Chapter 2

(Harper’s POV)

I stormed into my office and slammed the door behind me, hard enough to make the frame tremble. The sharp crack echoed off the walls, pounding in rhythm with my furious heartbeat.

"That arrogant, cheating asshole!" Eira snarled in my head.

I felt my fingernails lengthen into razor-sharp claws—the shift was uncontrollable, fueled by the fury surging through me. With one savage swipe, I dragged them across the surface of my mahogany desk, carving deep, angry gashes into the polished wood.

The destruction felt right. Necessary.

"He thinks he can just reschedule our ceremony like it’s a damn board meeting?" Eira snapped. "And lighting up in his office, knowing how much you hate it? He’s doing it on purpose to piss us off!"

I forced myself to breathe deeply, trying to calm her before things escalated further. The last thing I needed was to shift in the middle of Swift Pack’s headquarters.

"I know, Eira," I murmured. "But we’re done. We’re free now."

She growled low in my chest, still restless, still simmering. "He was never ours to begin with. Not our fated mate. Never was."

She was right. Eira had resisted the arranged engagement from the start—she fought me on it every step of the way. Wolves know when they’ve found their true mate, and Joshua had never stirred that instinct.

I moved to the bookshelf and began pulling down the few personal things I’d kept here—a graduation photo of Kaia and me, a small carved wolf Ryker had made for me years ago, and a few herbal medicine books I couldn’t bear to leave behind.

"Good," Eira said approvingly as I opened the desk drawers and started clearing them out. "Take everything."

I was halfway through packing when the door burst open without warning. Joshua stood in the doorway, eyes narrowing as he took in the scene. The claw marks on the desk didn’t go unnoticed.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, stepping in and closing the door behind him.

I didn’t even look up. "What does it look like?"

He walked toward the desk slowly, his expression flickering from outrage to a forced calm. He straightened his tie—a nervous tic I’d seen too many times over our two-year engagement.

"Harper, stop this nonsense," he said, trying to sound authoritative. "Eden’s not well. She needs me. The marking ceremony is just postponed."

Without missing a beat, he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. The acrid smoke curled in the air between us—another calculated jab. He knew exactly how much I hated it.

I stepped around the desk, calm on the outside, though Eira seethed just beneath the surface. That cold, controlled rage was far more dangerous than any fury I could scream.

"Uncomfortable?" I asked, my voice slicing through the silence like a blade.

He exhaled smoke, eyes locked on mine.

"She’s not pregnant, is she?" I added, my tone sharp with accusation, daring him to lie again.

The cigarette froze halfway to his lips. For a second, real shock flickered across his face—then it vanished beneath a mask of anger.

"Who told you that?" he growled, stepping toward me, trying to intimidate.

I wasn’t playing that game anymore. "Joshua, for once in your life, just tell the truth. It’s not like the treatment center is some secret facility. Everyone knows the OB/GYN isn’t where you go for silver poisoning."

His face turned a deep shade of red, the vein in his temple throbbing. "Don’t slander us," he spat. "There's something… unique about how she was poisoned."

His voice dropped, low and menacing, as he released a wave of Alpha power. It rolled across the room like a storm, meant to crush me into submission.

It didn’t even make me flinch.

What he didn’t know—what very few people knew—was that Alpha power didn’t work on me. Hadn’t since I was thirteen. No one could force me to bend.

Most of the time, I faked it to keep the peace. But not today.

I stared him down, my contempt clear and unfiltered. "So what? You’re never going to let her go, and we both know it."

"That’s not true," he snapped. "Once she’s better, I’ll—"

I cut him off with a cold, bitter laugh. "You’ll what? Ship her off somewhere and expect me to thank you for finally marking me?"

I stepped closer, eyes blazing, my claws fully extended and catching the light.

"Honestly, I don’t care about this marriage. I don’t care about you," I said, every word laced with venom. "This was always a political arrangement. And now it’s over. Go back to Eden."

The words hung heavy in the air, final and unyielding.

Joshua stared at me, stunned—caught somewhere between fury and disbelief.

Joshua ramped up his Alpha energy, clearly confused as it did nothing to weaken me—didn’t force submission, didn’t even slow me down.

"You can’t just walk away from this," he started, but I was already moving past him.

In one fluid motion, I reached up and plucked the cigarette from his mouth.

"And by the way," I said, crushing the cigarette between my fingers with deliberate disdain, "don’t ever smoke in front of me again, you arrogant asshole. I’ve tolerated you long enough."

I tossed the crushed cigarette into the trash can, grabbed my bag, and slung it over my shoulder.

Joshua grabbed my arm, his grip tight and demanding. "This isn’t over, Harper. You think you can walk away? Your pack needs this alliance."

I stared down at his hand, then yanked free with a sharp twist. "Then I guess my 'loving' parents will have to find another poor soul to use as a bargaining chip. I’m done being their solution."

Without sparing him another glance, I turned on my heel and walked out of what used to be my office.

The hallway outside was buzzing with activity, though it quieted down fast as I stepped into view. We hadn’t exactly kept our voices down—everyone had heard at least some of the fight.

I was almost to the elevators when Samantha stepped directly into my path. The same smug assistant who’d sneered at me earlier now stood in front of me like she had something to prove, chin high and fake confidence radiating off her.

"Miss Hale," she said loudly, clearly putting on a show for the crowd, "you can’t just walk out like this. You don’t get to disrespect the heir to the Alpha King."

I scoffed, the sound sharp as I laughed without humor. It echoed in the now-silent hallway. "He’s your Alpha, not mine. Move."

She didn’t flinch. Instead, she crossed her arms and kept talking. "This is exactly why you’re not Luna material. A real Luna would be nurturing. Kind. She’d care about the pack."

A few nearby wolves nodded along, stirred by her boldness.

"Unlike Eden," someone muttered. "She’s got that natural grace."

Eira growled in my head, her voice a low, dangerous purr. "Show them what happens when they try to stand in our way."

I didn’t hesitate.

With a quick, precise strike, I brought my boot hard into the back of Samantha’s knee. Her leg buckled instantly, and she dropped to the ground with a gasp, collapsing onto her knees in front of me.

"I told you to move," I said coldly, looking down at her. "You think I want to be his Luna? What a joke."

I lifted my gaze, sweeping it across the office. I met the eyes of every wolf who dared to look at me. Most dropped their gaze immediately.

"You all might want to focus on your own damn jobs," I said clearly. "Your Alpha has enough mess to clean up without your help making it worse."

I stepped around Samantha’s crumpled figure and continued toward the front doors.

No one else tried to stop me.

As I pushed open the heavy glass doors and stepped out into the sunlight, I felt a pressure lift off my chest. The air tasted cleaner. The sky looked sharper, bluer.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I was choosing my own path.

“Freedom,” Eira breathed, content. “Finally.”

I nodded to myself as I walked to my car. The engagement that had shackled me for years was finally over.

Even if I knew this wasn’t the last I’d hear of it.

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