Chapter 4

Selene POV:

The next day, a frantic message found me through a hidden mind-link frequency I'd set up years ago for emergencies. It was Maria.

*The Lady is asking questions. She wants a list of every visitor who has been to the manor in the last month. Everyone.*

My blood turned to ice. Lyra's suspicion had already turned into an investigation.

*Leave now,* I sent back, my thoughts sharp and clear. *There's a locker at the central bus station, number 3B. The code is your daughter's birthday. Inside is enough cash for you and your family to start a new life in a human city. Go. Don't look back.*

A wave of gratitude and terror washed over the link from her, and then, she was gone. One loose end tied up. Now for the rest.

There was only one person in the world I could trust. Zara.

I met her in her lair, a fortified bunker hidden deep in the neutral territories, a place no pack law could touch. Zara was a rogue by choice, a warrior of unparalleled skill who answered to no Alpha. I had saved her life years ago after she was ambushed by Silvermoon warriors, patching up a silver-laced wound that should have killed her. She owed me a life debt, but our bond was deeper than that. It was friendship.

I laid it all out. The secret family, the lies, the stolen funds. I placed the data crystal on the cold, metal table between us.

She watched the holographic images, her jaw tightening with every picture of their happy family. When the video of Damien coaching Leo through his first shift played, a low, dangerous growl rumbled in her chest.

"I will challenge him," she snarled, her silver eyes flashing with fury. "I will rip the Alpha title from his throat and give it to you."

A part of me, the wounded wolf, yearned for that bloody vengeance. But I shook my head. "I don't want the Silvermoon Pack, Zara. I don't want anything to do with them. I want a clean break. But I want them to know exactly what they've lost."

Understanding dawned in her eyes. "You want to burn their world down on your way out."

"I want them to choke on the ashes," I corrected her softly.

Zara grinned, a feral, terrifying sight. "I can arrange that."

She immediately began drafting the documents. A formal acceptance of Damien's future rejection, pre-signed and dated. A blood-pact scroll renouncing my membership in the Silvermoon Pack. Every legal and ancient loophole that would sever me from them completely, on my own terms.

As we worked, an official notification pinged on my personal communicator. It was from Luna Eleanor's assistant, confirming the details for the "anniversary dinner." The location, the time, the formal dress code. And at the bottom, a seemingly thoughtful note.

"The Luna has instructed the chef to prepare a special calming chamomile tea for you, to help you relax after your long hours at the clinic."

I showed the message to Zara. Her eyes narrowed. "You're allergic to high-concentration chamomile. It gives you hives and makes you dizzy."

"Exactly," I said, the final piece of their plan clicking into place. "It's not just tea. They're going to drug me. Wolfsbane, most likely. A diluted dose to make me weak, disoriented. To make sure I don't cause a scene when Damien rejects me."

Any lingering flicker of sentiment I held for the woman who raised me died in that moment. She wasn't just complicit; she was an architect of my humiliation.

"I'm going to that dinner," I told Zara, my voice steady.

With Zara's hand on my shoulder as a witness, I signed the last document, pressing a bloody thumbprint next to my name. It was done. In the eyes of the law and the Goddess, I was already severing the ties.

Then, I did one last thing. I booked a one-way flight to a remote town in the arctic circle of the far north. The ticket was under a new name. A name that felt like a whisper from a life I couldn't remember, the only word I knew from before I was found as a baby.

Hope.

The flight was scheduled to depart at 10 PM. The same night as the grand dinner. The same night as Leo's fifth birthday party.

That evening, when Damien came home, I played my part one last time. He was dressed to go out, smelling of expensive cologne that couldn't quite mask his own scent of cedar.

"Urgent business with the border Alphas," he lied, kissing my cheek. "It might go all night. Don't wait up for me."

"Of course," I said, smiling sweetly. "Be safe, my love."

I watched him walk out the door, heading to his son's birthday party. The board was set. The pieces were in motion. And they had no idea they were already checkmated.

---