Chapter 4

The coffee shop was empty except for Marissa and me, tucked in the corner booth farthest from the windows.

I slid the USB drive across the table.

"Everything?" she asked.

"Financial records, photographs, audio recordings, the secret mate ceremony, suppressant prescriptions backdated five years."

Her jaw clenched as she scrolled through the files on her laptop.

"These bastards didn't just betray you—they systematically destroyed you."

She pulled out another folder, medical records with the pack doctor's official seal.

"I had these analyzed by an outside specialist. Helena, the suppressant dosage you've been taking? It would destroy a normal Omega's wolf completely within two years."

"But mine survived."

"More than survived. Your wolf is fighting back, which means—"

"I'm not weak." The words felt foreign. "I never was."

"You're Alpha-blooded Luna. They didn't drug you because you were weak—they drugged you because you were strong."

My hands curled into fists on the table.

They'd feared me, so they'd caged me.

Marissa pushed three documents toward me, each one stamped with official legal seals.

"Divorce papers—citing irreconcilable differences and mate bond violation."

"Renunciation of the Ward name and all Silver Moon Pack inheritance rights."

"Asset donation—every penny you have goes to charity. They can't claim you're doing this for money."

Each signature felt like a nail in a coffin.

But not mine—Helena Ward's.

"I need a new name," I said quietly.

"Already prepared." She slid a passport across. "Iris Hale. Rebirth flower and strength."

Iris Hale stared back at me from the photo, hair shorter, eyes harder.

A woman who wouldn't be destroyed by lies.

"When?" Marissa asked.

"My birthday. Let them celebrate at the amusement park with their fake family one more time."

"And you?"

"I'll be on a plane to the coast before they realize Helena Ward is dead."

My wolf hummed approval, stretching inside me like she'd been cramped for years.

We spent three hours planning every detail—the evidence delivery, the timing, the escape route.

When I finally stood to leave, Marissa grabbed my hand.

"They'll come looking for you eventually."

"Let them look." I smiled, and it felt sharp. "They won't find Helena. She's already dead."

"What about revenge?"

"Watching them destroy themselves with their own lies? That's better than revenge."

I walked out of that coffee shop as two people—Helena Ward for six more days, and Iris Hale forever after.

The moon was full overhead, and for the first time in five years, I felt my wolf howl back.

Not in pain.

In freedom.