't a gift. It was a shackle.

He hit the shower. His phone lit up on the dresser. I shouldn't have, but the image of him holding Leo burned. I picked it up. Passcode was still the date he took over the Pack.

I opened the Mind-Link logs—modern tech that recorded telepathic conversations.

H: She's so annoying today. Just looking at her makes me sick.

Aiden: Bear with it. Her family's land integration is almost complete.

H: I miss your touch. My heat is coming soon.

Aiden: I'll be there. Just have to deal with the ice block at home first.

I dropped the phone on the duvet like it was hot coal.

Ice block.

Aiden stepped out, towel around his waist. He looked at me, eyes darkening with performative lust.

"Come here," he said.

He reached for me. As his hand touched my arm, a violent shudder ripped through me. Physiological rejection. My skin burned.

"Don't," I gasped, pulling away.

His face hardened. "Don't? You are my Luna. It is your duty to breed."

"I... I don't feel well." My temperature spiked. My body was physically rejecting the bond because the trust was shattered.

Aiden growled. "You are useless, Charlotte. You can't shift. You can't handle business. And now you can't satisfy your Alpha?"

Suddenly, his eyes glazed over. Mind-Link.

"What?" he barked at the air. "Leo? I'm coming."

He grabbed his clothes, dressing frantically.

"Intruders at the border," he lied smoothly. "I have to go."

He left me shivering with heartbreak fever, clutching a silver anklet meant to keep me a prisoner.

As the door slammed, I curled into a ball. The bond between us was fraying like an old rope. And for the first time in years, deep in my soul, I heard a sound.

A whimper. My wolf was crying.

Charlotte POV:

I woke up to the smell of bleach and rubbing alcohol.

I was in a VIP room at the Pack Hospital. Kayla, my best friend and one of the few Betas who didn't treat me like garbage, sat in the chair.

"You're awake," she said softly. "Found you on the floor, Lottie. Fever of 104. Aiden... wasn't there."

"Business," I rasped.

"Business?" Kayla scoffed. "If by business you mean sitting in the pediatric ward with Haven, then sure."

I sat up, ripping the IV tape. "Take me there."

"Lottie, no..."

"Now, Kayla."

I walked down the hallway, clutching the IV pole. Even with dull senses, I smelled it. Cedar and rain.

I stopped outside a room. Blinds partially drawn.

Haven sat on the bed, sobbing beautifully. Aiden paced, flooding the hallway with calming pheromones he never wasted on me.

"They called him a bastard, Aiden!" Haven cried. "The other pups... said he has no father."

Aiden stopped. He wrapped his arms around her. "He is not a bastard. He is my son. The future Alpha."

"But Charlotte..."

"Charlotte is a placeholder!" Aiden roared, punching the wall. Plaster crumbled.

I flinched. Usually, he'd turn that rage on me. But here, he took a deep breath. He controlled the madness for her.

"She gave me her kidney years ago," Aiden said, voice lower. "I owe her life. That is the only reason she is still Luna. But once Leo shifts... once the Council sees his power... I will annul the marriage."

"I'm pregnant again, Aiden," Haven whispered.

Silence. Then, Aiden fell to his knees, pressing his face against her stomach. Reverent.

"I will protect you," he vowed. "I will protect our pack."

Our pack.

I wasn't part of the "our." I was the obstacle.

I didn't scream. A cold calm settled over me. The death of hope.

I turned and walked back to my room, ripping the IV out of my arm. Blood trickled down, but I didn't feel it.

"Lottie?" Kayla ran after me.

"Take me back to the Manor," I said. "I have something to do."

Back at the estate, the house was quiet. I walked into the living room.

Crash.

Leo stood by the fireplace. At his feet lay the shattered remains of a porcelain doll. An antique, imbued with a protection spell from my grandmother. The totem of my maternal line.

Leo smirked, eyes gleaming with malice.

"Oops. It was ugly anyway. Mommy says all your things are ugly."

Something inside me snapped.

Charlotte POV:

"You little brat!"

I lunged, grabbing Leo's arm. I just wanted to shake him, make him understand what he destroyed.

"That was my grandmother's!"

Leo let out an ear-piercing scream. "Daddy! Help! She's hurting me!"

The front door burst open. Aiden was there in a second. He didn't ask questions. He saw his son crying and me holding his arm.

"LET HIM GO!"

The Alpha Voice hit me like a physical blow. A command woven with dominance that forced every wolf instinct to submit. My knees buckled. I fell, gasping.

Leo scrambled to Haven, who had just entered. He buried his face in her skirt, fake sobbing.

"She hit me! I was just looking at the doll!"

I struggled against the pressure. "He... he smashed it on purpose..."

"Silence!" Aiden roared, eyes flashing gold. "You dare touch a pup? You dare touch my son?"

I forced myself to stand. My legs shook.

"Your son?" I spat out. "Yes, your bastard son. The one you're stealing my family's legacy for."

Dead silence.

Aiden's mother, the Dowager Luna, walked in. She looked at me with pure disdain.

"Watch your tongue, you barren mule," she sneered. "You are just jealous because Haven gave this pack an heir and you gave us nothing but medical bills."

"I gave you everything!" I screamed. "My land! My dignity! My..."

"Enough," Aiden said. The Alpha Voice vanished, replaced by cold indifference. "You have disrespected the hierarchy. Go to your room. Do not come out until I decide your punishment."

I looked at them. The Alpha, the mistress, the bastard, the cruel mother-in-law. A perfect, twisted family portrait.

"No," I said softly.

Aiden blinked. "What?"

"I said no." I stepped over the porcelain shards. "I am not going to my room. I am going to pack."

I walked past them. As I passed Haven, she leaned in close.

"You should have left years ago, Lottie," she whispered, venom dripping. "You're just a waste of space. A wolf who can't shift is just a dog. Time to put the dog down."

I kept walking up the stairs, back straight, while my heart bled out.