Isla POV:

The Pack Net was on fire.

I scrolled through the internal social media feed on my tablet. A photo was trending. It was a receipt. A receipt for a three-thousand-dollar root of Blood Ginseng.

Blood Ginseng was the most potent prenatal herb in existence. It was used to ensure the birth of powerful Alpha offspring.

*Alpha Damien spares no expense for the Savior of the Pack!* the caption read.

The comments were nauseating.

*User WolfGirl99: So romantic! He takes such good care of her.*

*User LunaWannabe: I heard she's carrying a warrior. Finally, a strong heir for Moon Shadow.*

*User TruthSeeker: What about Isla? Isn't she the mate?*

*User AlphaFan: Isla is just a doctor. She's boring. Seraphina has fire.*

I turned off the screen. I was sitting in "The Hidden Den," a small coffee shop on the outskirts of the city, far from the pack house.

"He bought her Blood Ginseng?" Chloe hissed. She slammed her latte down on the table. "Is he insane? That's practically a marriage proposal in herb form!"

Chloe was my only friend. She was a Beta, a warrior with a sharp tongue and a fiercer loyalty.

"He thinks he's saving the pack's future," I said calmly, stirring my tea.

"And the pack is eating it up," Chloe growled. "They've forgotten everything you did. The epidemics you stopped. The warriors you stitched back together. Now you're just... invisible."

"I prefer invisible," I said. I slid a folder across the table to her. "Look at this."

Chloe opened it. It was the copy of Seraphina's ultrasound scan I had printed from the server.

"Six weeks?" Chloe's eyes widened. "But... the timeline..."

"Exactly," I said.

"That bastard," Chloe whispered. "He was cheating on you. Before the 'life debt' excuse. Before everything."

"I'm leaving, Chloe," I said.

She looked up, tears forming in her eyes. "Leaving the apartment?"

"Leaving the country," I said. "I'm going to Europe. The Healers Guild."

Chloe reached across the table and grabbed my hand. "Take me with you. I'll be your bodyguard. I'll bite anyone who comes near you."

I smiled, a genuine smile for the first time in days. "You have a mate here, Chloe. You have a life. I need you to stay. I need someone to tell the truth when I'm gone. But you can't say a word until my plane is in the air."

"I promise," she said. "I swear on my wolf."

That night, I returned to the apartment late. I had attended a seminar on herbal remedies to keep up appearances. The air outside was freezing, a bitter wind howling through the city streets.

The elevator doors opened. Damien was standing in the hallway.

He looked furious. His eyes were glowing a deep, menacing red-his wolf was near the surface.

He marched toward me, grabbing my arm and pulling me close. He buried his nose in my neck, inhaling deeply.

"Where have you been?" he growled.

"Working," I said, trying to pull away.

"You smell like him," Damien snarled. "A male. Unfamiliar. European pine and old books."

I realized he was smelling the French doctor I had sat next to at the seminar.

"He was a colleague, Damien. Let me go."

"You are mine!" he roared. The walls shook. "You do not carry the scent of other males! Go wash it off! Now!"

"I am yours?" I laughed bitterly. "Like you are mine? You smell like her every single day, Damien. You smell like her shampoo, her skin, her lust. And you dare to lecture me about scent?"

"It is different!" he shouted. "I am the Alpha! I do what I must!"

He grabbed my face with both hands, forcing me to look into his glowing red eyes.

*Open your mind to me, Isla.*

He forced the Mind-Link open. Usually, it required consent, but an Alpha could batter down the mental walls of a pack member.

He flooded my mind with his emotions. He wanted me to feel his dominance, his possessiveness.

But along with that came something else.

Joy. Pure, unadulterated excitement.

Images flashed in my mind-images from his perspective. He was imagining a little boy with dark hair and grey eyes. A strong son. An Alpha heir.

He was projecting his love for Seraphina's unborn child directly into my brain.

It was agonizing. It was like he was forcing me to watch a movie of him loving another family.

"Get out of my head!" I screamed.

I summoned every ounce of my will. I couldn't push him out with strength, so I used pain. I focused on the heartbreak, the betrayal, the sharp agony of the broken bond. I weaponized my sorrow and blasted it back at him through the link.

Damien gasped and stumbled back, clutching his head. The connection snapped.

He looked at me, blinking, confusion replacing the anger.

"Isla...?"

"Don't ever do that again," I whispered, shaking.

I turned to the bedroom door.

"Wait," Damien said. His voice was cold again, the moment of confusion gone. "There is a change to the schedule."

I stopped, my hand on the doorknob.

"The Moon Pool Ritual," he said. "We need to move it."

I didn't turn around. "Okay."

"No, Isla. You don't understand. Seraphina... the doctor says the baby needs spiritual energy. The Moon Pool has the purest concentrated essence."

My blood ran cold. The Moon Pool Ritual was the sacred ceremony where the Luna bathed in the pack's holy waters to bless her reign. It was my birthright. It was the highest honor a female wolf could receive.

"You want to give her my ritual," I said.

"She needs it for the child," Damien said defensively. "It's just water, Isla. You can do it next year. The pack needs a healthy heir."

He was stripping me of everything. My dignity. My home. My title. Now, my faith.

"Fine," I said.

"Fine?" He sounded surprised. He expected a fight.

"Give it to her," I said. "Give her everything."

I opened the door and stepped inside, locking it behind me.

I didn't cry. I was done crying.

I looked at the calendar.

Ten days.

Isla POV:

"The arrangements are made, Alpha."

I stood in Damien's office the next morning. I was wearing my white lab coat, holding a clipboard. I was the picture of efficiency.

"Good," Damien said, not looking up from his paperwork. "Seraphina is very excited. She's never seen the Moon Pool."

"It is a sacred place," I said neutrally. "Tell her not to wear shoes in the water."

"I'm taking her to the lodge in the Rockies afterward," Damien said. "The mountain air will be good for the pregnancy. We'll be gone for a week."

A week. That meant he would be gone until three days before the... before my departure.

"Enjoy your trip," I said.

"Isla," he said, finally looking up. His eyes were softer now. "Thank you. For being reasonable. I know this is hard for you. But once the baby is born... things will go back to normal. We will be us again."

"Of course, Alpha."

I walked out. As soon as the heavy oak door clicked shut, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

He left an hour later. I watched from the balcony as the helicopter took off, carrying Damien and Seraphina toward the mountains.

Silence descended on the apartment.

I walked out onto the balcony. It was a large terrace, high above the city smog. For five years, I had turned it into a garden.

It wasn't a flower garden. It was a pharmacy.

Rows of Silver-Leaf Mint for fevers. Pots of Golden Root for energy. And in the corner, the most precious of all-the Moon Herbs. They only bloomed under moonlight. I had cultivated them to make salves for the pack's warriors, to help them heal faster after battles.

Damien had once called them "weeds."

*Why do you play in the dirt?* he had asked. *We can buy medicine.*

He didn't understand. He never understood that the earth gave power that money couldn't buy.

I knelt in the soil. The dirt was cold against my knees.

I reached for a stalk of Wolf-Bane Neutralizer. I had spent six months cross-breeding it to make it potent enough to save a wolf from poison.

I gripped the stem.

And I pulled.

The roots ripped out of the soil with a soft tearing sound.

I didn't stop there. I moved to the next pot. And the next.

I wasn't harvesting them. I was evicting them.

I pulled up the Mint. I tore out the Golden Root. I dumped the soil over the railing, watching it scatter in the wind like dark rain.

Every plant I uprooted felt like I was pulling a memory of Damien out of my heart.

*Rip.* That was the time he forgot my birthday because he was "training."

*Rip.* That was the time he told me I was too soft to understand politics.

*Rip.* That was the moment he marked her.

My hands were covered in dirt. Sweat dripped down my back.

I reached the corner. The Stardust Flower. It was glowing faintly, a beautiful, iridescent blue. It was the rarest plant I owned. It was said to be able to mend a fractured soul.

I didn't destroy this one. I carefully dug it out, preserving the root ball. I placed it in a specialized travel container.

This one was coming with me. I would need it to heal myself.

I stood up. The balcony was bare. Just empty ceramic pots and scattered dirt. It looked desolate. It looked like a graveyard.

It was perfect.

I went back inside and washed my hands. The water turned brown and swirled down the drain.

I walked to the calendar.

I looked at the date of the "Moon Pool Ritual." The day Seraphina would desecrate the holy waters.

I took the red marker and drew a massive X over the date.

It wasn't just canceling a date. It was canceling a future.

I checked the countdown.

Five days until they returned.

Eight days until I left.

I sat on the sofa in the empty, silent apartment. I felt a strange sensation.

It wasn't sadness. It wasn't anger.

It was lightness.

Without the weight of hope, I was finally free.

Isla POV:

The week Damien was away was the quietest week of my life.

But while the apartment was silent, the internet was screaming.

Seraphina posted everything.

*Photo:* Damien peeling an apple for her with a silver knife. Caption: *He feeds me.*

*Photo:* Damien carrying her over a puddle of snow. Caption: *My feet never touch the ground.*

*Photo:* Damien looking at ultrasound scans, a goofy grin on his face. Caption: *Daddy's little warrior.*

I scrolled past them. They didn't hurt anymore. They were just confirmation.

I spent the days systematically erasing myself from the apartment.

Clothes went into donation bins. Books went into boxes to be shipped to storage. My scent, usually woven into the fabric of the sofa and the curtains, was fading.

On Thursday, I drove to my parents' house in the suburbs.

They were Omegas. Gentle, kind people who ran a bakery. They were so proud that their daughter was the Alpha's Mate. They had photos of Damien all over their living room.

"Isla!" My mother hugged me, smelling of yeast and vanilla. "You look thin, darling. Is the wedding planning stressful?"

"A little," I lied. "I came to tell you... I'm going on a trip. Before the wedding. A specialized training course for Healers in Europe."

"Oh?" My father looked up from his newspaper. "Is Damien going?"

"No. It's just for me. It's a great honor. The Guild invited me."

My mother frowned, her motherly instinct picking up on something. "Is everything okay with Damien? We saw the photos... of that girl. The guest."

"She's a patient, Mom," I said, the lie tasting like ash. "Damien is just doing his duty."

I couldn't tell them the truth. If they knew the Alpha had rejected me, they would be terrified. They would worry about their bakery, their safety in the pack.

"I might be gone for a while," I said, hugging them both tighter than usual. "Maybe a year. The course is intensive."

"We will miss you," my mother said, stroking my hair. "But we are proud. Our Isla, the High Healer."

I left before I could break down.

On Saturday, Chloe came over to help with the final sweep.

The apartment was barren. It echoed when we spoke.

"It looks like a hotel room," Chloe said, looking around. "Soulless."

"It is," I said. I was packing the last of my personal documents.

Chloe sat on a box. She looked angry. "I still don't understand, Isla. How can he be so blind? The life debt... everyone knows you were the one in the tent that night."

I froze. "What?"

"The Blood Moon battle," Chloe said. "Five years ago. I was a trainee, guarding the perimeter. I saw you run into the Alpha's tent when he was brought in, guts hanging out. I saw the silver light."

I touched the scar on my chest, hidden beneath my shirt.

Five years ago, Damien had been struck by a Rogue's cursed blade. He was dying. The pack doctors had given up.

I had gone in. I wasn't his mate then, just a young Healer. I knew the only way to save him was to give him my *Wolf Essence*. It was forbidden. It was dangerous.

I had poured my life force into him. It felt like burning alive. I stitched his wounds with my energy.

I had passed out from exhaustion. I was in a coma for three days.

When I woke up, Damien was healed. And Seraphina, a low-ranking wolf who had been bringing water to the tent, was sitting by his side, holding a wet cloth.

Damien had opened his eyes, seen her, and assumed *she* had saved him. Seraphina hadn't corrected him. She had claimed she used an ancient chant.

I had tried to tell him. But I was weak, my wolf nearly dead from the transfer. He looked at me-pale, shaking, powerless-and saw a weakling. He looked at Seraphina and saw a savior.

"I never told anyone," I whispered. "I thought... I thought he would figure it out. When we bonded."

"He's an idiot," Chloe spat. "And she's a thief."

"It doesn't matter now," I said, taping the box shut. "He chose his savior. He chose the lie."

"Does he know?" Chloe asked. "Does he know you almost died for him?"

"No," I said. "And he never will. Because I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he threw away the person who actually saved his life."

*I grabbed a locked, fireproof pouch from the safe.*

"Chloe," I said. *"This contains the raw medical data from that night. The energy readings. The essence depletion charts. Keep it safe. Don't show it to anyone unless it's a matter of life and death."*

"What is it?"

"The truth," I said.

The elevator chimed.

I stiffened. They weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow.

The doors slid open.

Damien walked in, tanned and laughing. Seraphina was on his arm, holding a giant stuffed bear he had won for her.

They stopped when they saw the boxes. They saw the bare walls.

Damien's smile faded. He looked at the empty shelves where my herbs used to be.

"What is this?" he asked, his voice dropping.

I picked up my purse.

"Just clearing out the clutter, Alpha," I said. "Making room for the new arrival."

I walked past him. He reached out to grab my arm, but I sidestepped him.

"Welcome home," I said.

I walked out the door, leaving him standing in the emptiness he had created.

Two days left.