The tracker's signal blinked steadily on Hollis's phone screen. My heart sank as I watched from the security monitors in Cruz's study. Three years, and Hollis still didn't understand that I wasn't stupid.
"Look at this," I whispered to Cruz, pointing at the screen. "He's using the old pack medallion I carried as a beacon."
Cruz's lips curved in a cold smile. "Let him come."
---
The silver gates of the Royal Lycan Packhouse gleamed in the afternoon sun as Hollis's black SUV pulled up. I watched from Cruz's side, my fingers digging into his arm. Beside Hollis sat Jaycee, her perfect makeup ready for the cameras.
"Lycan guards!" Hollis called, his voice carrying that false authority I remembered so well. "I've come to retrieve a disturbed pack member who's been manipulated by your Prince."
The guards—massive werewolves in tactical gear—didn't even flinch.
"Step aside," Hollis continued, gesturing to the camera crew behind him. "We're here to help Madeleine. She needs proper care, not whatever... this is." He gestured dismissively at the packhouse.
"Alpha Hollis," the lead guard said, his voice like ice, "you have no jurisdiction here."
"Don't be ridiculous," Jaycee interjected, her smile sharp as glass. "Madeleine is clearly unwell. We've been livestreaming our concerns to all packs."
She held up her phone, showing the thousands of viewers watching their little performance.
"Prince Cruz cannot possibly understand what's best for her," Hollis added, his tone softening to one of false concern. "She needs to be with people who know her history."
The guards exchanged glances.
"Your history?" The guard's voice dripped with contempt. "The history where you stole her work and rejected her for being 'wolfless'?"
Hollis's face flushed red. "That's a lie! She's delusional!"
"Then why did Prince Cruz declare her as his mate?" another guard challenged.
The camera crew shifted uncomfortably, clearly not expecting this line of questioning.
"Let us in!" Hollis demanded, his Alpha tone vibrating through the air. "Or we'll report this to the Council!"
The guards laughed—actually laughed in his face.
"Go ahead," one said, stepping closer. "Tell them how you threatened the Lycan Prince's mate."
---
From the balcony above the gates, I watched Hollis's empire crumble in real-time.
"Madeleine!" Jaycee's voice carried up to me. "We're here to help you!"
I stepped forward, feeling Cruz's solid presence behind me. The wind carried my scent down to them—wild jasmine and steel, now intertwined with cedar and midnight storms.
Hollis's eyes widened as he took in my appearance. Gone was the broken Omega in the cheap server's uniform. I stood tall in clothes Cruz had provided, my hair loose around my shoulders, my eyes clear.
"Impossible," he whispered, the word barely audible.
Jaycee's perfect mask slipped, revealing naked horror. "What have you done to yourself?"
"I've found myself," I replied simply.
Cruz's scent wrapped around me like a protective cloak, so thick that even from a distance, Hollis could see it—could smell it. His face paled as he realized what it meant.
"You've marked her," he said to Cruz, his voice breaking.
"Not yet," Cruz replied, his arm sliding around my waist. "But soon."
---
The panic hit me like a tidal wave the moment we returned inside.
My breath came in short gasps as Hollis's voice echoed in my mind—the same voice that had once crushed my spirit with a single command.
"Madeleine?" Cruz's voice seemed distant through the roaring in my ears.
I was back in that room three years ago, kneeling on the cold floor as Hollis towered over me.
"You're nothing but a wolfless freak," he'd snarled, his rejection burning like acid. "I, Hollis Snyder, Alpha of Blood Eclipse Pack, reject you, Madeleine Jensen, as my mate."
My knees buckled now as the memory crashed over me.
Cruz caught me before I hit the floor, his strong arms wrapping around me. "Breathe," he murmured, his scent of cedar and storms surrounding me, grounding me.
"He took everything," I choked out. "Not just the strategies—everything."
Cruz's eyes blazed with fury as I finally told him the full story—how Hollis had found my journals, how he'd used his Alpha tone to force me to hand over my research, how he'd banished me to die alone.
"He said I was worthless without him," I whispered. "That no one would ever believe a wolfless Omega over an Alpha."
Cruz's wolf growled, a sound that vibrated through his chest and into my bones.
"They were wrong," he said fiercely. "You're not worthless—you're extraordinary."
His fingers traced the faded rejection scar on my neck, his touch gentle but his eyes deadly.
"Tell me what you need to destroy them," he said softly.
I looked up at him, at the power and determination in his eyes, and felt something shift inside me.
"Everything," I whispered. "I want everything they built on my suffering to burn."
