Chapter 3: Three Years Later

The girl who had left Ashford territory in the dirt didn't exist anymore. Not the version of her that flinched, not the version who apologized for taking up space.

Alpha Ivy Thorne stood at the head of the war table, arms braced against the worn wood, staring down at a map that showed exactly how far her pack's borders had grown in three relentless years. What had once been a handful of strays and outcasts hiding in unclaimed forest was now four hundred wolves strong, feared by three neighboring territories and respected by every Alpha smart enough not to test that fear.

"The northern border dispute is settled," said Wren, her second-in-command, sliding a folded report across the table toward her. "The Kellerman pack backed off the second they heard your name mentioned at the negotiation."

"Good." Ivy didn't look up from the map. "What about the Ashford situation?"

Wren hesitated, and that single hesitation told Ivy everything she needed to know before a word was even spoken.

"Their omega tribute is due at the Convergence next month," Wren said carefully, choosing each word like it might explode. "All territory Alphas are required to attend, no exceptions. Ashford will be there. And so will..." She trailed off, unable to finish it.

"Kane," Ivy finished for her, evenly. Saying his name didn't hurt the way it used to. It just felt like picking up something sharp and deliberately setting it back down exactly where it belonged. "And Selene, I assume, wearing his ring for the entire hall to see."

"You don't have to go, Ivy. Nobody would blame you."

"Yes, I do." Ivy finally looked up, and something shifted in her expression that made Wren take an involuntary half-step back. "Every Alpha in the region is required to attend, and I am an Alpha now. I earned that title with blood and years I'll never get back. I'm not going to hide from a boy who couldn't recognize what was standing right in front of him."

"It's not hiding to avoid a room full of people who watched you break in public."

"I'm not the same person who broke that day." Ivy rolled up the map with steady hands, calm and final. "I want every single one of them to see exactly what they threw away without a second thought."

Magnus appeared in the doorway then, older now, his hair fully silver, but his eyes just as sharp as the night he'd found her dying in a clearing. He'd watched her train until her knuckles split open and healed and split again. He'd watched her master a bloodline power neither of them had fully understood at first. He was the closest thing to a real father she'd ever actually had in her life.

"You're going," he said. It wasn't posed as a question.

"I'm going."

"Good." He almost smiled, the exact same way he had that first night by the fire. "Just remember you're not walking into that hall as the girl who left in shame. You're walking in as the Alpha who could burn that entire territory to the ground if she wanted to."

"I don't want to burn it down," Ivy said quietly, meaning it. "I just want him to finally understand exactly what he rejected."

Wren looked between the two of them, curiosity winning out over caution. "And if he wants you back? Now that you're... this?"

Ivy's laugh was short, humorless, and colder than the wind rattling the shutters outside.

"Then he's three years too late to ask."

She left the war room already thinking about what she'd wear to the Convergence, not for Kane, never for Kane again. For every single person who'd laughed the day she fell to her knees in the dirt and thought that was the end of her story.

This time, she'd be the one they couldn't look away from.