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Chapter 3

I drifted through darkness, floating in a void where time meant nothing. Occasionally, voices penetrated the silence—familiar, worried tones that seemed to come from far away.

"She's stabilizing," someone said. "The wolf is reconnecting."

"Will she wake soon?" That was Vance's voice, tight with concern.

"The rejection triggered something primal," another voice replied. "Her body is healing from years of suppression."

I wanted to respond, to tell them I could hear them, but my body refused to obey. Sienna's presence grew stronger within me, no longer subdued by moonshade herbs but still cautious, as if afraid another trap awaited us.

*We're home,* she whispered in my mind. *We're safe now.*

When consciousness finally returned, sunlight streamed through gauzy curtains I recognized immediately. My childhood bedroom in the Wright Pack house—not the Alpha's quarters at Shadow Creek where I'd lived for three years.

"Sophia?" Vance's face appeared above me, relief washing over his features. "You're awake."

"How long?" My voice was raspy from disuse.

"Three weeks," he replied, helping me sit up. "You've been in a coma while your wolf reconnected."

I pressed my fingers against my temples, trying to process this information. "Three weeks?"

"The rejection severed your bond with Damian, but it also broke the last of the moonshade's hold on Sienna." Vance's eyes darkened. "Your wolf was so suppressed, so angry at being caged for so long—your body couldn't handle the backlash."

Memories flooded back—Damian's betrayal, Jolene's cruel laughter, the public rejection that had torn through me like physical pain.

"He never loved me," I whispered.

Vance's jaw tightened. "No. He loved what you could give him."

I closed my eyes, feeling Sienna stir within me. She was stronger now, no longer the muted presence I'd lived with for years.

"I need to shift," I said suddenly. "I need to feel whole again."

Vance nodded, understanding in his eyes. "The forest is waiting."

---

The transformation came easier than I expected. Standing in the clearing behind our family home, I surrendered to Sienna's presence for the first time in years.

The change rippled through me—not the painful, forced shift I'd feared, but a natural, fluid movement as my body remembered its true nature. Bones reshaped, muscles stretched, and fur erupted across my skin.

Where once I might have been a normal-sized wolf, years of suppression followed by liberation had created something more. My wolf form stood massive and powerful, my coat shimmering silver in the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees.

*We are magnificent,* Sienna's voice rang clear in my mind.

I took my first steps as a wolf in years, testing muscles that remembered their purpose. The forest welcomed me back, scents and sounds flooding my senses with information—deer trails, rabbit burrows, the distant markers of pack territory.

I ran.

The joy of movement without restriction, of power without restraint—it was intoxicating. I leaped over fallen logs, splashed through streams, and raced through clearings where sunlight danced on the forest floor. This was freedom. This was truth.

Sienna and I were one again, not the fractured being I'd forced myself to become for Damian's comfort.

---

"Sit down," Vance said, gesturing to the chair across from his desk in the Alpha's office—his office now, though it had once belonged to our father.

I settled into the leather chair, still marveling at my own strength. After weeks of recovery, my body had adjusted to its true nature. I could feel power humming beneath my skin, no longer hidden or denied.

"I have something to show you," Vance said, sliding a thick folder across the polished surface.

I opened it to find photographs, financial records, and handwritten notes—all connected to Damian.

"What is this?"

"Evidence," Vance replied grimly. "The attack three years ago—the one where Damian 'saved' you from Rogues—it was staged."

My fingers froze on the page. "What?"

"He paid them," Vance continued, his voice tight with controlled fury. "The Rogues were hired to attack your carriage, to create a situation where he could play hero."

I stared at the photographs—Damian meeting with known Rogues, money changing hands, plans drawn up in his distinctive scrawl.

"He orchestrated everything," I whispered, horror washing through me. "Our entire relationship..."

"Was built on lies," Vance finished for me. "He wanted access to our territories, our resources. A mate bond was the perfect cover."

Grief turned to cold, hard fury within me. The pain of betrayal crystallized into something sharper, more dangerous.

"The Annual Alpha Summit is in two weeks," Vance said, watching me carefully. "Every Alpha in the region will be there."

Including Damian.

"Perfect," I said, my voice steady as ice. "It's time they met the real Sophia Wright."

Vance smiled—not the gentle smile of my protective brother, but the calculating expression of an Alpha who'd been waiting for this moment.

"We're going to bankrupt Shadow Creek," he said simply. "Legally. Publicly."

"And personally," I added.

I stood, running my hands down the simple clothes I'd worn since awakening. Drab, forgettable—everything I'd chosen to be for Damian.

"Take me shopping," I told Vance. "I need clothes worthy of an Alpha female."

"And stop masking your scent," he added. "Let them all know what they've been missing."

I nodded, feeling Sienna's approval rumble through me. The girl who'd suppressed her wolf for love was gone. In her place stood someone new—someone dangerous.

Someone who was just getting started.

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