His Unwanted Mate: Rise Of The White Wolf

"Just sign the damn paper, Ava."

Liam, the Alpha I had served and loved for three years, threw a confession across the table. He wanted me to admit to corporate espionage-a crime actually committed by his fragile, innocent mistress, Chloe.

When I refused, Liam didn't hesitate. He pulled up a live feed of my dying mother in the pack hospital and held his finger over the 'Terminate Life Support' button.

"She is pack property. Sign, or the machine turns off."

To save my mother, I signed away my rank, my reputation, and my freedom. I became a Rogue. But taking the fall wasn't enough for them.

Two days later, Chloe trapped me in the lab to steal my life's work. To cover her tracks, she sabotaged the servers and set the room on fire. When the flames roared to life, Liam burst in.

He saw me trapped in a glass box, choking on poisonous fumes. He saw Chloe standing safely by the door, faking a sprained ankle.

He looked at me. Then he looked at her.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed.

He scooped up the arsonist and ran, leaving me to be consumed by the inferno.

As the fire melted my skin, the pathetic love I held for him finally died. But I didn't.

Instead of turning to ash, an ancient, terrifying power exploded from my core. My eyes snapped open, glowing a blinding white.

I reached out through the mind-link to the one man Liam feared most.

"Ethan? I'm ready to burn the Blackwood Pack to the ground."

Chapter 1

Ava POV:

The conference room smelled of stale coffee and impending doom. It wasn't just the tension; it was the crushing weight of the Alpha's Command.

Liam Vanderbilt, the Alpha of the Blackwood Pack and the man I had loved for three agonizing years, stood at the head of the table. His hazel eyes were bleeding into the pitch black of his wolf. He wasn't looking at me with love. He was looking at me like I was a stain on his Armani suit.

"Just sign the damn paper, Ava," Liam growled.

His voice wasn't just sound. It was a physical wave of pressure that slammed into my chest. This was the power of the Alpha-the ability to force submission. My knees buckled, hitting the cold marble floor hard. My inner wolf, usually quiet, whined and curled into a ball, terrified.

"I didn't do it," I gasped, lungs burning. "I didn't leak the merger details. It was Chloe. I saw her files-"

"Silence!" Liam roared.

The command snapped my jaw shut. My teeth clicked together so hard I tasted copper.

"Chloe is the future Luna," Liam said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, icy calm. "She is fragile. She is innocent. You, Ava, are the capable lawyer. The strong one. You can take the hit."

He slid a document across the long table. A confession. By signing it, I would admit to corporate espionage, lose my rank as Lead Gamma, and face exile. But it wasn't just about the pack. It was about her. Chloe Preston. The woman who conveniently went into "heat" or suffered a "sprained ankle" every single time Liam and I were scheduled for our mating ceremony.

"I won't," I pushed the words through clenched teeth.

Liam sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He picked up a remote. The screen behind him flickered to life.

A live feed from the pack hospital. My mother lay in a glass pod, pale and hooked to a ventilator. The steady beep of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room.

"Wolfsbane poisoning is a bitch," Liam said casually. "Treatment is expensive. The Vanderbilt Group funds her life support. If you aren't pack... well, we don't support outsiders."

He held his finger over a red button.

My heart stopped. "Liam, no. She's your pack member."

"I do what is best for the pack," he said coldly. "Sign the paper, Ava. Take the blame for Chloe's mistake. Or the machine turns off in ten seconds."

"One."

He didn't love me.

"Two."

He never loved me.

"Three."

I grabbed the pen. My hand shook violently, fighting the instinct to shift and rip his throat out. But I was a Beta female. He was a Prime Alpha. I had no chance.

I scribbled my name. 'Ava Mitchell.'

The moment the ink dried, the crushing weight lifted. I slumped forward, gasping.

"Good girl," Liam sneered, pocketing the remote. "Get out. You have twenty-four hours to vacate."

He turned his back and walked out. He didn't look back.

I sat on the cold floor. My hand went to my neck. Smooth. Unmarked. Three years, and he had never bitten me. Never completed the bond. I was a placeholder. A tool.

A cold resolve settled in my gut.

I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, bypassing the local pack link. I pushed further, aiming for a frequency I hadn't used in years.

'Ethan?'

The response was instantaneous. Like a shot of whiskey warming my chest.

'Ava. I'm here.'

Ethan Hayes. My law school mentor. And secretly, the Lycan King of the Sovereign Pack.

'Code Execution,' I projected. 'He used my mother. I need her out. Now.'

'The Royal Medical Transport is already in your airspace,' Ethan's voice was deep, calm, and terrifying. 'She will be in Sovereign territory within the hour. What about you?'

I opened my eyes. They flashed gold-a color that wasn't supposed to belong to a Beta.

'I have one last thing to do,' I told him. 'I'm going to burn the Blackwood Pack to the ground.'

Ava POV:

'Extraction complete. Your mother is safe.'

Ethan's voice was the only thing keeping me upright. I stood outside Chloe's luxury apartment door. The hallway reeked of artificial lavender and lies.

I pounded on the door. It swung open, revealing Chloe Preston in 'my' silk robe.

"Here to beg, Ava? Or did you come to clean my toilet?"

"I'm here to give you this," I said, handing her my resignation.

Chloe laughed, a high-pitched, grating sound. "Oh, honey. You don't get it. Liam's been trying to get rid of you for months."

She leaned in, whispering. "Do you know why he never marked you? Why you never felt that 'snap'?"

I stiffened. "We were waiting for the ceremony."

"Because he never registered you," Chloe giggled. "I checked the Council records. Liam Vanderbilt has no mate listed. Your 'bond' has zero legal standing. You were just... a convenience."

The world tilted. If he never registered it... if he blocked the bond... I wasn't a rejected mate. I was nothing. A ghost.

A jagged laugh bubbled up in my throat. "Thank you, Chloe."

"Excuse me?"

"Thank you for setting me free."

I walked away, ignoring her confusion. I took the elevator up to the penthouse I shared with Liam.

The scent of him-sandalwood and rain-hit me like a physical blow. It used to make me weak. Now, it made me want to retch.

I grabbed a trash bag. I didn't pack clothes. I pulled out everything that carried his scent and smashed our framed photo against the wall.

The front door beeped. Liam walked in, Chloe trailing him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Liam barked.

"Cleaning."

He tossed a small box onto the bed. "Stop being dramatic. I brought you a gift. Since you're no longer a Gamma, you need to learn your place."

Inside lay a leather collar embedded with dull silver studs. A suppressor collar. Slave gear.

"Put it on," Liam commanded. "It will keep your wolf docile around Chloe."

"You want me to wear this?"

"It suits you," Chloe chimed in, touching her diamond necklace.

I walked to the balcony door. The wind whipped my hair.

"Ava, don't you dare," Liam warned. "I command you to stop!"

He threw the Alpha Command at me again.

This time, the pressure shattered against a wall of white heat rising from my chest. My inner wolf didn't cower. She stood up and snarled.

I looked Liam dead in the eye and threw the collar off the balcony. We watched it plummet forty stories.

"Oops."

Liam froze. "How did you... you defied a direct command."

"Maybe you're not as strong as you think."

Chloe pulled out her phone. "Liam, look at her! She's out of control! Show her!"

She tapped the screen. A holographic projection sprang up. A memory recording. Liam and Chloe. Tangled in sheets. The sounds of their pleasure filled the room, obscene and loud.

"See?" Chloe sneered. "He never touched you like that. You're frigid, Ava."

My stomach lurched. Not jealousy. Revulsion. My wolf gagged. The invisible thread connecting my heart to Liam suddenly pulled tight.

'SNAP.'

I felt it break. A physical pain, like a rib cracking. But then... silence. The constant, nagging need for him was gone.

I vomited right onto the Persian rug.

"Disgusting," Liam curled his lip.

I wiped my mouth and stood up. I felt light. Empty. Dangerous.

"I'm leaving," I said. "And Liam? Pray we never meet again."

Ava POV:

The rain felt like a baptism. I walked out of the Vanderbilt Tower with nothing but the clothes on my back and a black leather notebook tucked into my jacket.

That notebook contained the formula for a rapid-healing serum for Wolfsbane poisoning.

My phone buzzed.

NOTICE OF BANISHMENT:

'Ava Mitchell. Rank: Beta. Status: Rogue.'

I was officially a Rogue. Feral. Dangerous. Shoot on sight.

As I stepped onto the sidewalk, a rotten egg smashed against my shoulder.

"Traitor!"

A mob of low-ranking wolves blocked the exit.

"You sold us out!" a woman yelled, throwing a handful of gray powder.

Silver dust. It hit my cheek, sizzling like acid. I hissed.

"Get out of our territory!"

I looked up at the penthouse balcony. Liam was watching, whiskey in hand. He wanted to break me so I would crawl back.

'Never.'

I straightened my spine, ignoring the burning. I let a fraction of my aura leak out. Cold. Ancient. Terrifying.

The mob fell silent. They smelled a predator.

I walked through the crowd, and they parted.

Once around the corner, I pulled out a burner phone. "Nyx."

"Identity confirmed," a distorted voice answered. "Status?"

"I am Rogue. Initiate Protocol: Scorched Earth."

"Copy. We are accessing the Vanderbilt servers. Evidence of Chloe's embezzlement will be encrypted. When do we release?"

"Wait until the engagement party."

"Transportation is waiting at sector four."

I headed toward the subway. But a black SUV screeched to a halt, blocking my path.

Liam.

He got out, ignoring the rain. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Away from you."

He grabbed my arm. His grip was bruising. He leaned in, sniffing my neck. "You smell... different. Where is the scent of misery?"

"Let go, Liam."

"You have something of mine," he growled. "Chloe says the research files are missing. You took them."

"They are my files."

"You created them on company time. Hand them over, Ava. Or I will have the Enforcers strip search you right here."