Dante's POV
The vase explodes against the wall beside my head.
"How dare you question me!" Serena screams. "I'm Luna now! These are MY quarters!"
I stare at the broken glass on the floor. That vase was Isla's favorite. She bought it at a market three years ago, said it reminded her of moonlight on water.
Now it's destroyed. Like everything else Isla touched.
"The pack budget—" I start.
"The pack has plenty of money!" Serena throws another vase. This one I catch before it hits me. "Stop acting like we're poor! I deserve nice things!"
My wolf snarls inside me. He hates her. Has hated her since the moment Isla left. Every day, he claws at my insides, howling for our real mate.
The bond rejection is killing me slowly. My chest feels like someone's carving it open with a silver blade. I can't eat. Can't sleep. Can't think straight.
"You spent fifty thousand dollars last week," I say quietly. Too quietly. "On clothes."
"So?" Serena examines her nails. "I need to look the part. Unlike your precious Isla who dressed like a nobody."
Something snaps inside me. "Don't talk about her."
Serena's eyes flash. "Or what? You'll throw me out like you should have done years ago?" She walks closer, her perfume making me sick. "You chose me, Dante. You picked me over her. Don't pretend to have regrets now."
She's right. That's the worst part. I did choose this. I let Serena poison my marriage. I stood by while my son called her Mommy. I watched Isla's heart break over and over and did nothing.
Now I'm drowning in consequences.
Marcus knocks on the door. "Alpha, we need to talk. Now."
I follow him out, grateful to escape Serena's presence. In the hallway, pack members scatter when they see us. They used to smile and wave. Now they avoid eye contact.
"The pack's falling apart," Marcus says once we're alone in my office. "Serena fired three more staff members today for 'disrespecting' her. Mrs. Chen has been with us for twenty years—"
"I'll handle it."
"Will you?" Marcus faces me, angry. Really angry. "Because from where I'm standing, you're not handling anything. You're a ghost, Dante. The bond pain has you half-dead."
"I'm fine."
"You're dying!" Marcus slams his fist on my desk. "And you're taking the pack down with you! Serena's destroying everything Isla built! The charity programs? Gone. The school funding? Cut. The food assistance for struggling families? Cancelled so Serena could remodel the Luna suite for the third time!"
Each word hits like a punch. I knew things were bad. I didn't know they were this bad.
"Where's Kieran?" I ask.
Marcus's expression darkens. "Locked in his room. Again. He asked about Isla this morning and Serena screamed at him for an hour."
My son. My boy who I let be poisoned against his own mother. What kind of father am I?
"I need to see him."
"He doesn't want to see you." Marcus's voice gentles. "He asked me yesterday why you let the 'mean lady' replace his real mommy. Those were his exact words."
The pain in my chest explodes. I grab the desk to stay standing.
"The dark magic," I gasp. "When did it wear off?"
"About a week after Isla left. Kieran started having nightmares. Memories of Isla singing to him, holding him when he was sick, reading him bedtime stories." Marcus's jaw tightens. "He remembers everything now. Including how he treated her at the end."
I'm going to be sick.
"He's six years old and he knows he broke his mother's heart," Marcus continues. "And he knows you let it happen. Both of us did."
The confession from yesterday echoes in my mind. Marcus knew about the poisoning. He suspected and said nothing. Just like I ignored every sign that Serena was destroying my family.
We're both guilty.
"This isn't working," I whisper.
"You think?" Marcus's sarcasm cuts deep. "Isla was the heart of this pack. You ripped her out and replaced her with a parasite. What did you expect?"
Before I can answer, alarms shriek through the packhouse. Not the normal security alarm. The emergency signal.
Attack.
Marcus and I run. Outside, chaos. Pack members screaming. Warriors shifting.
And in the center of it all, Serena stands with a smile on her face.
"What did you do?" I roar.
"I invited guests." She gestures to the tree line where dark shapes emerge. Rogues. Dozens of them. "I made a deal, darling. They help me get rid of certain... problems... and I give them access to Blackthorn territory."
"You brought rogues into our pack?" Marcus's voice is deadly quiet. "That's treason."
"That's survival." Serena's eyes glow with something wrong. Something dark. "You're dying, Dante. When you're gone, this pack needs strong leadership. My leadership."
The rogues attack. My warriors fight back, but we're unprepared. Serena planned this.
I shift, my wolf taking over despite the bond pain. We fight. We protect our pack.
But in the chaos, I hear a child scream.
Kieran.
I spin around and see my son running from the packhouse, chased by two rogues. He's crying, terrified. Six years old and facing monsters because of choices I made.
I run toward him. So does Marcus. But we're too far away.
The rogues are going to reach him first.
Then a silver wolf appears from nowhere—bigger than any wolf I've ever seen. Power radiates from her like lightning. She tears through the rogues like they're paper, putting herself between them and my son.
The wolf turns her head, and I see ice-blue eyes that make my heart stop.
Isla.
She came back. My mate came back.
But before I can reach her, before I can beg for forgiveness, before I can do anything—
Serena appears behind Isla with a silver blade aimed at her heart.
"This ends now," Serena hisses.
Everything happens in slow motion. Isla turns. The blade falls.
And little Kieran—my son who rejected her, who called another woman Mommy—throws himself between them, screaming one word:
"MOMMY!"