Chapter 4

The Omega servants saw me collapse and screamed in panic.

They rushed over, scrambling to carry me into the nearest examination room.

The Healer ran a full checkup. He said the fainting was caused by severe emotional distress combined with the physical toll of pregnancy.

The baby was stable for now, but I'd need strict bed rest going forward.

I came to quickly.

The first thing I did when I opened my eyes was reach for the phone beside my pillow.

I sent Bramwell an encrypted message, ordering him to contact my father — Alpha King James — immediately.

I laid everything out clearly.

Alex had been secretly seeing Vivian, the woman permanently banished from the pack, and had gotten her pregnant.

As Alpha, he had openly violated the pack's highest laws.

I requested that the Alpha King handle this personally.

My father was livid when he got the message.

He brought the Ashford Pack's Gamma and a squad of fully armed warriors and tore straight into the Blackwood Pack's healing center.

He didn't come to my room first.

He led his men directly to the treatment room at the other end of the hall.

Alex and Vivian were hiding inside.

Vivian was crying, telling Alex how the Luna had caught her at the medical center, how she was afraid the Luna would hurt her and the baby.

Alex held her tight, swearing up and down that he'd protect her and the child.

Then — BANG.

My father kicked the door open.

Alex's head snapped up. The color drained from his face when he saw his father-in-law flanked by armed warriors, radiating pure fury.

He couldn't get a single word out.

My father didn't give him the chance to explain. He didn't waste a single breath.

He stood in the doorway and delivered the verdict.

"By the absolute authority of the Alpha King, I hereby strip Alex Blackwood of his Alpha title, effective immediately."

"All territorial jurisdiction of the Blackwood Pack is revoked and placed under Ashford Pack management."

"Current pack members may choose to stay or leave."

My father's cold gaze swept over Alex's ashen face.

Alex's identity as Alpha ceased to exist from that moment on.

After stripping Alex of his rank, my father ordered his warriors into action.

They removed Vivian from the territory without mercy.

Only after all of that did my father come to see me.

He looked at my pale face, his expression torn between heartbreak and rage.

He said through gritted teeth that he should just kill Alex and that woman and be done with it.

Hearing those words, something warm finally stirred in my frozen heart.

I shook my head. I told him our Mate Bond hadn't been fully dissolved yet.

Once the Bond was completely severed, I would handle the rest myself.

My father sighed, and left with his men.

I forced myself out of bed and went back to the pack house.

I pushed open the door and found Alex slumped on the living room couch, utterly defeated.

He looked up at me.

There was no guilt in his eyes. Only a deep exhaustion and cold resentment.

"You called your father." His voice was flat and sharp.

"Yes." I didn't flinch.

Alex shot to his feet and strode toward me.

His voice was low, but every word cut like a blade.

"Ivy, if you'd been generous enough to tolerate Vivian, I would have kept being your mate. Kept being this pack's Alpha."

"But you kept pushing."

"First you hired rogues to kill her. Now you've dragged your father in to interfere."

"You're the one who destroyed our pack. You ruined my position!"

"Vivian is carrying my child. How can you be this heartless?"

He looked down at me, his tone dripping with accusation.

"I will never agree to dissolve the Bond."

"You're going to stay put and have this baby."

"Once things blow over, I'll go talk to your father myself. I can get the Alpha title back."

"You're my Luna. What you should be doing right now is helping me hold things together — not fighting me."

I stared at him and his breathtaking audacity.

But my mind drifted, unbidden, to the day we first confirmed our bond as Fated Mates.

That was the first time Alex felt the resonance of the Bond.

He'd been trembling with emotion, gripping my hand, his eyes red.

"Ivy, the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was the Moon Goddess giving me you."

He'd dropped to one knee under the moonlight and sworn a solemn vow.

"I swear you will be my only mate in this lifetime."

"If I ever break this oath, let me lose my wolf."

I looked at the man standing before me now.

The boy who once made vows under the moon was long dead.

This Alex only saw me as the obstacle standing between him and someone else's love — the one who'd cost him his power.

I didn't have a single word left for him.

I turned away without acknowledging him and called Bramwell.

"Get the car," I said coldly.

I went to the bedroom, packed a few belongings, and walked out without looking back.

I drove straight to the Ashford Pack's main residence.

My mother took one look at my face and shook with anger, tears streaming down her cheeks.

My father slammed his hand on the table so hard it rattled.

"Everything he has came from me. And now he's going to give every last bit of it back!"

I looked at my furious parents, my voice perfectly calm.

"After the Bond is dissolved, he leaves with nothing."

"The territory, the assets, the pack — all of it was granted by the Ashford family."

"He doesn't get to take a single penny or an inch of land."

I let out a cold laugh and made my final decision.

"Let him and Vivian have each other with nothing to their names."

"I want to see how long their grand love story lasts without wealth, without power, without the Alpha title."