Ava POV
I lay on the cold tiles of the lab, my breath coming in ragged, shallow rasps.
"She's harvesting organs, Ethan," I said, my voice steady despite the agony radiating through my chest. "Look at Josh. Look at the scalpel."
Ethan didn't look. He refused to. To look would be to admit he was a fool, and his pride wouldn't allow it.
"Silence!" he roared. "You conspire with Rogues. You fake your death. And now you attack your Luna?"
"She is not my Luna," I spat, blood coating my teeth. "And she is playing you like a fiddle."
"I said SILENCE!"
Ethan grabbed me by the throat. He lifted me off the ground with terrifying ease. My toes scrabbled uselessly against the air. My airway closed.
"You are toxic, Ava," he sneered, bringing his face close to mine. "I kept you around because you were useful. Because your mind made this Pack rich. But now? You are a liability."
He squeezed. Black spots danced like mocking fireflies in my vision.
"I'm going to lock you in the Silver Cage," he whispered. "And I'm going to let you rot until you beg Chloe for forgiveness."
The Silver Cage. A torture device reserved for the worst traitors. It didn't just contain you; it burned the skin and poisoned the blood.
My Inner Wolf woke up fully then. She didn't howl in sadness. She roared in ancient rage.
*Enough,* she commanded.
I clawed at Ethan’s hand. I didn't try to loosen his grip. I dug my nails into his flesh until I drew blood.
He hissed in surprise and dropped me.
I fell to my knees, coughing violently as oxygen rushed back into my lungs. I looked up at him.
"I'm done begging, Ethan," I said. The air around me began to drop in temperature. Hoarfrost crept across the floor tiles, cracking as it expanded.
Ethan took a step back, confusion flickering in his eyes. "What are you doing?"
I stood up. My broken knees screamed, but the power of the White Wolf held me upright like a marionette made of steel.
"Ethan Reed," I said, my voice echoing with a power that shook the glass beakers on the shelves until they rattled.
"Don't," he warned, his Alpha instinct sensing the shift in the atmosphere. "I command you to stop!"
"I, Ava Miller," I continued, the words burning like cold fire in my throat, "reject you as my Mate."
The silence that followed was deafening, heavier than the air itself.
Then, the pain hit.
It wasn't physical. It was the sound of a soul snapping in two.
Ethan doubled over, clutching his chest. He roared in agony. The bond was tearing, shredding the connection that the Moon Goddess had forged.
"You... you rejected me?" he gasped, looking at me with wide, shocked eyes. "You can't! I am an Alpha!"
"I just did," I said coldly.
I turned to leave.
A klaxon wailed through the facility, cutting through the tension like a knife.
The Pack alarm. Red lights flashed in the hallway, bathing us in blood-colored strobes.
"Rogue attack!" A warrior shouted from the corridor. "Breach at the Northern Wall! They're swarming!"
Ethan looked at me, then at the door. He was torn. His mate bond was bleeding out, but his Alpha duty was calling.
Chloe grabbed his arm, her nails digging into his bicep. "Ethan! The baby! The stress! You have to protect us!"
Ethan looked at me one last time. I stood there, bleeding, broken, but unbowed.
"Guard her," Ethan barked to a subordinate. "Don't let her leave. I will deal with her after I kill the Rogues."
He turned and ran. He chose his fake heir and his pride over me. Again.
As he left, the bond snapped completely.
I fell to the floor. The backlash of the Rejection hit me like a physical blow, knocking the wind from me.
Then, the cramps started.
Violent. Sharp. Unforgiving.
I looked down. Blood was soaking through my dress. Not from my head. From between my legs.
"No," I whispered, my voice trembling. "No, no, no."
My baby.
The stress. The Alpha Command. The Rejection. It was too much.
I curled into a ball on the cold floor, clutching my stomach as my world went dark.
*Survive,* my Wolf whispered in the encroaching blackness. *We must survive to kill them all.*
