Chapter 2: The Midnight Contract

"Take it off."

The words weren't a request. They were a blade, sharp and cold, cutting through the silence of the master suite. Victor stood by the edge of the massive bed, his shadow stretching across the silk sheets like a dark stain. He looked down at me, his jaw set so tight I thought his teeth might crack.

"I’m not taking anything off, Victor." I clutched the collar of my shirt, my knuckles turning white. My heart was a trapped bird, slamming against my ribs until it actually hurt. "I don’t care who you think you are. You don’t own me."

"Don't lie to me." He took a step forward, the floorboards groaning under his weight. "I smelled it. That rank, bitter scent on your skin. You’ve been running with a rogue, Elodie. Show me the mark. Show me who touched what belongs to me."

I let out a harsh, jagged laugh. "Belongs to you? You threw me away six years ago! You watched them drag me to the border and did absolutely nothing. You don't get to claim a damn thing now."

"I am your Alpha," he growled. The sound didn't just come from his throat; it vibrated in the soles of my feet.

Then, he let his aura bleed out. It was a suffocating, heavy pressure designed to force any wolf to their knees. It was meant to crush my will, to make my neck bow in submission. I felt the weight of it, that primal, terrifying urge to just drop and obey. But then I remembered the cold nights in the city, the hunger, and the way my own family had turned their backs on me the second I became a liability.

My blood burned. My father had been a High Elder before our house fell, and that ancient, stubborn pride flared up in my veins. I stood my ground, staring him right in his glowing, amber eyes.

Victor’s eyes widened. The pressure snapped back as he blinked in genuine shock. "You... you're resisting me?"

"I’ve lived in the dirt for six years, Victor. I’ve been beaten by better men than you." I stepped toward him, my voice trembling with a mix of fury and fear. "Your 'Alpha Aura' doesn't mean shit to someone who has nothing left to lose. What are you going to do? Banish me twice?"

He moved faster than I could blink. His hand caught my waist, pulling me flush against his chest. The heat was intoxicating—a drug I didn't want to crave, but my body was already singing. "You always were a brat," he hissed, his face inches from mine. "A beautiful, spoiled, ruinous brat."

"And you were always a coward," I spat back. "Choosing your pack's 'reputation' over the truth. You knew I didn't lure Camille into that forest. You knew she followed me because she was curious. But it was easier to blame the girl from the fallen family, wasn't it? Easier to make me the scapegoat."

His grip tightened, his fingers digging into my hips. "I did what I had to do to keep this pack from tearing itself apart. You were a distraction we couldn't afford."

"I was your mate!" I screamed the word, the truth finally breaking the surface like a jagged rock.

The air in the room seemed to ignite. The bond, which had been a low hum in the back of my mind, suddenly roared into a deafening throb. Victor’s expression shifted from anger to something raw and predatory. He didn't say another word. He didn't have to.

He leaned down and crashed his lips against mine.

It wasn't a kiss. It was a war. It tasted of salt and years of desperation. I tried to push him away, my hands fisting in his shirt, but the moment his tongue swiped against mine, my wolf let out a howl of relief. Every nerve ending in my body caught fire.

We fell back onto the bed, a mess of tangled limbs and tearing fabric. There was no gentleness, no "I missed you." It was a collision. He moved over me like a storm, his hands marking my skin, leaving hot, bruised trails everywhere he touched.

"Mine," he ground out against the sensitive skin of my throat. "Still mine. Always mine."

I arched my back, my fingers digging into his shoulders, drawing blood. I hated him. I hated that he had discarded me like trash. But tonight, with the moon screaming through the window and our scents mixing into something thick and primal, I couldn't remember why. I lost myself in the friction and the heavy weight of him. For a few hours, the city didn't exist. The banishment didn't exist. There was only the heat.

I woke up while the room was still bathed in the grey, pre-dawn light. My body felt heavy and sore. The scent of pine and smoke was everywhere—on the pillows, on my skin, deep in my hair.

Victor was gone.

The side of the bed where he’d been was already cold. I sat up, pulling the duvet to my chest, my head spinning. What the hell did I just do? I looked at my wrists and saw the faint shadows of his grip. I felt marked. Claimed. And yet, the silence in the room felt like a slap in the face.

I stood on shaky legs and reached for my bag, which had been tossed into the corner. It was open. My heart stopped.

The small, leather-bound folder I always kept tucked in the hidden lining was sitting right there on the nightstand. My medical records. The ones I’d stolen from the clinic in the city because I couldn't bear the thought of anyone knowing the truth.

I walked over, my breath hitching as I read the bold stamp on the top page: STATUS: BARREN. Rare genetic scarring. I couldn't shift fully anymore, and I couldn't carry a pup. I was a "broken" wolf.

I felt sick. I imagined Victor standing there in the middle of the night, reading those words. Reading that the woman the Moon Goddess had tied him to could never give him an heir. Could never carry the next Alpha King. To a man like Victor, a mate who couldn't provide a bloodline was worse than no mate at all.

Tucked under the leather flap of the folder was a piece of heavy stationery. I picked it up, recognizing his sharp, arrogant handwriting.

This changes nothing. You leave with Camille at noon, and you never speak of what happened here. Don't make me hunt you down.

The paper fluttered from my hand, landing on the floor.

He didn't even mention the records. He didn't have to. The note was clear enough. I was a "stray" who couldn't fulfill the one duty a Luna had. I was a mistake he intended to bury. Again.

"Ohh," I whispered, a jagged sob catching in my throat. I sat on the edge of the bed, the luxury of the room suddenly feeling like a cage.

My wolf whimpered, a low, pathetic sound of mourning. The bond was there, vibrating like a snapped wire, raw and bleeding. He had used me to satisfy a six-year hunger, and the moment he realized I was "defective," he had tossed the "Get Out" card on the pillow.

I looked at the clock. 6:00 AM.

I had six hours to get my pride off the floor and get out of this mountain before he saw me again. I wouldn't stay for the noon deadline. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry or hearing me beg.

I grabbed my bag, stuffing my ruined clothes inside. I had to find Camille. I had to get her out of here before Victor turned his icy rage on her for bringing me back.

But as I reached for the door handle, the lock clicked from the outside.

"What the f**k?" I pulled at the handle. It didn't budge. "Victor! Open this door!"

Silence. Then, the sound of heavy, rhythmic footsteps—not Victor’s. These were the boots of the Alpha Guard.

"By order of the Alpha King," a muffled voice said from the other side. "Elodie of the Fallen House of Vane, you are being held for questioning regarding the theft of pack property."

My blood ran cold. Theft? I hadn't taken anything.

I turned back to the nightstand, my eyes landing on the folder. It wasn't just my medical records in there anymore. There was a small, glowing crystal tucked into the bottom of the bag—the Heart of the North, the pack’s ancestral focus.

He hadn't just rejected me. He was framing me.

"Victor, you bastard," I whispered, backing away from the door as the sound of a key turning echoed in the lock.

The door swung open, but it wasn't the guards who stepped in. It was Camille, her face bruised and her eyes wide with terror. She held a blood-stained dagger in her hand.

"Elodie," she wheezed, "you have to run. He's not trying to kick you out. He’s going to kill you to break the bond."