The morning sun had barely risen when Kehlani appeared at my door, her copper skin gleaming under the harsh fluorescent lights of the Omega quarters.

"Time to work, little Omega," she singsonged, her artificial sweet scent making my stomach turn. "Your father's medicine won't pay for itself."

I'd been awake for hours already, having scrubbed the kitchen floors until three in the morning. My hands were raw, but I knew better than to complain.

"What task today, Luna?" I asked, the title bitter on my tongue.

Kehlani's lips curled into a cruel smile. "The main hall floors need scrubbing. Every inch."

The main hall was massive—marble floors that stretched the length of three basketball courts. It would take days to clean properly.

"Now," she added, her eyes glittering with malice.

I followed her through the packhouse, feeling the stares of pack members who once bowed to me as Alpha Perkins' daughter. Now they looked away or whispered behind their hands.

"Look who's cleaning our floors now," someone muttered.

"The Alpha's rejected mate," another replied with a snicker.

Kehlani handed me a bucket of water so cold it made my fingers ache, and a brush with bristles that bit into my skin.

"On your knees, Omega," she commanded.

I sank to the floor, the marble cold against my skin. The water stung my already raw hands as I dipped the brush.

"Faster," Kehlani snapped, circling me like a predator. "Your father's medicine depends on your performance."

Hours passed. My knees bled, leaving faint stains on the white marble. My fingers split open, water mixing with blood.

"Good enough?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

Kehlani crouched beside me, her perfectly manicured nails tracing the edge of my bucket. "Not quite."

She knocked it over, water spilling across the section I'd just cleaned. "Start again."

By evening, I'd earned exactly seventeen dollars and change. Enough for a single dose of my father's antibiotics.

---

"Is she still crying?" Maximilian's voice drifted through the door of Kehlani's private quarters.

"She's pathetic," Kehlani replied, her voice dripping with disdain. "But I worry, Max."

"What is it?"

I pressed myself against the wall outside, straining to hear.

"What if you still want her?" Kehlani asked. "Despite everything?"

Silence followed—heavy, charged silence.

"She's nothing now," Maximilian finally growled. "Just an Omega."

"But she's still your fated mate," Kehlani insisted. "I can smell it on her sometimes. That bond..."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Alpha Perkins owes our pack debts," Kehlani said carefully. "Debts that need to be paid."

I heard Maximilian move closer to her. "What did you have in mind?"

"Send her away," Kehlani whispered. "Where she can never remind you of what she was."

A long pause followed. Then, "Do what you think is best."

---

I was awakened in the middle of the night by rough hands dragging me from my bed. Beta Marcus and two guards I didn't recognize yanked me to my feet.

"Time to pay your father's debts," Marcus growled, his eyes avoiding mine.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, struggling against their grip.

"The underground auction," one guard replied with a cruel smile. "Your Alpha bloodline should fetch a good price."

They forced me into a transport van, windows blacked out, interior stripped bare. Silver chains bit into my wrists and ankles—not enough to break skin but enough to burn.

"Maximilian approved this?" I asked Marcus, who stood awkwardly by the van door.

His silence was answer enough.

---

The auction house was unlike anything I'd imagined. Beneath an abandoned warehouse, a lavish underground venue had been created. Crystal chandeliers hung from vaulted ceilings, illuminating rows of plush seats filled with the wealthiest rogues and corrupt Alphas from territories I'd never heard of.

They'd dressed me in rags that barely covered my body, the silver chains now wound tightly around my torso, highlighting my vulnerability.

"Lot number seventeen," the auctioneer announced, his voice echoing through the chamber. "A fallen Alpha's daughter. Fated mate of Alpha Maximilian of the Blood Eclipse Pack."

Gasps rippled through the crowd. My eyes darted frantically around the room, searching for any friendly face.

"Rare bloodline," the auctioneer continued, circling me as I stood trembling on the raised platform. "Imagine owning the daughter of the once-mighty Alpha Perkins. Imagine what Alpha Maximilian would pay to get her back."

The crowd's interest grew as he detailed my lineage, my former status, my current fall from grace.

"Starting bid at fifty thousand dollars," he announced.

Hands shot up immediately. A fat rogue king in the front row. An elderly Alpha with a scar across his face. A businessman whose eyes held nothing but cruelty.

"One hundred thousand," someone called from the back.

"Two hundred," countered another.

As the bids climbed higher, I closed my eyes, praying for death rather than whatever fate awaited me in the hands of these monsters.

The auctioneer's gavel hovered in the air, his eyes gleaming with greed as he prepared to seal my fate.

"Sold to King Rogan for five hundred thousand dollars!" he announced, his voice echoing through the underground chamber.

The fat rogue king in the front row smiled, revealing yellowed teeth that had tasted too much blood. I closed my eyes, unable to bear the triumph in his expression. This was it—my final moment of freedom.

"NO!"

The double doors of the auction house exploded inward with a deafening crash. Wood splinters rained down as a figure strode through the smoke, flanked by elite guards in formation.

Alpha Emmett.

His presence filled the room like a physical force, his tall frame radiating power that made even the most hardened rogues step back. His amber eyes blazed as they found mine, and something in my chest tightened at the sight of him.

"Alpha Emmett of the Azure Crest Pack," the auctioneer stammered, his gavel frozen mid-air. "This is a private auction. You have no jurisdiction here."

Emmett didn't bother responding. He moved with predatory grace, his guards forming a protective circle around him as he approached the platform where I stood chained.

"Ten million dollars," he said, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.

The room fell silent.

"Ten... million?" The auctioneer's voice cracked.

"That's my bid," Emmett replied calmly, as if discussing the weather rather than throwing around an astronomical sum. "Cash. Immediately."

The rogue king sputtered in outrage. "This is outrageous! You can't just—"

"I can," Emmett interrupted, his eyes never leaving mine. "And I have."

He pulled out a phone and pressed a single button. Within seconds, his financial officer appeared with a briefcase, opening it to reveal stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

"Count it," Emmett commanded.

The auctioneer's hands shook as he accepted the briefcase, greed overcoming his scruples.

I stood frozen, unable to process what was happening. Emmett's eyes held mine, and I saw something there that made my breath catch—determination, and something deeper that I couldn't name.

"Emily," he said softly, reaching for me.

Before his fingers could touch mine, the doors burst open again. A familiar scent—pine and winter frost—filled the room, and my blood ran cold.

Maximilian.

He stormed in like a hurricane, his Alpha aura crashing down on everyone present. His eyes were already silver, his wolf pushing forward.

"What the FUCK is this?" he roared, taking in the scene—me on the platform, Emmett reaching for me, the briefcase of money.

"Alpha Maximilian," Emmett acknowledged, his voice steady despite the tension crackling between them. "I've purchased Emily's freedom."

"Purchased?" Maximilian's laugh was cold and sharp. "She belongs to me."

"She belongs to no one," Emmett replied, his guards tensing.

Maximilian's nostrils flared as he caught a scent. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he stalked toward me.

"Cedar and rain," he growled, inhaling deeply. "Your scent is all over her."

Something snapped in his expression. With a roar that was more wolf than man, he lunged forward, knocking Emmett's guards aside with inhuman strength.

"Max!" I cried out as he grabbed me roughly, his fingers digging into my arms.

"She's MINE!" he snarled, his face inches from Emmett's. "You dare touch what's mine?"

Emmett's eyes flashed amber. "She's not yours. Not anymore."

Maximilian's response was to throw me over his shoulder like a sack of flour. I screamed as he stormed toward the exit, his guards following.

"Emily!" Emmett called after us, but Maximilian was already shoving me into his waiting SUV.

"Drive," he ordered his driver, slamming the door.

I struggled against his iron grip. "Max, please—"

"Shut up," he growled, his eyes wild with a feral light I'd never seen before. "You belong to me. Only me."

The car sped away from the auction house, but instead of heading toward the main packhouse, we turned onto a private road I didn't recognize.

"Where are we going?" I asked, fear clawing at my throat.

Maximilian's smile was all teeth. "Home."

The drive lasted forever, winding through desolate roads until we reached a sprawling estate in the Hamptons. Security gates opened silently as we approached, and the car stopped in front of a mansion that seemed to grow organically from the dark woods surrounding it.

"Get out," Maximilian ordered, yanking me from the car.

He dragged me through the house and down a hidden staircase, his grip bruising on my arm. The temperature dropped with each descending step until we reached a heavy metal door.

"Max, don't do this," I pleaded as he pushed me inside.

The room beyond was small and bare, with silver-lined walls that made my skin crawl. A narrow cot and a bucket were the only furnishings.

"You'll stay here until you remember who you belong to," Maximilian said, his voice eerily calm now. "Until you forget his scent."

The door slammed shut behind him, and I heard the lock click into place.

I sank to my knees on the freezing floor, the silver in the walls already burning my skin. In the silence, I could hear my own ragged breathing and the distant sound of Maximilian's footsteps as he walked away, leaving me alone in my silver prison.

The silver walls of my prison cell seemed to pulse with malevolent energy, each breath I took feeling like fire in my lungs. I couldn't remember how many days had passed—maybe two weeks, possibly three. Time had lost all meaning in this windowless hell.

My body had grown weak from the meager rations Maximilian's guards provided—stale bread crusts that tasted of mold, and water that smelled faintly of metal. The silver lining the walls was a constant torment, burning my skin whenever I accidentally brushed against it.

I curled into myself on the narrow cot, trying to conserve what little energy I had left. My thoughts drifted to my father, wondering if he was still alive, if Dr. Sophia had found another way to fund his surgery.

"Still alive, I see."

Kehlani's voice cut through my half-conscious state. I forced my eyes open to see her standing in the doorway, resplendent in a crimson dress that highlighted her curves. The Luna's jewelry glittered at her throat—jewelry that should have been mine.

"Just checking on our little Omega," she purred, stepping into the cell. "Max wants daily reports on your... condition."

I tried to sit up but couldn't find the strength. "What do you want, Kehlani?"

She circled my cot like a predator, her artificial sweet scent making my stomach turn. "I want you to see this."

She tilted her head, pulling her hair aside to reveal a fresh mark on her neck—a mate bite, still healing.

"Max marked me last night," she said, her eyes gleaming with triumph. "He said it was the most passionate moment of his life."

I closed my eyes, trying to block out the image. "Congratulations."

"Oh, I'm not finished." Kehlani reached into her purse and pulled out a torn piece of fabric. "Look familiar?"

It was a scrap of what looked like Emmett's jacket—the same one he'd been wearing at the auction.

"Max found this in your old quarters," she lied smoothly. "Care to explain how Alpha Emmett's clothing ended up in your possession?"

"That's not—" I began, but she cut me off with a laugh.

"It doesn't matter what you say. Max believes what I tell him to believe." She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "And what I tell him makes him very, very angry with you."

She straightened up, satisfaction written across her face. "I'll be back tomorrow with more... evidence."

After she left, I lay in the darkness, feeling the silver's toxic effects seeping deeper into my body. My skin felt like it was burning from within, my wolf—dormant for so long—stirring weakly in response to the pain.

*Emily.*

The voice was so faint I thought I'd imagined it.

*Emily. Can you hear me?*

I sat up slowly, my heart pounding. "Who's there?"

*It's me. Your wolf.*

A feminine voice, strong yet gentle, echoed in my mind. My hands trembled as I pressed them to my temples.

"You're... real?"

*I've always been here. The trauma of the rejection, the silver—it kept me locked away. But I'm breaking free now.*

Tears streamed down my face as I felt her presence growing stronger within me. For the first time in months, I felt something other than despair—I felt hope.

*We need to get out of here,* my wolf urged. *Before it's too late.*

"I can't," I whispered. "The silver—"

*We are stronger than the silver.*

Her determination flowed through me like wildfire, burning away the fog of defeat that had settled over my mind. I stood shakily, testing my legs.

*That's it,* she encouraged. *Now, listen carefully.*

I closed my eyes, focusing on her voice as she explained how we could survive the silver's effects through sheer willpower.

---

Three days later, I was sitting cross-legged on the floor when I felt a strange tingling sensation at the edge of my consciousness—like someone lightly brushing against my mind.

*Emily?*

The voice wasn't my wolf's. It was deeper, more masculine.

*Emily, if you can hear me, respond. It's Emmett.*

My eyes flew open in shock. A mind-link—something only Alphas could initiate across long distances.

"How did you find me?" I thought back, unsure if he could hear me.

*I've been searching for you since the auction. It took weeks to trace Maximilian's movements to this property.*

Relief flooded through me. "He's going to kill me, Emmett."

*No, he won't.* His mental voice was firm, determined. *I won't let that happen.*

"How can you stop him?"

*We need to get you out of there. Tonight.*

I felt a surge of adrenaline at his words. "Tonight? How?"

*There's a service entrance on the east side of the property. My men will create a diversion at midnight. When you hear the alarm, head for the kitchen and follow the corridor to the left.*

"It's guarded," I protested.

*Not for long,* Emmett promised. *Can you make it that far?*

I thought of my wolf, of the strength she was lending me, of the will to survive that was now burning bright within me.

"Yes," I replied, feeling a fierce determination replace the despair that had been my constant companion. "I can make it."

*Then we'll be waiting for you, Emily.*

As his presence faded from my mind, I felt something shift inside me—the passive, broken victim was gone, replaced by a woman with a single purpose: survival.