Hearing what I said, Alexander laughed in anger. He clearly thought I was playing hard to get.

"Ivy, do you think saying that will make us beg?" he scoffed. "Stop the act. Without us, you're lower than a rat in this pack."

Lucas frowned, wearing an expression that suggested he was being incredibly generous. "Ivy, stop making a scene. Sarah has suffered enough. As her sister, it's only right that you yield the Luna position to her. If you behave, we'll still take care of you."

Take care of me? Like how they tore me and my pup to pieces in my last life?

I opened my mouth to tell them to go to hell, but Sarah suddenly gasped. She clutched her flat stomach, her face flushing a delicate pink.

"Oh... Alex, Lucas..." Her voice trembled with feigned shock. "I felt something... A heartbeat. A tiny spark."

The twins froze.

Werewolf conception is powerful. The father can sense the spark of life almost immediately.

Alexander rushed to her side, pressing his ear against her belly. A second later, his face exploded with ecstasy.

"It's true! A pup! We have an heir!" He roared with laughter, lifting Sarah into the air. "See? This proves it! Sarah is the true White Wolf! Only the White Wolf could conceive an Alpha heir after just one night!"

Lucas looked at me, his expression triumphant. "Ivy, did you hear that? Sarah is carrying the future King. You have no right to argue anymore."

The Alpha King was surprised. He looked at her stomach with awe, then glanced back at me. The absolute certainty he had that I was the only White Wolf wavered in his eyes.

He exchanged a quick, meaningful look with the twins and nodded. He was agreeing to keep her.

He turned to me, his voice dropping to a persuasive, sickeningly reasonable tone. "Ivy, listen. This is an Alpha's pup. We can't just kick her out now."

He took a step closer, trying to look sincere. "Just wait. Let her birth the child. Once the heir is born, you will still be my Luna. You can raise the boy as your own. Sarah will just be a surrogate. It's the best outcome."

I looked at them—at their joy, their cruelty, their utter stupidity.

They thought the White Wolf bloodline was just a title? Just a tool for breeding?

They didn't know that my blood was the only thing keeping the Silver Moon Pack alive. It was a contract between me and the Moon Goddess.

Without my blessing, the prey would rot, the water would dry, and their Alpha strength would wither into nothing. My power cannot be stripped, only given or withheld.

But I wasn't going to warn them. Let them rot.

"Dream on," I said coldly.

I didn't wait for their reaction. I turned and walked away, heading straight for the pack's forbidden grounds—the Core Magic Circle.

I was leaving this hellhole, but I wasn't leaving empty-handed.

In the center of the shimmering magic circle lay a small, white piece of bone. It was my mother's finger bone.

She was the previous White Wolf, and she died protecting this pack. She left me nothing but this bone, which acted as a battery powering the defensive barrier of the territory.

For years, I left it here to protect them, feeding it my own energy. But now? This pack didn't deserve her protection.

I stepped into the circle and picked up the bone. It felt warm in my hand, pulsing with familiar energy.

"Mom, I'm taking you home," I whispered.

"Put that down!"

A roar shattered the silence.

I turned to see Alexander, Lucas, and Sarah standing at the entrance of the sanctuary.

Sarah was leaning heavily on Lucas, looking at the bone in my hand with greedy eyes. "That energy... it feels so warm. Alex, my stomach hurts... the baby needs energy..."

"Ivy!" Alexander stepped forward, his aura flaring. "That artifact belongs to the pack. Hand it over."

"This is my mother's bone," I hissed, clutching it tight against my chest. "It belongs to me."

"It belongs to the Silver Moon Pack!" Sarah whined, tears instantly welling up. "Sister, please... I’m so weak. The boys were so rough last night... I need that healing energy for the baby. Do you want your nephew to die?"

"I said no."

"You selfish bitch!" Alexander didn't have the patience to argue.

He lunged.

I tried to dodge, to use my magic, but I had spent years pouring my power into the land to bless them. I was drained. I was empty. I was no match for an Alpha in his prime.

Alexander grabbed my wrist and twisted.

"Ah!"

I screamed as he slammed me against the stone pillar.

"Lucas, hold her!" he commanded.

Lucas stepped forward. He didn't hesitate. He pinned my shoulders to the cold stone, his weight crushing me.

"Ivy, stop fighting. It's for the heir."

"No! Let go!" I struggled violently, kicking and biting, but I was like an ant trying to fight an elephant.

I watched, helpless, as Alexander pried my fingers open one by one.

"Give it back... please... it's all I have left..." I begged, my dignity shattering.

Alexander snatched the bone. He didn't even look at it. He walked over and handed it to Sarah.

"Here, baby. Take it."

Sarah held the glowing white bone. She looked at me, pinned in the dirt, bleeding and crying.

A twisted, demon-like smile appeared on her face when the twins weren't looking. She looked me dead in the eye.

"Oops," she mouthed.

Then, she squeezed her hand.

Crack.

The fragile, ancient bone crumbled into dust in her grip.

The white powder drifted away in the wind.

Time stopped.

My mother. My last connection to her. The only thing I had left in this wretched world.

Gone.

"NO!!!"

A scream of pure, bloody agony tore from my throat.

Lucas, who had been pinning me down, froze. He stared at my face—twisted in pure, agonizing grief—and for a split second, his grip loosened in shock.

I didn't waste that second.

I shoved him off and scrambled on my hands and knees toward the spot where the bone had crumbled.

My fingers clawed at the dirt, desperate to catch even a few grains of the white powder before the wind took it all.

"Mom... don't go... please..." I sobbed, clutching a handful of useless dust.

"Ah!"

A sharp shriek cut through my grief.

I looked up to see Sarah throwing herself backward. I hadn't even touched her, but she slammed her body deliberately against a sharp protruding rock.

"My stomach! The baby! Help me!" she wailed, blood instantly staining her dress.

"Sarah!"

Bang!

A heavy fist slammed into my chest before I could even stand.

I flew backward, crashing into the stone wall. Blood sprayed from my mouth, staining the ground red.

Alexander stood over me, his eyes glowing a terrifying, irrational crimson. The Alpha power radiated off him like a physical weight, crushing my ribs.

"You crazy woman!" he roared. "She is pregnant! Even if you are jealous, how could you hurt an unborn child? You are vicious!"

"She... she destroyed it..." I choked out, blood bubbling in my throat, pointing a trembling finger at Sarah.

"It was an accident!" Lucas yelled, cradling Sarah who was wailing in fake agony. "Sarah is hurt! She's bleeding! Her energy is fading!"

Alexander looked at Sarah's pale face, then turned back to me. The hesitation he had earlier was gone, replaced by cold cruelty.

"If Sarah loses this baby, I will bury you with it."

Lucas looked up, panic written all over his face. "Alex, her pulse is dropping! The fetus is unstable! We need pure energy to sustain her!"

Alexander froze. Then, he looked at me.

"White Wolf Essence," he muttered.

My heart stopped.

"No," I whispered, backing away until my back hit the cold wall. "Don't you dare."

"It's the only way," Alexander said, his voice void of emotion. He walked toward me. "Ivy, give me your Essence Blood. Now."

Taking the Essence Blood by force was torture. It was a violation worse than death.

"I won't," I spat at him, hatred burning in my eyes. "I will die before I save her."

"You have no choice."

Alexander grabbed my arm, pinning me to the floor.

"Lucas, hold her legs!"

"I'm sorry, Ivy," Lucas said, grabbing my ankles. "But we have to save the heir."

"Let me go! I hate you! I hate you all!" I screamed, thrashing, crying, begging.

But they didn't stop.

Alexander summoned his claws. With a cold, clinical precision, he slashed my wrist deep, right over the artery.

He didn't just let it bleed; he used his Alpha power to force the essence out.

"Arghhhh!"

I screamed until my voice broke. Pain. Excruciating, soul-tearing pain. It felt like my marrow was being sucked out of my bones. My vision blurred.

My wolf howled in agony and then fell silent, curling into a ball in the back of my mind, too weak to move.

I watched helplessly as my glowing red blood filled a bowl. I watched Alexander feed it to Sarah.

Sarah drank it greedily, her cheeks flushing with color. Over the rim of the bowl, she smirked at me.

I lay on the cold stone floor, shivering, empty. My hatred was no longer a fire; it was a block of ice, hard and unbreakable.

"She's stable," Lucas sighed in relief, hugging Sarah.

Alexander looked at me. Seeing my pale, deathly face, a flicker of guilt finally crossed his eyes.

"Take her to the Healing Room," Alexander ordered the guards, his voice softer now.

He crouched down, brushing a strand of sweat-soaked hair from my face. "Ivy, stay there and recover. Tonight is the Mating Ceremony. Don't cause any more trouble."

He paused, trying to sound benevolent. "Once the ceremony is over, we will come for you. We'll still keep you in the pack. I promise, I won't let Sarah mistreat you. You still have a place here. We might even... give you a child of your own in the future."

I looked at him. I forced the corners of my mouth up into a weak, broken smile.

"Okay," I whispered. "I'll wait."

Alexander let out a breath, relieved that I was finally being "obedient."

"Good girl."

They left, taking Sarah to prepare for the wedding, leaving me broken on the floor.

Two hours later. The Healing Room was quiet.

The guards outside were lax, drinking and celebrating the Alpha's wedding. They thought I was a cripple now. They thought without my Essence, I was powerless.

I opened my eyes. They were clear and cold.

They were wrong.

They thought they took my power? They only took my blood.

The power of the White Wolf isn't in the blood. It's in the soul. It comes from the contract with the Moon Goddess.

The reason I was weak wasn't because they took my blood—it was because for twenty years, I had been pouring 90% of my soul's energy into the land to bless them.

But what is given can be taken back.

I stood up, swaying slightly. I grabbed a sharp dagger from the medical tray.

I slipped out the window, moving through the shadows like a ghost.

While the entire pack cheered for Alexander and Sarah in the square, I climbed the highest cliff on the edge of the territory.

The wind howled, tearing at my hospital gown.

I looked down at the pack lands. The lights were bright, the music loud. It looked so alive.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," I whispered.

I raised the dagger. I didn't hesitate. I sliced my palm again, right over the scar Alexander had made.

Blood dripped onto the earth.

"In the name of the White Wolf, I, Ivy, hereby sever all bonds with the Silver Moon Pack."

As I chanted, it felt like an invisible string in the air snapped.

"I revoke my blessing. From this moment on, the moonlight shall no longer favor this land. The prey will flee, the water will dry up, and the power will wither."

"Sever!"

An invisible shockwave blasted outward.

In the distance, half the celebratory bonfires in the pack lands suddenly snuffed out for no reason. The clear night sky was instantly choked by a gloomy haze.

Alexander and Lucas might have felt a tightness in their chests, probably dismissing it as pre-wedding nerves. They had no idea what they had just lost.

Done with it all, I climbed weakly into the off-road vehicle I had arranged beforehand.

"Let's go," I told the driver. "To the North."

Behind me, the once-glorious pack was losing its luster, swallowed by the night.

And I, rising from the ruins, was about to be reborn.