---- Chapter 5 JOSIE POV: Desperation clawed at my throat. | had one last option. One last person | could turn to. "Chris, | need your help. It's my father." My Mind-Link to him felt like a prayer sent into the void. His response was instantaneous. "What's wrong? Tell me everything." | explained the situation, the missing Sun-Root, Laurence's broken promise, Rosalie's interference. | didn't have to explain the implications. He understood immediately. "| have Sun-Root in my pack's apothecary," he sent back, his mental voice calm and reassuring, cutting through my panic. "I'm dispatching my private jet with it now. It will be there in two hours. Josie, this is not a sustainable situation. Let me move your father to Silver Creek. Our healers are the best on the continent. He will be safe here. You will be safe here." Tears of gratitude and relief streamed down my face. "Yes," | whispered aloud. "Please." In that moment, | severed the final thread of dependence on the Black Moon Pack. | was no longer their Luna-in-waiting. | ---- was a refugee seeking asylum. That evening, as | prepared for the gala, | walked to the closet and pushed past the pale, Rosalie-inspired dresses Laurence had sent. Instead, | reached for a gown that had been tucked away in the very back, a gift from Laurence's grandmother, Madeline, from my first week in the pack. It was a long-sleeved dress of deep, blood-red velvet. Madeline had told me the color symbolized the heart of the White Wolf royalty. At the time, | hadn't understood her meaning. Now, | did. | left the moonstone necklace Laurence had given me sitting on the dresser. When | arrived at the grand ballroom, the guards at the entrance blocked my path. "Your Alpha has not arrived yet. You cannot enter without his escort," one of them said, his tone dismissive. Other pack members, dressed in their finest, streamed past me, throwing curious and mocking glances my way. The whispers started immediately. The Alpha's mate, arriving alone, cast aside. Then, the room fell silent. All heads turned towards the grand entrance. Laurence had arrived. And on his arm, draped in a glittering white gown that made her look like an angel, was Rosalie. ---- They were a perfect picture of power and beauty, the Alpha and his chosen Luna. They owned the room. Laurence's eyes found me across the foyer. His gaze swept over my red dress, and a deep frown creased his brow. He saw the empty space on my neck where his necklace should have been. He strode towards me, his long legs eating up the distance, Rosalie still clinging to his arm. "What are you wearing?" he growled, the Alpha's Command vibrating in his voice, making the air around us crackle. "Why did you disobey me?" Before | could answer, Rosalie stepped forward, a look of faux concern on her face. She addressed the crowd of onlookers that had gathered. "Oh, everyone, please don't misunderstand," she said, her voice carrying across the silent room. "This is Josie. She is... Laurence's designated mate. | am just here as his friend." The words were perfectly chosen daggers. "Designated mate". A title that stripped away all sanctity, reducing me to a political arrangement. She had just announced to every major pack on the continent that the Alpha of Black Moon did not honor his fated bond. The humiliation was a physical thing, hot and suffocating. Laurence's face hardened. He was furious, not at Rosalie's cruelty, but at the public spectacle. For the sake of his reputation, for the stability of his pack, he had to act. ---- He grabbed my arm, his grip like iron, and pulled me to his side, forcing his other arm around my waist. "My apologies for the confusion," he announced to the room, his voice booming with authority. "My mate was feeling unwell earlier, so | asked my dear friend Rosalie to accompany me. I'm glad you were able to make it, my love." He leaned down and pressed a cold, meaningless kiss to my temple. He was playing the part of the doting Alpha, and he expected me to play along. | looked up at him, my face a carefully constructed mask of adoration, and let him lead me into the ballroom. In his arms, surrounded by the pack, | had never felt more alone. He held me close, but all | could feel was the icy void between us. Across the room, | saw Rosalie watching us, her angelic smile in place. But her eyes were burning with a jealous fire. She hadn't expected him to put on this show. She had expected him to cast me aside completely. As Laurence was distracted by a pack elder, | saw her slip her phone out and turn away, her lips moving silently. She wasn't speaking. She was issuing a command through her Mind-Link. And | knew, with a gut-wrenching certainty, who that command was for. And what it was about. She was ordering her minions to ensure my father's transfer to Chris's plane ran into an "accident."