Harper Alvarado POV:
The heavy oak door of Fletcher's chambers clicked shut behind me, but it couldn't completely muffle Darla's coy giggles from inside. In the dim hallway, my loyal maid, Phoebe, stood trembling in the shadows. She had been waiting outside the whole time. Her eyes were bloodshot, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles were white. She had heard everything.
Without a word, she hurried to my side, draping her own thin shawl over my shivering shoulders, and fell into step behind me as we walked down the long, freezing corridor of the Packhouse toward my own chambers.
The commotion had already drawn the night staff out of the woodwork. Bad news travels fast in a Packhouse, especially when it's shouted by the Alpha and the old Luna. The servants, who used to bow so low their noses nearly touched the floor whenever I passed, now openly lined the hallway. They didn't even bother to hide their gloating stares or their malicious whispers.
"Did you hear? The Alpha stripped her title. She's just a maid now," a scullery maid whispered loudly to her companion, making sure I could hear.
"About time. She's just a cursed jinx anyway," a guard snickered, his eyes shamelessly raking over my translucent silk nightgown.
"I heard the new Luna is making her wash their dirty bedsheets by hand tomorrow morning," another chimed in, followed by a chorus of suppressed, mocking laughter.
I felt Phoebe shaking with rage behind me, but I didn't stop.
When I finally pushed open the door to my own chambers, the biting cold hit me instantly. The fireplace was completely dead. Not a single piece of coal had been delivered for the night.
The moment the door clicked shut, sealing us inside, Phoebe finally collapsed to her knees.
"Miss... how could he? How could Alpha Fletcher do this?!" Phoebe sobbed, her fingers digging desperately into the cold floorboards. "He knew! He knew how much that night destroyed you! How could he use the slaughter of the Master, the Madam, and the young lords as a weapon to humiliate you in front of everyone?!"
Tears streamed down Phoebe's face, her eyes filled with a blood-deep, agonizing hatred. "My parents and my brother were hacked to pieces that night too! Their blood soaked the very soil we grew up on! And for a whole year, you coughed up your own blood to keep his wretched Pack alive! Yet he stomped on our family's bloody graves just to lift that whore up!"
Looking at Phoebe, my childhood companion who shared my deepest, most horrifying trauma, the last fragile thread of sorrow in my heart simply... snapped.
"Stand up, Phoebe," I said, my voice dropping to an eerie, frozen whisper. I knelt and gently wiped the tears from her face. "Tears cannot wash away the blood of our families. Fletcher said House Alvarado is nothing but a dead, rotting graveyard. Then it is time we show him how the ghosts from that graveyard feast."
Phoebe choked back her sobs, looking at me with widened eyes.
"Bring me the dowry ledgers," I commanded, standing up. "Every single one."
Phoebe rushed to the locked mahogany chest and pulled out the heavy leather-bound ledgers. As I flipped through the pages—a testament to the immense wealth of my martyred family—I noticed a glaring, massive discrepancy.
"The revenue from our trading companies in the human realm," I traced the ink with my finger, my eyes narrowing. "Why hasn't this month's gold been transferred to my private vault?"
Phoebe gritted her teeth, her fists trembling with fresh rage. "It was the old Luna, Genevieve. She ordered the stewards to intercept the funds three days ago! Miss, they knew! Fletcher mind-linked his mother days before he arrived. They planned to drain your accounts before he even brought Darla through the gates!"
A sinister, self-deprecating laugh escaped my lips.
"And it's not just the gold," Phoebe added bitterly. "She had the guards raid our secondary storehouse yesterday and took the exquisite ruby jewelry set left by your mother! She was wearing them tonight to welcome Darla!"
A dangerous, murderous glint flashed in the grey depths of my eyes. The old hag was wearing my dead mother's blood-stained legacy to celebrate my replacement.
"They even cut off our winter coal to heat Darla's grand pavilion," Phoebe muttered, looking at the dead fireplace.
"Let them enjoy the warmth while it lasts," I said, snapping the ledger shut with a sharp crack that echoed like a gunshot. "Because winter is here."
I walked to the window. Down in the courtyard, the Terrell warriors were laughing, roasting meat and drinking the expensive wine bought with my gold.
"Starting tomorrow morning," I ordered, my tone absolute and merciless. "Send the Shadow Sentinels to every Alvarado-owned business, farm, and moon-silver mine. Cease all fund transfers to the Terrell Pack. Cut off their food supplies, their winter clothing, their weapon shipments, and their medical herbs. Freeze every single copper coin."
Phoebe's eyes ignited with a fierce, vengeful fire. "You mean... we cut them off completely?"
"Completely," I turned to face her. "Since Darla loathes the 'petty chores' of managing a Pack, let's see how her glorious sword skills conjure bread out of thin air. I want a detailed calculation of everything they have leeched from us this past year. They will vomit it all back up, with interest."
But simply cutting off the money wasn't enough. Fletcher had the Alpha King's blessing for this union. If I stayed, they would eventually use Pack Law to force me to yield, draining me dry as a captive concubine.
I needed to sever the bond at its very root.
"Prepare ink and parchment," I said, my gaze shifting toward the distant, towering spires of the Royal Palace. "I am writing to the Alpha King."
Phoebe gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. To petition the King directly was an incredibly bold, almost taboo move for a female wolf.
But I didn't care. Fletcher thought his little border skirmishes made him a god who could dictate my fate? Fine. Let's see how his pathetic military merits weigh against the blood of six Alvarado generals.
I picked up the quill. My handwriting was sharp, decisive, and filled with lethal intent.
I reminded the King that my father and six brothers were martyred heroes who had shed their last drop of blood defending his empire. I, Harper Alvarado, was their only surviving bloodline.
I implored the Alpha King, in consideration of House Alvarado's generations of loyalty and ultimate sacrifice, to grant an absolute annulment of my union with Fletcher Terrell. I explicitly stated that the Terrell Pack was forcibly seizing the assets of a martyr's orphan to fund a mistress, and I requested royal permission to take back my dowry and leave the Pack entirely.
After the last word was written, I blew the ink dry, folded the letter, and sealed it with the Alvarado family crest—a crest forged in blood and iron.
"Find the most reliable messenger in our Vanguard," I ordered, handing the heavy envelope to Phoebe. "Ride through the night. Deliver this straight to the Royal Court."
