Aria POV
I sat at the heavy oak desk in my private study, the only room in the manor that felt truly mine.
The printer hummed quietly in the corner, spitting out the final page of a thick document.
It was the Severance Pact.
A legal and magical contract recognized by the ancient Council to sever a Fated Mate bond and divide Pack territory.
I gathered the warm papers, tapping them against the desk to align the edges.
I was just waiting for Rowan to come home so we could end this farce.
Suddenly, the heavy, magical lock on the front door of the manor beeped.
Someone was punching in the code.
I frowned. The wards on the Alpha's manor were impenetrable, designed to keep out anyone who did not share our bloodline or know the exact sequence.
The door swung open, and the sound of high heels clicking against the marble floor echoed through the hall.
I walked out of the study and froze.
Serena was standing in my living room.
She was wearing a tight, revealing red dress, and the sour, wild stench of a Rogue filled my clean home, making my nose burn.
She looked around the grand room, running her fingers over the expensive furniture with a greedy smile.
"Nice place," she purred, turning to look at me. "A bit gloomy, though. I will have to redecorate."
I kept the Severance Pact hidden behind my back, my posture rigid.
"How did you get in here?" I demanded, my voice cold.
Serena laughed, a high, grating sound.
"Oh, it was quite simple. Rowan gave me an independent passcode months ago—for emergencies, he said. I suppose he never imagined I would use it to visit his wife."
My stomach dropped.
Rowan had given her the keys to my sanctuary. The place I had lived for five years was not mine at all—it was a revolving door for his mistress.
I suddenly realized that this entire territory was covered in her invisible fingerprints.
"State your business and get out," I said, refusing to show her my pain.
Serena smirked, reaching into her designer handbag.
She pulled out a small, white plastic stick and tossed it onto the glass coffee table.
It was a human pregnancy test, but it was practically vibrating with the magical scent of a high-ranking werewolf.
"You may spare yourself the effort of sniffing for discrepancies," she purred, tapping a lacquered nail against the glass. "I have bathed in rare Alpha-musk herbs and consumed masking draughts. Not even your precious Healers will detect the Rogue taint on this pup until it is far too late."
"I am with child, Aria," Serena announced, her arms crossed in a posture of indolent triumph. "I carry Rowan's heir."
The words hit me like a physical blow, knocking the breath from my lungs.
"You are a broken, defective Omega who cannot even survive a simple breeding ritual," she sneered, stepping closer.
"I am giving the Alpha the pureblood heir he deserves."
My gaze was seared by the two red lines on the plastic stick. I willed my head to turn, to look away, but the muscles in my neck had gone rigid, locking me in place.
"You know the laws," I said, keeping my voice steady. "A pup born to a Rogue without the Pack's blessing will be an outcast."
Serena's eyes narrowed maliciously.
She knew exactly where to strike. She knew I grew up as an outcast, raised by a single, exiled mother.
"Oh, I know," Serena whispered, her voice dripping with poison. "I know how hard it is for a pup with no Pack protection. They get torn apart by wild animals. They starve in the winter."
She smiled cruelly. "Rowan told me all about your pathetic childhood crying in the snow. Do you really think he would let his own flesh and blood suffer like that?"
A violent wave of nausea surged from my stomach, and the room, with all its fine furnishings, seemed to recede to a great, silent distance.
Rowan had told her.
He had taken my deepest, darkest trauma—the secret I had only shared with him in the dark of the night—and given it to this woman as a weapon.
The front door burst open again.
Rowan rushed in, his chest heaving, his eyes wide with panic as he saw Serena standing in the living room.
"Serena! What are you doing here?" he yelled, rushing forward and stepping between us.
Serena immediately changed her demeanor.
Her arrogant sneer vanished, replaced by a trembling lip and tear-filled eyes.
She threw her arms around Rowan's neck, pressing her body against his.
"Rowan, she was threatening me! She said our baby would be torn apart in the snow!" Serena sobbed loudly.
Rowan wrapped his arms around her waist protectively, shooting me a furious glare.
"Aria, how could you say such a thing?" he growled.
"Rowan, you gave me your word," Serena whimpered into his chest. "Yesterday morning, in the hotel, you said this child would change everything. You require an heir to secure your seat on the Council, and she is incapable of providing one!"
The room fell dead silent.
Rowan froze, his face draining of color. He looked at me, sheer terror in his eyes.
Yesterday morning.
While I was lying on a cold steel table, having my life essence ripped from my body without anesthesia to give him a child.
He was in a hotel bed, promising my title to his pregnant mistress.
"Aria... wait, let me explain," Rowan stammered, gently pushing Serena away and taking a step toward me.
I did not move. I did not cry.
I felt nothing but absolute, crystal-clear clarity.
I pulled the thick stack of papers from behind my back and threw them onto the glass coffee table, right next to the pregnancy test.
"Save your breath," I said, my voice cutting through the air like a whip.
I looked him dead in the eye, bearing the full weight of his Alpha aura without flinching.
"I want a complete severance of the mate bond. And I am taking half of this territory's wealth."
Rowan stared at the Severance Pact, his face slack with shock. He had expected tears. He had expected begging. He had expected the docile Omega who had spent five years absorbing his neglect in silence. What he got instead was a woman who had already buried her love for him and was now holding a shovel over the grave of his empire.
