Chapter 3

The next morning, my best friend, Jessica, arrived at the Adams estate.

I watched her in confusion until she began boxing up every single belonging I owned.

"She carved it in stone," Jessica announced, staring down my family and my fiancé with utter disgust. "She said she will never be an Alpha's daughter in her next life. So leaving her things in this house feels filthy."

James and my parents froze, their faces darkening instantly. Michael frowned.

Alpha Robert narrowed his eyes, his Alpha aura flaring dangerous and low.

"Jessica Brooks. Do you have any idea what you're saying? As a pack member, you are directly defying your Alpha."

"Defying?" Jessica let out a cold, venomous laugh. "Alpha Robert, I gave you my loyalty. I was loyal to the Adams Pack. I earned hunt points in every single Fall Hunt since childhood. I never missed a single border patrol. My loyalty was earned in blood."

She paused, letting her searing glare sweep across every guilty face in the room.

"Yet you and Luna Margaret murdered your own daughter. Emily carried your pure bloodline. She was an heir to this pack. But you chose to swallow the poisonous lies of a stray rather than grant your own child a shred of trust. Does an Alpha like you even deserve my loyalty?"

Luna Margaret's face went pale with rage. "You dare insult us?!"

"I dare tell the truth!" Jessica didn't take a single step back. "An Alpha's power rests on justice. If you have no honor, don't expect our loyalty. I haven't betrayed the pack, but I refuse to kneel before an Alpha who murdered his own child."

Sarah's eyes immediately flooded with tears, her voice trembling softly.

"Jessica, I know you're grieving, but speaking to Robert and Margaret like this..."

"Shut your mouth," Jessica cut her off with lethal frost. "You're a stray with no standing here. What right do you have to speak before full pack members?"

In werewolf hierarchy, someone without pack status held no voice in official gatherings. Sarah's face drained of color. She parted her lips, but swallowed her words in fear.

James stepped forward, his voice a low growl of pure warning.

"Jessica, out of respect for your history with Emily, I'll overlook your insolence today. But if you disrespect our Alpha again, don't blame me for getting rough."

"James," Jessica held his gaze without flinching. "You're just as guilty. You're her biological brother, yet you helped an outsider drive her to her death. Do you even deserve the title of brother? Do you deserve the pack's respect?"

James clenched his fists, veins bulging along his forearms.

"Enough!" Alpha Robert slammed his palm onto the mahogany table, cracking the heavy wood right down the center. "Jessica Brooks, by my authority as Alpha, I order you to leave Emily's things and get off my territory. As of today, you are banned from this estate without my explicit permission!"

Jessica clutched the box of my belongings tightly against her chest, a mocking smirk dancing on her lips.

"Of course I'll obey your Alpha command. But hear me loud and clear: not a single one of you is welcome at Emily's funeral. She wasn't worthy of being your daughter, and you certainly never deserved to be her parents."

With that, she spun on her heel and strode out the grand double doors.

Luna Margaret shook with fury, pointing a trembling finger at Jessica's retreating figure.

"She... she's staging an open rebellion!"

Alpha Robert didn't say a word. He watched Jessica's silhouette vanish into the distance. A storm of dark emotion flickered beneath his cold eyes—rage, tangled with a whisper of guilt he dared not admit.

Sarah dabbed at her tearful eyes, whispering softly, "Alpha Robert, Luna Margaret, it's all my fault... If it weren't for me, Emily wouldn't have..."

"It has nothing to do with you," Margaret said, taking Sarah's hand. But her voice lacked its usual certainty. "Emily brought this ruin upon herself."

Yet as she spoke, she couldn't bring herself to meet Robert's eyes.