Chapter 4

The night before my flight, I drove back to the Reyesfield estate.

The night was pitch-black.

I rarely set foot here after my father died. I lived in my own apartment. I only came back tonight because I needed my final research data.

The gate code hadn't changed. I walked inside without a problem.

Then I opened my bedroom door on the second floor.

A thick cloud of unfamiliar perfume hit me instantly.

The room was already beyond recognition. All my experimental equipment had been cleared out, replaced by rows of custom jewelry display cabinets.

The bathroom door swung open.

Kendra stepped out, wrapped in my silk robe, holding a hairdryer. The second she saw me, smug satisfaction flashed in her eyes.

Then I saw her neck.

My father's wolf-tooth pendant hung right between her collarbones.

"Take it off," I said, my voice dead calm.

Kendra's eyes welled with instant tears. She backed up a step, clutching the pendant to her chest. "Rowan, please don't get the wrong idea! Tabitha told me to wear it. She said the ancestor magic on the tooth would calm my restless wolf."

"That was my father's keepsake," I said, locking eyes with her. "Take it off."

"You had all his love your entire life," Kendra sobbed. "Can't you spare me a single tooth?"

Her fingers fumbled with the leather cord. Then she let go.

The wolf tooth crashed against the marble floor tiles, snapping right at the tip.

"Oh, I didn't mean to..." Kendra feigned a startled cry. The next second, she suddenly grabbed my wrist and yanked it hard toward her own cheek.

A sharp slap echoed down the empty hall.

Kendra threw herself to the floor with a bloodcurdling scream, cupping her red cheek and sobbing uncontrollably.

"How dare you hit her!"

A roar exploded from the hallway. Tabitha stormed into the room right on schedule.

Before I could say a word, both her hands shoved my chest. I stumbled back. The sharp edge of a heavy desk slammed straight into my lower spine.

Sharp pain tore through my entire body instantly. Tabitha glanced down at the broken fragments of the wolf tooth on the floor, her eyes filled with deep disgust. "Your father would roll in his grave if he knew he raised such a wicked monster!"

My internal organs felt out of place. The dull pain made my vision go dark. Holding onto the cold edge of the cabinet, I straightened my body bit by bit.

I pulled out my phone, hit speed dial for my international lawyer, and tapped speakerphone.

"Miss Rowan, all files are ready," a crisp voice came through the line.

I stared right into Tabitha's twisted face. My voice stayed completely flat.

"Execute steps two and three. First, revoke Tabitha's proxy rights over my twenty-seven percent shares in Reyesfield immediately. Second, notify the patent office. Terminate the royalty-free license for my three gene-suppression patents to both Reyesfield and FrostWolf Industries."

The cruelty on Tabitha's face froze solid. Every drop of color drained from her cheeks.

"Are you insane? You're using the pack business to threaten me?!"

"Reyesfield isn't yours," I said.

I bent down, zipped my briefcase shut, and gathered the old research papers scattered on the floor.

"Without me, Reyesfield is nothing."

Tabitha pointed shaking fingers at the hallway. "Get out! Walk out that door, and don't you ever come crawling back! The Reyesfield pack will never claim you again!"

I gripped my briefcase and walked straight down the corridor.

As I passed Kendra on the floor, she tilted her head up behind her hands. Her lips brushed my ear, whispering low and vile:

"See that? You can have the bloodline, Rowan. But they will always choose me."

My boots never skipped a single beat. I walked down the stairs.

The heavy front door clicked shut, cutting off the past and that suffocating house forever.

At one in the morning, I rolled a single suitcase out of my beachfront apartment.

At dawn, a massive jet roared down the runway, piercing the clouds and soaring into the open sky.

...

Nine-thirty the next morning.

Luxury cars lined the plaza outside the Grand Pavilion.

A stretch limousine pulled up to the red carpet.

Griffin stepped out of the car in a sharp, dark suit. Though a trace of lingering fatigue shadowed his face, his gaze remained calm and composed. The raw ache in his chest from our severed bond had nagged him for days, but he still thought I was just acting out. He believed a lavish ceremony would fix everything.

He walked around to open the passenger door, helping Kendra onto the carpet.

Kendra was draped in an expensive designer gown. Perched on her head was the custom tiara originally made for me. Tabitha held her arm, beaming with pride, acting as if they owned the entire world today.

"Griffin, what if Rowan is still angry today?" Kendra asked timidly from beside him.

Griffin adjusted his cuffs, his voice calm and arrogant. "Rowan knows her place. This alliance is too big to fail. When the doors open, she won't have a choice."

The three of them walked down the grand corridor toward the main entrance.

The grand doors didn't swing open to music or cheers.

The ballroom stood completely hollow.

No flowers. No orchestra. Even the ceremonial altar was gone.

A few workers in overalls were dismantling the remaining steel beams.

Griffin froze. His brow furrowed.

The venue manager jogged over, cold sweat glistening on his forehead.

"Alpha Griffin... What are you doing here?"

Griffin's voice dropped, laced with Alpha command. "The ceremony starts at ten. Why is nothing set up? Where are the officiant and the band?"

The manager turned pale, his hands shaking around his tablet. He glanced at Tabitha's angry sneer, then back at Griffin's confident face.

He swallowed hard and held out a signed cancellation deed.

"Alpha Griffin... Miss Rowan canceled the entire booking herself the very day of the original ceremony. She was the sole payer. Her full deposit was wired to an offshore account before midnight last night. The ballroom...was rebooked for an international energy summit hours ago."