The Beta's Fatal Mistake: Rejecting His True Luna

Serena POV

An hour later, I was standing on the private helipad of the Ashford family estate.

The deafening roar of helicopter blades filled the air as my father, Elder Ashford, landed. He was the Chief Elder of the Werewolf Council, the man whose signature controlled the flow of silver from the northern mines and the loyalty of the eastern packs.

He stepped out, his presence a palpable weight in the air that caused the guards around us to instinctively bow their heads. He hugged me tightly, his scent of ancient cedar wood bringing a profound quietude that settled the frantic beating in my own chest.

"My beautiful daughter," he rumbled, pulling back to look at me. "Where is Felix?"

A bitter smile touched my lips.

"He refused to come. He said my bloodline is too low, and he's busy trying to court Elder Ashford's White Wolf daughter."

My father's pupils contracted, the gold in his irises hardening to a dangerous, metallic sheen.

"That ungrateful street dog," he said, his voice carrying a low resonance that made the crystal glasses on a distant sideboard hum. "He's a lowly Rogue at his core. He only sits on that Council because you poured your fortune into his campaigns and called in every political favor I could grant."

I looked down at my hands, remembering the night Felix experienced his first Shift.

His bloodline had been so mixed and impure that his bones were breaking, his body tearing itself apart from the torment of his bones grinding against one another as they reshaped themselves. I had abandoned a multi-national board meeting to feed him my own blood—drawn from the oldest of White Wolf lines, rich with the ancient magic that could quiet the rebellion in even the most unstable veins.

He had cried in my arms, begging to become my mate.

"I'll never let him place his teeth on my neck," I told my father, my voice hard and resolute.

"Good," my father said, his expression turning ruthless. "You never officially registered your bond with the Council. It's time we find you a true Alpha, Serena. A mate worthy of a White Wolf."

I nodded, but deep inside, a cold and patient calculus was taking shape behind my eyes.

Before I found a new mate, I needed to completely destroy the man who thought he could use me and throw me away.

The game Felix thought he was playing had just reversed itself. And he didn't even know the rules yet.