Charlotte POV:

The Omega quarters smelled of mold and unwashed bodies. My room was a closet.

It had been two weeks.

Two weeks of hell.

I was the 'Pack Slut' now. That was the narrative Harper spun. She told everyone I seduced Gabe in a moment of weakness, and the benevolent Alpha allowed me to stay out of pity.

I worked in the kitchens, scrubbing pots until my hands were raw. They fed me scraps. Every bite was a battle I fought for the baby.

Gabe blocked our Mind-Link. I couldn't feel him. It was like a phantom limb-a constant, aching emptiness.

One afternoon, I managed to sneak to my old studio. Before all this, I was the pack's architect. I had designed the new community center. I wanted my portfolio.

I opened the door and froze.

It was pink. Everything was pink.

My drafting table was gone. My blueprints were ripped to shreds, scattered like confetti.

Harper stood in the middle of the room.

"Oops," she said. She held up a piece of paper-my design for a greenhouse. She crumpled it and dropped it. "We needed a nursery. And this room has the best light."

"My work," I whispered. I fell to my knees to pick up the torn pieces. "Why? You could have moved them."

"I don't like your style," Harper sneered. "It's too... common. Like you."

She kicked a pile of torn paper at my face. "Clean this up, Omega."

Something snapped.

The heat that had been building since the gala flared up.

I stood up. "No."

Harper blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said no." I looked her in the eye. "You took my mate. You took my home. You are not taking my dignity."

Harper laughed. "You have no dignity. You are a wolfless freak." She raised her hand to slap me.

I reacted.

I shoved her.

It should have been weak. I was malnourished. But Harper flew. She slammed into the freshly painted wall.

She slid down, leaving a smear in the wet paint.

"My baby!" she screamed, clutching her stomach.

The door burst open. Gabe was there instantly.

He saw Harper on the floor. He saw me standing there, hands trembling.

"You monster!" Gabe roared.

He crossed the room in a blur. His hand wrapped around my throat, lifting me off the ground.

I clawed at his wrist. I couldn't breathe. His eyes were red.

"Gabe... stop..." I rasped.

"I gave you a chance," he snarled. "I let you live. And you attack my Luna?"

He threw me. I hit the floor, gasping.

Harper sobbed fake tears. "She tried to kill the heir, Gabe! She's jealous! She's dangerous!"

That evening, the door to my basement room slammed open.

It was Eleanor, Gabe's mother. She held a clipboard. Behind her stood a doctor I didn't recognize. He smelled of antiseptic and silver.

"Get up," Eleanor spat.

I sat up on the cot. "What is this?"

"Gabe is too soft," Eleanor said. "He thinks you can be controlled. But today proved otherwise. You are violent."

I looked at the paper. Medical Consent: Termination of Pregnancy.

My blood ran cold. "No."

"We can't trust the bloodline," Eleanor said coldly. "We ran a test. The results just came in. It's not Gabe's. It has Rogue markers."

"That's a lie!" I screamed. "I've never been with anyone else!"

"It doesn't matter what you say," Eleanor smirked. "I showed the results to Gabe. He was... disappointed. He agreed that a Rogue bastard cannot be born in the Pack House."

"You forged it!" I backed into the corner. "You poisoned him against me!"

"We are removing the problem," Eleanor said to the doctor. "Prepare the clinic. I want this done before the Council arrives."

"Wait!" I cried. "Gabe wouldn't allow this!"

Eleanor stopped at the door. She looked at me with pure contempt.

"Gabe signed the order, dear. He doesn't want a whore's mistake."

She slammed the door. The lock clicked.

Charlotte POV:

Darkness. Silence.

I curled into a ball on the hard mattress. I'm sorry, I whispered to the tiny spark of life. I'm so sorry.

Eleanor had won. She played on Gabe's insecurity, his fear of weakness, and convinced him our child was a monster.

I closed my eyes, and a memory surfaced. Five years old. Lost in the woods. A man with eyes like molten gold. He gave me a letter. Open it only when you have lost all hope.

My coat. It was in the pile of "trash" my parents brought down here.

I scrambled off the bed, tearing through the garbage bags. There. The tattered gray coat.

I ripped open the lining. A yellowed envelope fell out.

Inside was a single card with a phone number and a symbol embossed in gold.

A wolf's head wearing a crown.

The Dean family crest. The Royals.

Below the number: For the Lost One.

I needed a phone. They had taken mine.

Wait.

Gabe. He came down earlier to shout at me through the door. He dropped his spare keycard-he didn't notice because he was so angry. But a phone?

No. I had to be smarter.

The next morning, the door opened. It was Gabe, holding a tray. His face was pale. He looked like a man trying to convince himself he was doing the right thing.

"Eat," he said flatly. "The doctor says you need strength for the... procedure."

He put the tray down. He looked at me, hesitation flickering.

"Gabe," I said softly. I didn't scream. I used the only weapon left. "Can I... can I just call my friend? Sarah? In the human city? Just to say goodbye. In case... something goes wrong."

"Nothing will go wrong," he said stiffly.

"Please," I looked down, feigning submission. "Just one call. Then I'll be good."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He pulled his phone out. "Two minutes. Speakerphone."

He unlocked it and handed it to me.

I dialed the number from the card. My fingers trembled.

Ring... Ring...

"Who is Sarah?" Gabe asked suspiciously.

The line clicked.

"Speak," a voice said.

It wasn't a greeting. It was a command. The voice was deep, ancient. It vibrated with power.

Gabe froze. He felt it too. The aura coming through the speaker.

"I..." My voice failed. "I have a letter. With the Royal Crest. I think... I think I am your daughter."

Silence.

Then, movement on the other end. "Name."

"Charlotte," I whispered. "I'm in the Sullivan Pack. They are going to kill my baby. Please..."

"Charlotte." The man said my name like a prayer.

Heat exploded in my chest. Not the mate bond. Blood. Lineage. A golden cord connecting my soul to the voice.

The man roared. Pure, unadulterated fury.

"DO NOT TOUCH HER!"

The speaker crackled. Gabe stumbled back, clutching his chest. That was the voice of a King.

"Who is this?" Gabe stammered.

"I am Antony Dean," the voice growled. "I am currently in the city for the Council summit. I am ten minutes away."

Ten minutes.

"If a single hair on her head is harmed, I will burn your pack to ash."

I looked at Gabe. "He's coming."

Gabe snatched the phone and smashed it against the wall. Panic wild in his eyes.

"You're lying," Gabe said, voice shaking. "You're a nobody!"

He grabbed my arm. "The procedure happens now. Before anyone gets here. We get rid of the evidence."

"No!" I fought.

"Guards!" he yelled.

He was going to kill me before my father could save me.

Charlotte POV:

Chaos erupted.

Gabe dragged me out, shouting orders to his Beta. "Lock down the perimeter! Jam signals! Get the car!"

He was terrified. If the King found a pregnant, abused daughter here, the Sullivan Pack was history.

"Let me go!" I screamed, digging my heels into the carpet.

"Shut up!" Gabe hissed. He dragged me out the back exit.

A black SUV screeched to a halt.

"Get in," Gabe shoved me.

"Charlotte!"

My foster mother, Mary, ran toward us. For a second, I thought she was coming to save me.

"You forgot the sedative!" she yelled, tossing a syringe to Gabe.

My heart didn't break this time. It just hardened.

Gabe caught the syringe. He uncapped it with his teeth. Wolfsbane.

"Don't make me use this," Gabe warned. "Get in."

I scrambled into the backseat. Gabe jumped in beside me. The driver, a grim-faced enforcer named Vince, floored the gas.

We sped away.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The clinic," Gabe said, scanning the sky. "We do the procedure. Then we hide you in the mountains."

"He will find me," I said. "I felt the bond, Gabe. He's close."

"He knows where you were," Gabe snapped.

We arrived at a secluded, run-down building in the woods. It wasn't a hospital. It was a chop shop.

As I was pulled out, I felt a pull in my gut. Like a compass needle swinging north.

Run.

Gabe was distracted, talking to the doctor.

I stomped on Gabe's foot. He grunted, grip loosening.

I wrenched free and bolted toward the woods.

"Get her!" Gabe roared.

I pushed through brambles, thorns tearing my skin.

Suddenly, a sharp pain pricked my neck.

I reached up. A dart.

My vision blurred. Vince had a good aim.

"Got her," Vince said.

I fell to the dirt.

Gabe stood over me, panting.

"Why do you make this so hard?" he asked.

He picked me up. I tried to push him away, but my arms were lead.

"Please..." I slurred. "My baby..."

"It's for the best," he whispered. "We can't have a Rogue baby, Charlotte. Mother was right."

He carried me into the clinic. The smell of bleach and silver hit me.

They laid me on a metal table. Leather straps buckled around my wrists.

"Hurry," Gabe said to the doctor. "Do it now."

The doctor picked up a scalpel. Silver. It burned my eyes just looking at it.

I couldn't move. I could only watch the blade move toward my stomach.

Father, my mind cried out. Daddy, please.

And then, the world exploded.

BOOM.

The wall didn't just break; it disintegrated.

Through the hole, a figure stepped in.

He was huge. He radiated power so intense the lights burst. His eyes were glowing crimson.

"I SAID..."

The King's voice knocked the doctor backward into the cabinets. Gabe fell to his knees, blood trickling from his nose.

Antony Dean looked at me strapped to the table. His expression shifted from the wrath of a god to the heartbreak of a father.

"...DO NOT TOUCH HER!"