Eliana POV

I was folding a silk blouse when the bedroom door burst open, slamming against the wall with a violence that rattled the frame.

Dustin stormed in, radiating a suffocating wave of Alpha authority.

The air pressure in the room plummeted instantly—a deliberate tactic designed to force lower-ranking wolves into submission.

"Eliana," he barked. "I don't appreciate you bombarding my phone with vague threats. As a Luna, you should know how to maintain the Pack's dignity instead of indulging in these hysterics."

I didn't flinch.

I placed the blouse neatly into the open suitcase on the bed, smoothing out a non-existent wrinkle.

"Luna?" I repeated the word, tasting the ash of it on my tongue. I looked at him, feeling nothing but a hollow exhaustion. "I thought that position had already been filled."

Dustin frowned, visibly confused by my lack of submission. He dialed back the pheromones, switching seamlessly to his 'reasonable leader' persona.

"Jami was an... oversight," he said, his tone softening. "But she is carrying my pup, Eliana. I have a responsibility to her."

"Responsibility?" I laughed, a dry, humorless sound that scraped against my throat. "What about your responsibility to your Mate? To the woman you swore an oath to under the full moon?"

"You're being dramatic," he sighed, running a hand through his hair in feigned exasperation. "Jami is just an assistant. Her existence ensures the stability of the Pack. We need an heir. You... you were having trouble."

"I was having trouble because you were poisoning me with stress and neglect!" I snapped, my control slipping. "And if the stability of this Pack requires me to be humiliated in my own home, then I choose to resign."

Dustin’s face hardened into stone. "Resign? You can't resign from a marriage, Eliana. Stop this. What do you want? New jewelry? A vacation? I can open a line of credit for you at the boutiques in Paris."

"I don't want your money." I zipped up the suitcase with a finality that echoed in the silence. "I want my soul back."

Suddenly, a sickly sweet presence slithered into my mind. *Mind-Link.*

*Honey, Dustin says you're having a mental breakdown. Don't worry, I'll take care of his needs tonight.*

My *Inner Wolf* snarled, clawing at the mental barrier. I didn't block her out this time. I opened the channel, projecting my voice with all the force of my suppressed lineage.

*Jami, you are mistaken. I am not broken. I am just taking out the trash.*

Downstairs, I heard a sharp gasp, followed by a frantic *Mind-Link* directed at Dustin. *Dustin! She's threatening me! I'm scared for the baby!*

Dustin’s eyes turned pitch black—the sign of his wolf taking control. He lunged forward and grabbed my arm, his grip bruising.

"Eliana! Enough! You are terrorizing a pregnant female!"

"Terrorizing?" I ripped my arm away with a strength that surprised us both. "She sent me a video of you two mating in this bed, Dustin! She sent me the ultrasound while sitting in my kitchen! You call that *me* terrorizing *her*?"

"She is the mother of my child!" he roared, the sound shaking the windowpanes. "You will treat her with respect!"

"I will treat her like the homewrecker she is," I hissed. "You have turned our *Mate Bond*, the most sacred gift of the Goddess, into a circus for your mistress."

"Silence!" Dustin bellowed, unleashing the full weight of the *Alpha's Command*.

My knees buckled. The Command slammed into me like a physical blow, locking my muscles in place. It was pure, agonizing paralysis.

But my *Inner Wolf*, the White Wolf, stood tall within the void. I forced my legs to straighten, fighting the crushing weight of his voice, my bones groaning under the pressure.

Dustin looked shocked that I was standing.

Jami’s fake sobbing echoed through the *Mind-Link*. *Dustin, please... make her stop...*

He looked at me, and for a second, I saw the man I used to love. Then, the Alpha took over, blinded by the primal need to protect his unborn heir.

"You are ungrateful," he spat. "You are a barren Omega who got lucky enough to marry an Alpha. Know your place."

Something inside me snapped. It wasn't a bone. It was the last thread of hope that tethered me to this life.

My *Inner Wolf* stopped growling. She stood up, shook out her massive, snowy fur, and looked at me with ancient golden eyes. *It is time,* she said.

I looked at Dustin with dead eyes. "My place is not here."

I grabbed the handle of my suitcase. "And you are right about one thing. I am not lucky."

I walked past him.

He didn't stop me. He thought I was bluffing. He thought I'd be back by dinner, begging for forgiveness.

He had no idea.

Eliana POV:

The coffee was bitter, mirroring the pitch-black night pressing against the diner windows.

I sat in the corner booth of a 24-hour diner on the very edge of the territory, watching the rain streak the glass like tears.

My phone buzzed against the Formica table. It was Sarah.

*Eliana, are you okay? The gossip mill is practically melting down. They say Dustin is tearing the Pack house apart, claiming he’s looking for a missing file.*

I took a slow sip, letting the caffeine spread warmth through my chest.

*I'm fine, Sarah. I left.*

*Finally!* Sarah’s mental voice screamed with palpable joy. *That man is absolute trash wrapped in Armani. But... be careful. He's spinning a narrative. He's telling people you're sick, unstable.*

*Let him talk,* I replied.

A notification popped up on my screen. Sarah had sent a screenshot from Instagram.

It was a photo posted ten minutes ago by Jami. She was at the Pack dinner. She was wearing a dress.

My dress.

It was an emerald green gown, custom-commissioned in Milan. Dustin had bought it for our anniversary, claiming the shade perfectly matched my eyes.

Yet, I had never worn it. He always insisted the occasion "wasn't special enough" to debut it.

In the photo, Jami was draped over Dustin’s shoulder, her hand resting possessively on her stomach. Dustin looked calm, his arm tight around her waist. The caption read: *Stepping up when others step out. #LunaDuties #FutureAlpha.*

I stared at the image. It wasn't the dress that hurt. It was the ease with which he replaced me.

Dustin hadn't "forgotten" the dress belonged to me. He simply didn't care.

To him, objects—and people—were interchangeable parts in a machine. If one component stopped functioning, you didn't fix it; you just swapped it out.

*He looks happy,* I thought, a pang of old love trying to surface.

He looks like a fool, my Inner Wolf snarled in correction. Look closer at his eyes.

I zoomed in.

Dustin’s smile didn't reach his eyes. There was a visible tension in his jaw.

Without my pheromones to act as an anchor, the volatile stress of his Alpha blood was already building to toxic levels.

Jami couldn't calm him; she was a delicate Omega with zero training in energy regulation. She wasn't a partner; she was a distraction.

Abruptly, a jagged wave of anxiety slammed into me through the *Mate Bond*.

It wasn't my fear. It was his.

He was looking for me. Not out of love, but out of desperate need. He needed his stabilizer.

My lawyer, Laura, messaged me.

*Avi, the Head of Security, just flagged me. Dustin is demanding your location.*

*Don't give it to him,* I typed back.

*I won't. But you need to know... he's authorized a total freeze on your joint accounts.*

I let out a soft, dry laugh.

He actually thought money was the leash that would heel me.

He conveniently forgot that long before I was Mrs. Powell, I was Eliana David—sole heiress to the David mining dynasty.

I closed my eyes. The bond tugged at my navel, a fishing line trying to reel me back into the dark. It felt dirty.

*I'm done being the battery you drain just to keep yourself bright, Dustin,* I thought.

I finished my coffee and stood up.

I had one stop to make before I left the city for good. There was something in that house that money couldn't buy, and I wasn't leaving it for Jami to defile.

It was time to walk back into the lion's den.

Eliana POV

The house was unnervingly quiet when I entered. The din of the dinner party must have moved to the formal lounge, leaving the hallway wrapped in silence.

I slipped into the study. This room was where I spent most of my nights while Dustin was "working late."

I went straight to the mahogany bookshelf, my fingers trembling slightly. I was looking for the leather-bound manuscript of the Pack's history. It wasn't just a book; it was a relic I had spent two years restoring by hand. On the inside cover, I had painstakingly sketched the ancient totem of the White Wolf, adding my own energy signature to protect the house.

It wasn't there.

Panic, cold and sharp, spiked in my chest. I began pulling books off the shelves, disregarding the order I had meticulously kept.

"Where is it? Where is it?"

"Looking for this?"

I spun around.

Dustin stood in the doorway, his tuxedo jacket discarded, tie loosened. Jami was behind him, holding a glass of wine loosely in one hand.

And in her other hand, she dangled the manuscript.

My *Inner Wolf* snarled, clawing at the surface of my mind. I could smell the ancient ink, but underneath it... nail polish remover?

"Give it to me," I said, my voice trembling.

"What's so special about this dusty old thing?" Jami giggled, swaying slightly. She was drunk, her eyes glassy. "I found it in the trash pile. I thought I'd use the pages for a collage. You know, 'out with the old, in with the new'."

"Trash pile?" I looked at Dustin, horror dawning on me. "You threw it away?"

"It was clutter, Eliana," Dustin said, rubbing his temples dismissively. "Jami is redecorating. Stop being hysterical."

"That manuscript is three hundred years old!" I stepped forward, my hands balling into fists. "Jami, hand it over."

"Oops," Jami said. She opened her hand.

The book fell.

It hit the floor with a heavy, sickening thud. The binding cracked—a sound like a breaking bone.

But that wasn't enough. Jami "stumbled," her heel coming down hard on the open pages, ripping the delicate paper right where my drawing was.

Something inside me shattered.

I didn't think. I didn't plan. My body moved before my mind could catch up.

My fingernails elongated into claws. I wasn't a Luna anymore; I was a wild animal protecting its young. I collided with Jami, my hand raking across her cheek.

"Aaaah!" Jami screamed, dropping her wine glass as it shattered against the floorboards.

"Eliana!" Dustin roared.

The air solidified. *Alpha's Command.*

He grabbed me by the back of my neck and threw me.

I flew across the room. My back hit the edge of the heavy oak desk with brutal force. I heard a crack—a rib, maybe two. I slid to the floor, gasping for air, the taste of copper filling my mouth.

Dustin stood over Jami, checking her scratch. It was superficial. But when he turned to me, he looked at me with pure hatred.

"You attacked a pregnant woman," he growled, his eyes glowing a menacing red. "You are unstable."

I coughed, spitting blood onto the expensive Persian rug. Pain radiated from my chest, white-hot and blinding, but my mind was crystal clear.

The *Mate Bond* was pulsing, trying to heal me, trying to make me submit to my Alpha.

No.

I wiped my mouth. I used the desk to pull myself up. I stood on shaking legs, swaying, but upright.

"Dustin Powell," I rasped.

He looked at me, his lip curled in disgust. "What? Going to apologize?"

I looked him dead in the eye. I summoned every ounce of magic in my blood, every whisper of the White Wolf dormant within me.

"I, Eliana David," I said, my voice gaining a supernatural resonance that vibrated the books on the shelves, "reject you, Dustin Powell, as my Mate."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Then, the scream began.

It wasn't me.

Dustin doubled over, clutching his chest as if he’d been shot. The golden thread that connected our souls snapped with the violence of a whip crack.

I felt a sudden, sharp pain, like a limb being severed, a blinding agony that flashed once and then... nothing.

Just glorious, empty silence.

Dustin fell to his knees, howling in agony, his wolf mourning the death of its other half.

I stood there, bleeding, broken, and completely free.