Elena POV:
The money lay on the floor, a green carpet of insult.
Five years ago, I would have cried. Five years ago, I would have picked it up, thanked him, and crawled away to lick my wounds. But a mother's love burns hotter than an Alpha's pride.
I ignored the cash. I ignored Liam. I ignored the sneering faces of the high-ranking wolves surrounding us.
I turned my back on him and knelt by the fountain. The water was cold as I plunged my hand in, feeling along the smooth tiles of the bottom.
"Did you hear me?" Liam's voice dropped an octave.
He was using his Alpha tone. Usually, this tone forces lower-ranking wolves to submit instantly. It triggers a biological response-fear, submission, the urge to bare one's neck.
I felt a flicker of pressure in my head, like a headache starting, but I didn't stop.
"I'm talking to you!" Liam shouted.
My fingers brushed against something cold and rough. *Found it.*
I pulled my hand out, water dripping from the rough, unpolished moonstone. It glowed faintly, a soft milky white light that only those with keen eyes could see.
I stood up, clutching the stone to my chest, and finally looked at him.
"I don't want your money, Liam," I said calmly. "And I don't need your permission to exist."
Liam's face turned a shade of red I remembered well. He hated being ignored. To an Alpha, indifference is worse than hate. It implies he has no power.
"You insolent little-" He stepped forward, closing the distance between us.
He grabbed my wrist, the one holding the stone. His grip was bruising. I gasped in pain, but I didn't drop the stone.
"Let go," I hissed.
"You should be on your knees thanking me for letting you live," Liam growled, leaning down so his face was inches from mine. "I could crush your wrist right now. Who would stop me? You have no Alpha. You have no protection."
"I don't need your protection," I said, my voice ringing clear through the silent ballroom. *"And I certainly don't need a weak Alpha like you."*
The crowd gasped. Calling an Alpha "weak" was a challenge. In the old days, that would be a death sentence.
"Weak?" Liam laughed, but his eyes were dangerous. "I am the Alpha of the Silver Creek Pack. I have hundreds of wolves ready to die for me. Who do you have? A human husband?"
I looked him dead in the eye. "My Mate is a thousand times the man, and the wolf, that you will ever be."
Silence. Absolute, stunned silence.
Then, laughter broke out. It started with Seraphina and spread like a contagion.
"Her Mate?" Seraphina cackled, clutching her stomach. "Oh, this is rich! The defect thinks she has a Mate! Did you conjure him up in your dreams, darling?"
"She's delusional," someone in the crowd whispered.
"Sad, really," another replied.
Liam smirked, tightening his grip on my wrist until my bones ground together. "There is no wolf who would claim you, Elena. You are broken goods. Empty."
He tried to use his Alpha Command again, focusing all his will on me. "On your knees. Now."
*The air shimmered, heavy and oppressive. The guard next to us flinched, his knees buckling as the command washed over him.*
But I stood.
My legs trembled, not from submission, but from the effort of holding back the scream of pain from my wrist. The seal inside me was vibrating, cracking under the pressure of his aura against my own hidden lineage.
"I said," Liam roared, "KNEEL!"
I gritted my teeth, sweat beading on my forehead. "No."
