Brooke POV:

My phone vibrated. A video file from an unknown number. Kelly.

The footage was grainy, taken inside 'The Den'.

Kelly straddling Easton.

"Do you want her?" Kelly whispered. "Do you want your little Omega wife?"

Easton looked bored. "I have no desire for her. She is... bland. A placeholder."

Placeholder.

I hailed a cab.

At the villa, I went to the bathroom and pulled off the silver promise ring.

I dropped it into the toilet. Splash. Flushed away five years.

I grabbed my suitcase. Downstairs, the door slammed open.

"Brooke!" Easton's voice roared. Alpha Command .

I walked down, clutching my bag.

Easton stood there, chest heaving. Kelly was beside him, fake-sobbing, clutching a neck marked with pinches she'd clearly inflicted herself.

"Where is it?" Easton snarled.

"Where is what?"

"The Moonstone Necklace! I took it off in the bathroom, and it's gone! You were the only one who left early!"

"I didn't touch it."

"Don't lie! You saw it on her and couldn't stand it. Just like your mother-a thief."

"Don't you dare speak about her!" I screamed, stepping forward.

Easton shoved me.

I flew backward. My spine connected with the sharp corner of the oak console table.

Crack.

Agony. I crumpled, warm blood trickling down my back.

Easton froze. "Brooke..."

"Found it!"

An Enforcer walked in, dumping my bag.

My clothes fell out. And the Moonstone Necklace.

"She stole it!" Kelly shrieked.

I looked at the glittering lie.

"Check the cameras," I gasped from the floor. "The hall cameras..."

"We can't," the Enforcer said, not meeting my eyes. "System maintenance. Convenient."

Of course. Kelly.

Easton stared at the necklace, then me. His shock hardened into disgust.

"Take her," he ordered. "Lock her in the cells."

"Easton..."

"Get her out of my sight. She is a criminal."

He turned back to comfort Kelly.

He didn't even ask if I was hurt.

Brooke POV:

The pack cells. Silver alloy bars.

The air smelled of ozone and despair. Every brush against the bars sizzled my skin.

Footsteps. Easton appeared.

"Have you learned your lesson?"

"Is that why I'm here? A lesson?"

"You stole a sacred artifact. The council wants to banish you. But I can stop them. Confess. Apologize to Kelly. I'll keep you in the servant quarters."

I looked up.

"Safe? You pushed me into a table. You let them feed me raw meat. I am not safe with you."

"I am trying to protect you!"

I stood up. My legs shook, but my soul was steel.

"I, Brooke Rollins, reject you, Easton Spencer, as my mate."

The words hung in the damp air.

Easton flinched violently, grabbing his chest. The snap of a spiritual cord.

"What... You can't... we aren't marked..."

"The Moon Goddess knows. And now, so do you."

He laughed, strained. "Fine. Play the martyr. You are just a delusional Omega."

"Mr. Spencer." The desk sergeant. "Her bail has been posted."

"By whom?"

"Her mother."

My heart clenched.

I walked out. My mother was in the lobby, pale but fierce.

"Let's go, baby."

Outside, I asked, "Mom, the money... how?"

"I sold it," she signed, eyes wet. "Your father's watch. The Patek. It was the last thing we had."

My chest hollowed out. That watch was supposed to be her retirement. Her safety net.

I removed my SIM card and snapped it, dropping it into the gutter.

"Goodbye, Easton," I said to the air.

Behind me, Easton stood in the doorway, clutching his chest, looking like a man who had lost a limb but hadn't realized it yet.

Brooke POV:

Two weeks later. Phoenix City airport. Glass, steel, and freedom.

I pushed my mother's wheelchair.

"Watch out!"

I collided with a solid wall of muscle.

Zzzzt!

Static electricity shot through my arms.

I looked up. Dark hair, eyes like molten gold. Cedar wood split open in a thunderstorm.

My lungs expanded. My inner wolf purred.

Mine.

The man froze. "You," he breathed.

I pulled away. "I'm sorry."

He looked at my mother. Instead of disgust, he knelt.

He signed. Are you hurt, Elder?

My mother gasped. No. Thank you, Alpha.

He stood up. "I am Dominic Cannon. Alpha of the Phoenix Pack."

"I know who you are." Easton's rival.

"You have a powerful spirit," Dominic said. "But it is sleeping. Why?"

"I'm just an Omega."

"I don't see an Omega. I see a survivor. And the 'Ghost Designer' behind Spencer's success."

My eyes widened.

"I see everything," he smiled. "I need a Lead Tactician. Someone who understands war. Come work for me."

"I have baggage. Dangerous baggage."

"I like danger." He handed me a black phone. "Encrypted. You are under my protection."

I took it. The spark jumped again.

"Okay," I said.

Dominic grinned. "Welcome home, Brooke."

As we walked away, I caught my reflection. My eyes flashed white.