Hali Alston POV: I'm Hali Alston, the overlooked second daughter of the Alston family. My stepsister, Kamryn, has lived off my mother's inheritance for ten years, treating me like a servant. Tonight, she drugged me and planned to send me to Elder Brock, a sixty-year-old rogue Alpha. But I ended up in the wrong man's bed. I spent the night with a stranger—the most untouchable man in all of Emerald Bay. And the most ridiculous part? By the next morning, everyone believed the woman he'd spent the night with was my dear stepsister. "Let go of my wrist, Kamryn!" I gasped, my fingernails scraping against the cold marble wall of the Aurora Territory Hotel's top-floor corridor as a firestorm raged through my veins. Kamryn dragged me toward the end of the hall, her heels clicking sharply against the floor as a vicious smile twisted her lips. "Save your strength, my dear little sister. No matter how old or ugly Elder Brock is, he's still a tremendous blessing for a wolfless freak like you. Just lie back and enjoy yourself tonight." I bit down hard on the tip of my tongue. The sharp, metallic taste of blood spread through my mouth, forcibly buying me a brief moment of clarity amid the dizzying heat clouding my vision. "What did you put in my glass at the banquet?" I rasped. Kamryn snatched my clutch purse from my trembling fingers and shoved me hard toward the half-open double doors of the presidential suite. "Nothing much," she sneered, watching me stumble over the threshold. "Just a black-market herbal concoction strong enough to drive even a wolfless freak into a full-blown Heat!" In werewolf society, being wolfless meant being worthless. No shifting, no mind-link, and no chance of ever receiving the Moon Goddess's mate recognition. To protect myself, I'd spent years using my mental energy to suppress my hidden white wolf bloodline. As a result, all of Emerald Bay believed I was nothing more than a useless outcast. I crashed onto the thick carpet inside the pitch-black suite. The solid-wood door slammed shut behind me, followed by the cold click of the deadbolt locking from the outside. "Kamryn! Open the door!" I tried to crawl back, my palms burning against the floor, but my limbs felt as heavy as lead. There were no lights. A violent pressure squeezed the air from my lungs. Beneath that oppressive force lingered an intense, intoxicating scent of winter cedarwood and frozen snowfields. I collapsed onto my side. The drug-induced fire in my blood collided with that icy scent. At the nape of my neck, my hidden white wolf paw birthmark suddenly throbbed with searing heat. A low, guttural growl tore through the darkness. The floor-to-ceiling windows rattled violently in their frames. Two points of blood-red light—deep slate-blue eyes shifting into feral dark gold—suddenly snapped open beside the bed. Before I could scream, a massive, hot body lunged forward and pinned me to the carpet. A rough hand clamped around my throat. "Please... let me go!" I choked out, pounding my fists against a chest as hard as iron. "Don't do this!" He had already lost his reason—a man in the grip of a violent Alpha Heat. His ragged breaths burned my collarbone as he buried his face against the side of my neck. "Damn it..." His voice was a tortured, guttural snarl. "Why do you smell so good... Mine..." With one brutal motion, he tore my thin silk dress apart. The Command of an apex Alpha crashed down on every nerve in my body, paralyzing me and stripping away my last shred of resistance. The moment he claimed me in the darkness, blinding pain ripped through my lower body. An instant later, an electric current shot up my spine and straight into my skull. Goosebumps erupted across my skin, and my heart pounded wildly against my ribs. A strange, terrifying sensation washed over my crumbling consciousness. Completeness. Above me, his feral movements froze for a heartbeat. A low, trembling groan escaped his throat as the violent tremors in his muscles began to subside. His hot mouth pressed against my pulse point as if my scent alone were keeping him alive. The night seemed endless. His relentless possession crashed over me again and again, dragging me between suffocating pleasure and unconscious darkness until my voice was completely gone. When the first pale-gray light of dawn slipped through the gap in the curtains, every bone in my body felt shattered. I bit my lower lip to suppress a sob and pushed myself up from the sweat-soaked sheets. Beside me, the tall man was fast asleep, his face buried in shadow. In the dim light, all I could see was a deep, jagged scar on the outside of his muscular left thigh—an old wound left by a short blade. Kamryn's words about the filthy, brutal old Elder Brock came back to me. A wave of icy nausea churned in my stomach, and hot tears of humiliation rolled down my cheeks. I scrambled out of bed, grabbed my torn coat from the carpet, wrapped it around my bruised body, and limped toward the door. The automatic morning lock clicked open as I pulled the handle from inside. I stumbled into the empty corridor and headed toward the service elevator. In the polished wall mirror, I caught sight of Kamryn emerging from a recessed alcove. When she saw my ruined state, her eyes widened in shock, then twisted with delight. Before the elevator doors closed, I saw her pull a small black vial from her purse and frantically spray black-market scent-masking mist all over her neck and dress. Then she slipped into the unlocked presidential suite. Arjun Kane POV: A dull ache throbbed behind my temples as I opened my eyes. The madness that had nearly torn my inner wolf apart the previous night had finally subsided. For the first time in years, my blood was calm. My wolf rested quietly in my mind, sated and whole. It was only a temporary relief; I knew the madness would return. I pressed a hand to my forehead and turned my head. A woman lay naked beside me, beneath the edge of the duvet. "Last night..." My voice was cold and hoarse. "Was it you who saved me?" Kamryn flinched, then pressed her face against my bare shoulder, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Yes, Alpha Kane. Your Heat was tearing you apart... I used my body to soothe your wolf." I narrowed my eyes and inhaled deeply. A faint, intoxicating trace of snow-lotus fragrance lingered on the pillows. But when I breathed in near the woman in my arms, all I detected was the heavy, bitter smell of medicinal herbs. A flicker of suspicion crossed my mind, and my jaw tightened. Still, there was no other woman in the suite, and the lethal rampage in my veins had unquestionably been cured. I drew back slightly, my slate-blue eyes fixed on her flushed face. "The Dark Night Pack does not shortchange those who serve its leader. Tell me what reward you want. Whatever it is, you shall have it." She lowered her gaze, clutching the sheet against her chest. "I don't want money or territory, Alpha. As long as you let me stay by your side, I'll do anything."

Hali Alston POV: An hour later, I dragged my trembling, aching body back to the Alston family castle. Barak Schaefer was waiting in the living room, his expression dark and furious. Before I could even speak, he hurled a thick stack of bloodline disownment documents at my face. The paper edges sliced my cheek, scattering white sheets across the floor. He sneered. "A defiled, wolfless piece of trash dares to come back? Do you still think you deserve the Alston name?" I stared at the documents on the floor, my hands twisting my coat into a tight ball. Barak stood at the top of the steps, his thinning hair slicked back and his murky eyes filled with disgust and greed. Three years after my mother died, he'd seized control of the family estate and treated my brother and me like garbage. "Sign the papers and get out of Emerald Bay," he said, jerking his chin toward the door. I looked up sharply, tears blurring my vision. "Jermaine is still in the ICU! You promised you'd keep paying for his life-support crystal array if I attended the banquet at the Aurora Territory Hotel!" Barak snorted, folding his arms across his chest. "That crippled Alpha? I had his breathing tubes pulled at midnight last night. He's nothing but ashes now." A buzzing filled my head. The blood in my veins turned to ice. "You lied to me!" I lunged at him, my fingernails reaching for his face. "Jermaine is a war hero! How dare you kill him?" Barak didn't even blink. He kicked me squarely in the stomach. His ring flashed beneath the chandelier as I flew backward and slammed onto the stone floor, bile and blood surging up my throat. "Guards!" he barked, straightening his suit. Two Gamma guards in black uniforms rushed in, twisted my arms behind my back, and dragged me toward the heavy oak doors. "Throw this shameless thing outside the territory gates!" Barak shouted after us. "If she dares set foot in Emerald Bay again, kill her!" The guards hauled me down the gravel driveway and flung me through the wrought-iron gates. My knees smashed against the jagged stones, and blood seeped into the torn hem of my clothes. Thunder cracked overhead, and torrential rain poured down. Freezing water washed over my bruised face, carrying my blood and tears into the mud. I dug my fingers into the wet gravel, my teeth chattering as hatred burned through my chest. Suddenly, headlights sliced through the curtain of rain. A gray medical sedan screeched to a halt beside the ditch, and the driver's door flew open. Doyle Herrera, the chief medical officer of the pack clinic and the senior apprentice brother who had always protected me, ran into the storm without an umbrella. He dropped to his knees in the mud and pulled my shivering body into his arms. "Hali! Hold on!" His voice trembled. "I'm getting you out of here!" His warm healing aura enveloped my freezing shoulders. I rested my forehead against his rain-soaked coat, and the last of my strength gave out. My fingernails dug into my palms as darkness swallowed me. That very night, Doyle secretly took me away. We traveled thousands of miles north to a remote border town where nobody knew me. Six weeks later, inside a tiny examination room at a border clinic, Doyle approached me with a trembling ultrasound sheet in his hand. "Hali..." His throat tightened, his eyes widening. "You're pregnant. Twins... Their lupine bloodline is terrifyingly strong." I froze and slowly lowered my gaze, placing my cold hand on my flat stomach. Two tiny heartbeats throbbed beneath my skin. Little by little, the fear faded from my eyes, replaced by the icy resolve of a mother wolf protecting her cubs. More than five years passed in the blink of an eye. Bright afternoon sunlight streamed through the glass dome of the Emerald Bay International Airport terminal. The automatic doors slid open before me. I walked out of the VIP arrival channel in a tailored white trench coat, my silver-white curls resting on my shoulders and my ice-blue eyes hidden behind frameless glasses. A specially prepared herbal tincture sealed away my scent and high-tier aura, making me appear to be an ordinary Healer. Two five-year-old children walked beside me, drawing stares from everyone around us. My son, Darrion Alston, wore a miniature black suit. His hands were tucked into his pockets as he tapped away at the tablet mounted on his wrist, his brows furrowed in concentration. My daughter, Arden Alston, had her soft hair tied into twin pigtails. She held on to the hem of my coat with one hand. Arden wrinkled her tiny nose, sniffed the air twice, and tugged at my sleeve. "Mommy, there are so many stinky smells here. I don't like it." I crouched on one knee and straightened the silk bow at her collar. "Don't be afraid, sweetheart. This time, Mommy has come back to reclaim everything that belongs to us." "Hali!" I looked up. Doyle hurried toward us in a crisp white lab coat, his warm brown eyes filled with relief and an unspoken longing. He stopped in front of me. "Five years, Hali," he said softly. "You've finally agreed to come home." I stood and gave him a brief, polite hug. "Thank you for the recommendation, Senior Brother Doyle. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to join the Central Medical Institute so smoothly as a specially appointed Healer." Before Doyle could reply, Darrion pushed his tiny sunglasses up the bridge of his nose and looked up expressionlessly. "Uncle Doyle, I just finished cracking fifty percent of the encryption on the in-vitro fertilization medical file you created for Mommy five years ago. I worked on it during the flight." The smile froze on Doyle's face. He coughed hard and shot an awkward glance toward the luggage cart, his fists tightening inside his pockets. I sighed helplessly and ruffled my son's dark hair. "Darrion, don't be rude to your elders. Put your tablet away and get in the car." We left the terminal and climbed into the black MPV Doyle had been waiting in. As the vehicle merged onto Emerald Bay's central avenue, a massive three-dimensional holographic screen covering the side of a skyscraper lit up ahead. It was broadcasting a live press conference for the Blackstone Consortium, the corporate empire of the Dark Night Pack. Arjun Kane stood at the center of the giant screen in a tailored charcoal suit. Even through a digital projection, his broad shoulders and razor-sharp jaw radiated a crushing dominance that made low-ranking wolves on the street instinctively lower their heads. Standing right beside him was Kamryn Haynes, a diamond tiara glittering in her blonde hair as she clung intimately to his muscular arm. Through the tinted car window, I stared at the radiant, arrogant woman who had stolen my life. A cold, mocking smile lifted the corner of my lips. "Enjoy the spotlight while you can, Kamryn," I whispered. "Everything you stole from me will be repaid in blood."

Hali Alston POV: Ten minutes later, the MPV pulled into the underground garage of the Emerald Bay Central Medical Institute. I followed Doyle up to the eighth-floor office reserved for specially appointed experts. I placed my hand-carved wooden medicine case on the mahogany desk and slipped into a white lab coat embroidered with silver-thread insignias at the cuffs—the mark of a chief traditional Healer. Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Doyle pushed open the door, his brow furrowed. "Hali, we have an emergency. There's a top-tier Alpha in the west-wing VIP ward—Alpha Arjun Kane—whose inner wolf is on the verge of a rampage. He needs immediate meridian soothing." I snapped the brass clasps on my medicine case shut and turned around with a nod. "Alright. My Silverwood bone needles and herbal extracts are ready." In the leather lounge area by the window, Darrion sat with his short legs crossed, the blue glow of his tablet reflected in his deep slate-blue eyes. Arden hopped off the sofa and trotted over to Doyle. Grabbing the hem of his white coat, she blinked up at him with her big eyes. "Uncle Doyle, is my daddy really an anonymous Alpha donor numbered 007 from the human sperm bank?" Doyle choked, his face turning red as he hurriedly looked away from her innocent gaze. "Well... yes, Arden. Five years ago, it was a standard, compliant artificial insemination procedure." Without lifting his head, Darrion's tiny fingers flew across his virtual keyboard. "Voice tremor detected. Probability of a lie: eighty-five percent. Uncle Doyle, the public sperm bank has never stored pure-blood Alpha genes that match Arden's and my DNA." Cold sweat beaded on Doyle's forehead. He cleared his throat and gestured toward the door. "Hali, the patient's spiritual turbulence is critical. We need to go right now." I walked over to the sofa and gave my twins a stern look. "Darrion, look after your sister and wait for Mommy in this office. Don't wander into the hospital corridors." Darrion nodded obediently, popping a strawberry lollipop into his mouth. A sly glint flashed in his eyes. "Don't worry, Mommy. I'll stay right here and study quietly." I picked up my leather needle roll and a vial of tranquilizing herbal essence, then followed Doyle into the corridor toward the private elevator. As the steel doors slid shut, Doyle sighed heavily and lowered his voice. "Hali, today's patient in the west wing has a terrifyingly high status in the pack, and his temper is notoriously brutal. Once you're inside, just administer the needles. Don't provoke his inner wolf." "I'm a doctor, Senior Brother. I know the rules," I replied calmly. My eyes briefly flicked toward the small Bluetooth monitor on my wristwatch, which was connected to the security camera inside my office. On the tiny screen, I saw Darrion hop off the sofa the moment we left. He locked the office door from the inside, then plugged a data cable from his tablet directly into the medical institute's core intranet port in the wall. Rows of green code cascaded down his screen as he munched on his candy, clearly searching the territory's encrypted servers for traces of his father. Arden cheered beside his chair. I shook my head with a faint smile and switched off the watch display. The elevator chimed and opened onto the heavily restricted west wing. The corridor was freezing. We headed toward a restricted suite at the far end, where armed guards stood watch. As we passed an ordinary VIP ward with its door half open, a pungent smell made my nose wrinkle. Cheap synthetic perfume stung my nostrils, mixed with the musky stench of a low-ranking wolf in Heat. A woman's high-pitched, breathy giggle came from inside. The ward had none of the solemn quiet expected of a medical facility. In broad daylight, a man and a woman in revealing clothes were tangled together on the velvet sofa. The man's face was bloated and pale, dark purple veins spreading up the right side of his neck—the result of years of abusing black-market stimulants. His hand was brazenly shoved beneath the woman's short skirt. The woman arched her back and moaned loudly, the tacky red gemstone pendant hanging from her chest bouncing with every movement. The moment I recognized their faces, my pupils contracted. My heels stopped dead on the polished terrazzo floor. The man was Acey Mcbride, my former fiancé who had broken off our engagement on the very day I was disowned five years ago. The woman was Vivian Price—my former best friend, the one who had climbed into his bed behind my back. Hearing our footsteps, Acey raised his head in annoyance. The moment his murky brown eyes met my ice-blue gaze, his entire body jolted as if he'd seen a ghost. Vivian followed his stare. The seductive smirk on her painted lips froze, turning within seconds into shock and venomous jealousy. Doyle immediately stepped in front of me, his shoulders tensing as his voice dropped to an icy warning. "Mr. Mcbride, this is a hospital. Please show some basic decency." Vivian shoved Acey's chest, scrambled off the sofa in her towering heels, and pointed a trembling, red-nailed finger at my face. "Hali Alston?" she shrieked, her voice sharp enough to pierce my ears. "You shameless slut! You were thrown out of the territory like a stray dog, yet you dare show your face in Emerald Bay again?"