11

"Marlowe! Stop!" Evelina cries out from the bench, her frail voice shaking as she reaches out with a trembling hand, grabbing Marlowe’s coat sleeve. "Do not strike your sister!"

"Get your filthy, dying hands off my coat, you senile hag!" Marlowe screams, violently jerking her arm back.

The harsh force of Marlowe's shove sends Evelina’s frail, light body tumbling sideways off the stone bench.

"Mom!" Elowen shouts, dropping to her knees and catching Evelina before her head hits the frozen stone floor.

Rage, hot and unyielding, explodes through Elowen's blood. Her internal wolf, usually docile, claws wildly beneath her skin, demanding blood. She rises slowly, her dark skin flushed, her amber eyes blazing with lethal hatred as she steps directly into Marlowe’s space.

"Touch her again," Elowen whispers, her voice trembling with dangerous power, "and I will tear your throat out right here in the snow."

Marlowe pales slightly at the sheer intensity of Elowen's glare, stepping back an inch before forcing a cruel, mocking laugh. "You threaten me? You are an unbonded, worthless Omega! Father gave strict orders: if either of you showed your faces in Sterling City again, he would have the pack enforcers throw you to the border rogues! Get out of this city before I call Benedict right now!"

"Please, Marlowe, no..." Evelina sobs softly from the ground, clinging to Elowen’s boots. "Do not tell your father. We will go... we will leave..."

"No, Mom! We are not leaving!" Elowen snaps, turning her fierce gaze back onto Marlowe. "Let Benedict come! Let him send his enforcers! I have suffered under his cruelty my entire life. I watched him strip our mother of her pack status, I watched him banish us to Harborwick Island, and I let him use me as a disposable sacrifice for his business debts. I am done running!"

Marlowe’s eyes narrow into venomous slits. "You think you are brave now because you have a few stolen credits in your pouch? You sold your virginity like a common whore in the dark!"

"And who sold it, Marlowe?" Elowen counters, stepping closer until her face is inches from her twin's. "You begged me to do it. You cried on your knees at the Hartwell Estate because you were terrified Calloway Sterling would execute our father if he found out you weren't an untouched Omega! I took his knot so you could wear a diamond ring!"

"Shut your mouth!" Marlowe shrieks, raising her hand to strike Elowen a second time.

This time, Elowen’s hand shoots out like lightning. Her dark, strong fingers lock around Marlowe’s wrist in an iron grip, stopping the slap mid-air. Marlowe gasps in shock, struggling against Elowen’s surprising physical strength, her wrist turning red under the pressure.

"I am not the weak girl you pushed down the stairs at the Hartwell Estate when we were children," Elowen rasps through gritted teeth, squeezing Marlowe’s wrist until the twin winces in pain. "I am not taking another strike from you."

"Release me, you filthy stray!" Marlowe winces, her eyes watering from the pain.

"Do you want me to walk directly into Lagos Holdings right now?" Elowen whispers low, her voice dripping with dangerous intent. "Do you want me to stand in front of High Alpha Calloway Sterling, pull off my mask, and let him smell my neck in full daylight? Do you think he will keep the Hartwell Family alliance alive when he realizes you traded your twin sister into his bed?"

Marlowe’s face drains of all color. Pure, unadulterated terror flashes through her dark eyes. She knows Calloway Sterling’s reputation. He is a lethal, uncompromising ruler who executes traitors without trial. If he discovers the Hartwell Family deceived him regarding his true mate, Benedict Hartwell's entire lineage will be wiped off the Metropolitan District map by nightfall.

"You... you would not dare," Marlowe stammers, her voice trembling. "It would destroy you too!"

"I have nothing left to lose, Marlowe," Elowen says calmly, releasing her wrist with a harsh shove that sends Marlowe stumbling back onto the snow. "My mother is dying, my home was sold, and my maidenhood was stolen. If you pull me down, I will make sure you and Benedict burn in the exact same fire."

Marlowe rubs her reddened wrist, tears of furious frustration welling in her eyes. "Dad will ruin you for this!"

"Tell him to try," Elowen snarls. "Now get out of my sight before I give Calloway his answer."

Marlowe glares at Elowen with deep, bitter hatred, turning sharply on her fur-clad heels and rushing out of the sanctuary gardens toward her waiting luxury vehicle.

Elowen exhales a long, shaky breath, her knees trembling as the adrenaline slowly drains from her blood. She drops back to the cold ground, wrapping her strong arms around her mother's frail shoulders, lifting Evelina gently back onto the wooden bench.

"Elowen... my sweet girl..." Evelina weeps, her dark hands trembling as she cups Elowen's cheek. "What did you do for me? What did that terrible family make you surrender?"

Elowen presses her forehead against her mother's cold hand, swallowing back her own tears. "Nothing that matters, Mom. Nothing that matters as long as you are breathing."

Before Evelina can answer, the quiet air of the garden is shattered by the heavy, synchronized footsteps of armed enforcers marching down the stone pathway.

Elowen snaps her head up. Four towering alpha guards wearing the dark black and silver crest of Lagos Holdings spill into the courtyard, surrounding the stone bench in a tight formation.

Harrison Beckett steps out from the center of the guards, his expression cold and unreadable as he pulls a black leather document folder from his coat. Right beside him stands Doctor Wallace Pembroke, the chief medical officer of the Sterling Crown Medical Center, looking pale and thoroughly terrified.

"Elowen Hartwell?" Harrison asks, his deep alpha voice echoing through the quiet pine trees.

Elowen stands up slowly, placing her body firmly in front of her mother. "Who is asking?"

Harrison opens the black folder, pulling out an official pack directive stamped with the high-ranking seal of the Lagos Holdings executive board.

"By direct decree of High Alpha Calloway Sterling," Harrison reads aloud, his cold eyes locking onto Elowen, "all medical treatment for patient Evelina Hartwell under this facility has been officially terminated by order of the Hartwell Family patriarch, Benedict Hartwell."

Elowen’s heart stops in her chest. "What? No! I paid the baseline credits for this month!"

"Your father signed over full guardianship rights to Lagos Holdings an hour ago," Harrison continues coldly, sliding a second document forward. "And High Alpha Calloway has issued a full seizure warrant for your custody. You are to be brought to the Lagos Holdings executive suite immediately."

Doctor Wallace Pembroke steps forward nervously, holding a medical tablet. "Miss Hartwell... I am sorry. The High Alpha's blood order overrides all civilian hospital agreements. If you do not come with Chief Enforcer Harrison willingly, your mother's life-support machinery will be powered down in ten minutes."

Elowen stares at the signed documents, her vision blurring with raw, terrifying panic. Calloway hadn't just suspected the truth; he had used her father's greed to trap her completely.

"Where... where are you taking my mother?" Elowen gasps, her voice breaking.

Harrison closes the black folder with a quiet, decisive snap. "Patient Evelina Hartwell is being transferred to the private isolation ward at the Sterling Family Estate. She will receive top-tier medical care under one condition."

Elowen swallows hard, her dark hands clenching into tight fists at her sides. "What condition?"

Harrison looks her dead in the eye, his face devoid of mercy. "That you take your twin sister's place beside High Alpha Calloway at the Blood Moon Ceremony tonight—as his official Omega mate."