Chapter 5

Isla POV

"Let's go, Effa," I said, my voice cutting through the tense, suffocating silence of the room. I turned my back on the pathetic display of the Hayes family.

"You will regret this, Isla!" Luna Bertha hacked, her voice a venomous, desperate rasp against her pillows. "Your Silvermoon Pack is ashes! A wolfless girl like you won't last a day out there. You'll become a Rogue, hunted and starved! You'll come crawling back on your knees, begging Justin to take you back!"

Deep within my soul, my dormant White Wolf let out a dark, mocking huff. I didn't even pause my stride. I walked out of the Luna's Quarters, leaving the stench of decaying leaves and their delusional arrogance behind.

The next day, the midday autumn sun beat down relentlessly on the towering iron gates of the Royal Pack House. I stood perfectly still for over two hours, the oppressive aura of the Royal Guards washing over me.

Beside me, Effa was trembling. Her round face was pale, streaked with sweat and tears. As a wolfless maid, the terror of losing Pack protection was breaking her.

"My Lady, please," Effa sobbed quietly, tugging at my sleeve. "The Alpha King won't see us. If we leave the Bloodfang Pack, we'll be Rogues. We'll be killed. Maybe... maybe sharing the Alpha isn't so bad? Gamma Brenna Wilson can fight, and you can just live quietly..."

"Stop," I commanded, my tone absolute. I turned my icy blue eyes to her, instantly silencing her tears. "A true wolf does not accept a polluted mate-bond. I would rather die with my pride intact than share a male with another she-wolf. We are not becoming Rogues, Effa. We are taking our lives back."

Just then, the heavy oak doors of the Royal Study cracked open slightly. The guards had left it ajar when delivering my third request for an audience. From within, the low, urgent voice of Head Beta Alton Marsh drifted out.

"Your Majesty, please," Alton pleaded, his faint ink scent carrying a trace of anxiety. "Alpha Justin Hayes and Gamma Brenna's border skirmishes are nothing compared to the blood Alpha Arthur Crawford spilled for this kingdom. You cannot leave his only surviving daughter standing in the sun like a beggar."

A heavy silence followed, thick with the Alpha King's intimidating amber and ambergris scent.

"And need I remind you, Sire," Alton's voice dropped to a somber whisper, "of the true cost of the border war? To cover Justin's foolish retreat, Elder Alpha Emmet Wood was critically wounded by Silver. Gamma Brody Wood lost an arm to a Silver blade. And young Gamma Kael Wood... a Silver spear through the heart. We have hidden these devastating losses from the public to maintain morale, but we know the truth. Justin's 'glory' is built on the corpses of her family."

My breath hitched. My grandfather... my uncles. Dead. Maimed. Because of Justin.

The icy resolve in my veins turned into a roaring inferno. My White Wolf clawed at my chest, howling for blood.

"Enough, Alton," Alpha King Adrian Reynolds sighed, his voice heavy with sudden, crushing guilt. "You are right. I owe Arthur, and I owe the Woods. Bring her in. I will compensate her. I will give her royal titles, gold, whatever she wants to accept this marriage."

The heavy doors swung wide open.

I stepped into the opulent Royal Study, the suffocating pressure of the Alpha King's aura pressing down on me. Alpha King Adrian sat behind his massive desk, his handsome face softening with a mixture of pity and guilt.

He thought I was here to cry. He thought I was here to beg him to revoke the Royal Decree, and he was prepared to buy my submission with royal gold.

He had no idea I was here to burn it all down.