Chapter 5

Eleanor POV

I ripped the sketchbook from his grasp with a force that surprised us both.

He was so stunned by my sudden defiance that his fingers went slack, releasing the only thing in this house that still belonged to me. I clutched the book to my chest, the leather binding cool and grounding against my feverish skin.

"You..." Marcus sputtered, stumbling back a step. The shock in his eyes was fleeting, quickly eclipsed by his typical Alpha aggression. "What is this attitude? Do not forget who you are, Eleanor! You are my mate, and you are my subject!"

"No," I said.

The word hung in the air, heavy, absolute, and final.

"I am terminating your agency over my life," I stated, my voice gaining a steel-reinforced strength with every syllable. "I want a lawyer. I want to formally dissolve any legal ties to the Thorne Pack administration."

"You're delirious," Marcus sneered, his lip curling in disgust. "The silver has rotted your brain."

Suddenly, the door banged open.

Isabelle rushed in, her face a carefully constructed mask of panic that barely concealed the predatory excitement glinting in her eyes.

"Marcus! Is she attacking you? Oh my god, she's unstable!"

She grabbed Marcus's arm, pressing her chest against him in a display of territorial claim. "She needs to be sedated! She pushed me before, who knows what she'll do now!"

Marcus immediately softened. He turned his back to me-a dismissal more painful than any physical blow-to comfort her.

"Shh, it's okay, sweetheart. She can't hurt you. I'm here."

He looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes cold, devoid of any recognition that I was his wife.

"See? You're upsetting Isabelle. Just lie down and stop this nonsense before I have you thrown in the cells."

He turned back to Isabelle, whispering sweet nothings, effectively erasing my existence from the room.

That was it.

The final straw. The final, fatal crack in the dam.

I didn't feel sad. I didn't feel angry.

I felt... weightless.

I took a deep breath, the air rattling in my sick lungs. I reached deep inside myself, diving past the pain, past the toxicity of the silver poisoning, down to the molten core of my being where my wolf lay dormant.

*Wake up,* I commanded her. *We are leaving.*

My wolf stirred.

She didn't whimper this time.

She snarled.

I stared at Marcus's exposed back.

"I, Eleanor Vance," I began.

My voice wasn't loud, but it resonated with an ancient frequency that vibrated the glass in the window panes.

Marcus stiffened. He spun around, his eyes wide with confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Reject you, Marcus Thorne," I continued, the words tasting like sweet, intoxicating freedom.

"Stop!" he shouted, stepping forward with his hand raised. "I command you to stop!"

The Alpha Command hit me, a wave of oppressive psychological pressure.

But instead of crushing me, it shattered against a blinding white shield that erupted from my skin.

"As my husband, and as my Alpha!"

*SNAP.*

The sound was deafening, a thunderclap that occurred entirely within the spiritual realm.

It was the visceral sound of a thick, rot-infested rope snapping under unbearable tension.

Marcus screamed.

He fell to his knees, clutching his chest, gasping as if the oxygen had been violently sucked from the room. The pain of a Rejection-especially from a mate whose silent devotion had fueled his strength for so long-was excruciating. It was a soul-tear.

Isabelle was thrown backward by the shockwave of pure energy, landing in a heap of designer fabric and tangled limbs.

And me?

I threw my head back as a surge of power flooded my veins.

The agonizing burn of the silver vanished, instantly replaced by a pure, white-hot vitality.

My skin glowed with a faint, pearlescent luminescence.

My wolf roared-not a whimper, not a cry, but the thunderous declaration of a predator unleashed.

*The White Wolf.*

The ancient bloodline.

It had been dormant, suppressed by my submission, but the Rejection had broken the seal.

I stood there, panting, feeling the new strength knitting my muscles back together, repairing the damage of years in seconds.

Marcus looked up at me from the floor, sweat pouring down his face, his eyes filled with agony and disbelief.

"Ellie... what have you done?"

I looked down at him.

I felt nothing. The bond was gone. The gaping hole in my chest was gone.

"I set myself free," I said.

I turned to the door.

"Wait!" he wheezed, trying to crawl toward me.

But the door opened before I could reach it.

A wall of muscle clad in dark fabric blocked the exit.

A man stood there. He was immense, radiating a power so dense that it made Marcus's Alpha aura feel like a flickering candle next to a supernova.

He smelled of ozone, cedarwood, and the deep, terrifying calm of the ocean before a storm.

My wolf went absolutely still, then whispered a single word that shook my soul.

*Mate.*

The stranger looked past me at Marcus writhing on the floor, then his gaze locked onto mine.

His eyes were the color of molten gold.

"I believe," the stranger said, his voice a deep, tectonic rumble that caressed my skin, "the lady is finished with you."

It was Julian Croft.

The Alpha King.

And he was looking at me like I was the only living thing in the universe.