My Mate Lied About My Death to Steal My Pack

The door slammed open hard enough to crack the frame.

Xavier stood in the doorway, backlit by the hallway lights, his silhouette sharp and predatory. He held a folder in one hand, thick with papers that rustled as he moved.

"Get up," he said.

I didn't move from the bed. Just watched him with the same calm I'd used to track rogues through blizzards.

His jaw tightened. He crossed the room in three strides and threw the folder at my feet. Papers scattered across the floor like dead leaves.

"Sign it."

I looked down. The top page was dense with legal text, but the header was clear enough: FORMAL ABDICATION OF ALPHA BLOOD RIGHTS.

"You have until tomorrow night," Xavier said, his voice cold. "The Full Moon Gathering. You'll sign this in front of the entire pack, renounce your claim to the Montgomery bloodline, and accept your new position as Omega."

Aurora snarled in my mind, but I kept my face blank. I picked up the contract, scanning the pages. It was thorough, I'd give him that. Every clause designed to strip me of everything—my name, my rank, my father's legacy.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you're exiled as a rogue." He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking almost bored. "Stripped of the Montgomery name. Banned from Silver Moon territory. You'll have nothing. No pack, no family, no home."

I set the papers down carefully. "You really think the Council will accept this?"

His smile was sharp. "The Council will accept whatever I tell them to accept. I have the decrees. I have the pack's loyalty. And I have witnesses who'll swear you abandoned us three years ago."

"Witnesses you've paid off."

"Prove it." He pushed off the wall, moving closer. His Alpha aura pressed against me, heavy and suffocating. "Go ahead, Cynthia. Tell everyone your conspiracy theories. Show them your paranoid delusions. See who believes you."

He crouched down, bringing his face level with mine. His breath smelled like whiskey and something rotten underneath.

"No one will believe you over me," he whispered. "I'm the Alpha. I've led this pack for three years while you played soldier in the frozen north. I've made the hard decisions, kept everyone safe, built something real here."

"You've bled the pack dry," I said quietly. "You've left our borders defenseless. You've turned the pack house into your personal brothel."

His hand shot out, gripping my chin hard enough to bruise. "Careful. You're already on thin ice."

I didn't flinch. Just met his eyes, letting him see the cold fury burning there.

He released me, standing abruptly. "Tomorrow night. Full moon. The entire pack will be watching. You'll sign that contract, bow to me as your Alpha, and accept your place. Or you'll leave with nothing but the clothes on your back."

He walked to the door, paused. "Baylee's already planning your new duties. Cleaning the latrines, I think. Scrubbing floors. She has a whole list."

"How romantic," I said. "Does she know about the other nine hundred and ninety-nine?"

His shoulders tensed. For a moment, I thought he might turn around, might finally drop the act and show me the real rage underneath.

But he just laughed. "See you tomorrow, Cynthia. Wear something appropriate for an Omega."

The door closed. The lock clicked.

I sat very still, listening to his footsteps fade down the hallway.

Then I closed my eyes and slipped into the slipstream.

The connection was risky—Xavier's people were watching for intrusions now. But I'd spent three years learning to move like smoke through the pack link, invisible and untraceable.

I found the thread I needed, following it north, past our territory, past the neighboring packs, all the way to the Lycan Council's headquarters in the capital.

Elder Thorne answered on the second pulse. Her mental voice was sharp, alert despite the late hour.

*Cynthia Montgomery. I was wondering when you'd reach out.*

*I need the Blood Oath records,* I sent back. *My father's original documents. The ones that prove the Alpha title is DNA-locked to the Montgomery line.*

*Xavier claimed you were dead.*

*Xavier lied.*

A pause. Then: *I'll need verification. Something only you would know.*

I sent her a memory—my father's voice, the exact words he'd spoken during my first shift, the private blessing he'd given me in the sacred grove. Information no one else could have.

Another pause, longer this time.

*The documents will be released to the pack link tomorrow at moonrise,* Elder Thorne said. *Encrypted with your biometric signature. Only you can unlock them.*

*Thank you.*

*Cynthia.* Her voice softened slightly. *Your father was a good man. A true Alpha. Don't let his legacy die with lies.*

*I won't.*

I pulled back from the connection, my heart pounding. The final piece was in place.

Tomorrow night, Xavier would expect me to sign away everything. To bow and scrape and accept my place at the bottom of the hierarchy he'd built on my family's bones.

Instead, I was going to burn his kingdom to the ground.

I picked up the contract from the floor, smoothing out the pages. Then I tore it in half, the sound sharp and satisfying in the quiet room.

Aurora's voice was a low growl of approval. *Tomorrow, we hunt.*

*Tomorrow,* I agreed, *we take back what's ours.*