Chapter 3

Alex POV:

"Negative," I said, tossing the plastic stick onto the tray.

Marcus grunted and texted Gavyn. He didn't offer to clean the burn. The black veins had stopped spreading, halted by that strange internal coldness, but it looked gruesome.

"Get out," Marcus said.

I walked back to the main house. I found Gavyn in the living room, pouring a drink.

I slapped the Severance Papers on the table.

"What is this?"

"My resignation," I said steadily. "And the dissolution of our mating contract."

Gavyn laughed-a dry, humorless sound. "You can't resign, Alex. You are an Omega. You are property. You'll die within a week without the pack."

"I want the old cabin on the northern border," I said. "The abandoned one near the Rogue lands. Give me that, sign this, and I vanish."

Gavyn looked at me with amusement. "You want to live in a shack? Fine. If it shuts you up."

He scribbled his signature without reading a word. He threw the papers at me.

"Thirty days to vacate," he said. "Pack law."

"I want to leave now."

"No," he commanded. "The twins' birthday is next week. You will organize the party. Iliana doesn't know the vendors."

The audacity took my breath away.

"No."

The pressure dropped. The Alpha's Command.

"I said," Gavyn growled, eyes flashing red, "you will organize the party."

The weight hit my shoulders, forcing my knees to buckle. But then, that cool energy inside me pushed back. A shield of moonlight. The pressure vanished.

I stood up straight.

Gavyn blinked, confused. The Command should have floored me.

"I am not your servant anymore, Gavyn," I said softly.

I turned and walked toward the stairs.

"It's jealousy!" Gavyn yelled after me. "You're just jealous because Iliana is a true Luna and you are nothing!"

I went to the guest room and started packing.

As I worked, I did something instinctual. For years, I had poured my energy into this house. Nesting.

I closed my eyes. I found that thread of energy connecting me to the walls, the floor, the air.

And I cut it.

Immediately, the atmosphere shifted. The air went stale. The warmth evaporated.

Mind-Link: "Madam Alex? The boiler seems to have broken. The house is freezing." Sarah, the head maid.

Mind-Link: "I don't know, Sarah. Ask Iliana. She is the Luna now."

I blocked the link.

Downstairs, Kenneth started crying. A crash followed. Without my calming scent, the natural aggression of the wolf-blooded children was spiking.

"What is wrong with everyone today?" Iliana shrieked from the hallway.

I sat on my bed.

"I don't want those pups," I whispered. "And I don't want you, Gavyn."

For the first time, I believed it.