Two days after the royal announcement reached Silver Moon, Ryan came hunting for me.

Cassian had ridden north before dawn to settle a border dispute. I was gathering bitterroot with two palace scouts when a familiar voice carried through the pines.

"Spread out. She cannot have gone far."

Ryan.

I motioned the scouts behind a ridge.

"Go back to the fortress," I whispered.

"We are assigned to you," one protested.

"Then tell Cassian exactly who crossed his border."

The second scout understood. He grabbed his partner's sleeve and pulled him away.

I stayed.

Five Silver Moon wolves broke through the trees first.

Ryan followed in a dark hunting coat. Vanessa walked beside him in white fur, her face pinched with fury.

She saw me and smiled.

"There she is."

Ryan stopped ten yards away.

For one second, surprise flickered across his face.

I no longer wore torn Omega gray. The royal cloak on my shoulders was plain black, but the silver clasp at my throat bore Cassian's crest.

"You actually went to him," Ryan said.

"You actually crossed a royal boundary after receiving a formal warning."

Vanessa scoffed. "Please. A piece of wax does not make you important."

"It makes this trespassing."

Ryan's eyes narrowed. "You think the King will start a war over a scentless stray?"

"You should have read the document more carefully."

Vanessa pointed at me. "Take her."

None of the wolves moved at first.

They had seen the royal clasp. They also knew what Cassian's border markers meant.

Ryan noticed their hesitation. "That is an Alpha order."

One guard swallowed. "Sir, the Crown notice said she is under sovereign protection."

"She was born Silver Moon," Ryan snapped. "Our claim comes first."

"You stripped that claim in front of witnesses," I said. "You declared me packless and ordered the gate closed behind me. You do not get to invent ownership because someone else recognized my value."

Vanessa's cheeks flushed. "She is twisting the law."

"Then let a royal tribunal decide."

Ryan's expression hardened. A tribunal was the one place where the words he used during my banishment would matter more than his pride.

"I did not come here to debate paperwork," he said.

"No. You came here because the royal announcement frightened you."

His gaze flicked to the silver clasp at my throat.

I had guessed correctly.

Vanessa stepped closer. "He came because you stole something that belongs to us."

"What?"

"His strength," she said. "Since you disappeared, his trial scars have reopened. His wolf cannot hold the same pressure. Whatever you did to him for years, undo it."

Ryan turned on her. "Vanessa."

Too late.

The truth settled between us. Ryan had not crossed the border because he missed me. He had come because the power I carried for him was no longer available.

I almost smiled.

"There it is," I said. "You finally noticed the cost after the person paying it left."

Ryan's face went blank with fury.

He pointed at his guards. "Take her."

The wolves moved.

I did not.

One gray wolf lunged first.

"Down."

I released a narrow thread of stored authority.

The wolf hit the ground mid-stride and stayed there, ears flat.

Ryan went still.

Vanessa's mouth opened.

"What did you do?"

"Something your priest should have discovered five years ago."

Ryan stepped forward. "Stop playing games."

"Turn around and leave."

His Alpha aura rose.

I recognized it instantly.

For years that pressure had lived in my bones. I had absorbed its poison, cleaned it, and handed him back strength.

Now it felt small.

"You do not command me anymore," I said.

Ryan's face hardened.

"I made you what you are."

I laughed.

"No. I kept you alive long enough for you to believe that."

He shifted.

Bones cracked. Brown fur tore through his clothing. The Alpha wolf landed where the man had stood, large and furious.

Vanessa stepped back with a satisfied smile.

"Break her legs," she said. "Bring her home breathing."

Ryan launched.

I opened my core.

Before I could release the energy, a roar split the forest.

Every Silver Moon wolf dropped.

Cassian came through the trees at a run, still in human form.

He caught Ryan out of the air and drove him into the mud.

The impact shook the ground.

Ryan shifted back involuntarily, gasping as Cassian pinned one forearm across his throat.

"You crossed my border," Cassian said.

The gold in his eyes burned bright.

"High King," Ryan choked. "This is a private pack matter."

"She is not part of your pack."

Vanessa had fallen to her knees under the pressure.

"She belongs nowhere!" she shouted.

Cassian turned his head.

The pressure doubled.

Vanessa's palms hit the mud.

"Careful," he said. "You are speaking about the woman named under my seal."

Ryan clawed at Cassian's arm. "We only came to retrieve what is ours."

I stepped closer.

"Say that again."

Ryan looked at me.

For the first time since the night he banished me, uncertainty entered his face.

"Aria—"

"I am not yours."

Cassian drew a silver hunting knife.

The blade flashed beside Ryan's throat.

"Trespass on crown land," Cassian said, "attempted abduction, armed pursuit of a protected resident. I can end this here."

Ryan stopped struggling.

Vanessa screamed his name.

Cassian looked at me.

The knife remained at Ryan's pulse.

"Your choice," he said.

The forest seemed to go quiet around us.

A month ago, other people decided whether I was useful, weak, fit to live inside a pack, or disposable enough to throw into the Black Forest.

Now the High Alpha King waited for my answer.

I looked down at Ryan, mud on his face and fear in his eyes.

"Do not kill him," I said.

Relief broke across Ryan's features.

It vanished when I continued.

"I want him alive long enough to kneel in my court."

Vanessa made a strangled sound behind us. Ryan stared up at me as if he had finally understood that the woman he exiled no longer needed anyone to decide what justice looked like.