His Secretly Powerful Mate's Billion Dollar Revenge

KAILA CAIN POV:

My fated mate was cheating on me. The proof was on his tablet screen-a photo of him and Chantal Gould on the Parker family's private yacht. Chantal had been my college "friend." She'd been a bridesmaid at my wedding.

In the photo, her body was pressed against my husband's bare chest, her lips grazing his chin.

On her wrist was my mother's bracelet. The same bracelet I'd shown Bryton on our first wedding anniversary. The one he'd promised to keep safe for me.

The location tag read Silver Creek Pier. The timestamp was yesterday afternoon-right when Bryton had told me he was held up by a meeting.

A raw, animal sound tore out of me. I clamped a hand over my mouth, but the tears were already coming. My knees hit the floor. I wrapped my arms around myself. He had spent five years making me small, and I had let him.

At Pack dinners, I'd smiled through it while the other Lunas whispered behind their wine glasses, loud enough for me to hear every word. No wolf. No bloodline. Bryton doesn't even bother to show up with her anymore. They'd known my husband was ashamed of me long before I did. Night after night, I slept alone in our bed, his side cold against my cheek, telling myself he was just busy. He wasn't busy. He was tangled up with her.

When the tears finally stopped, something shifted. The grief didn't vanish. It hardened. Curdled. Turned from a wound into a blade. I lifted my head, and through my swollen, burning eyes, my gaze fell to the desk. Beneath the tablet, half-hidden under a stack of reports, was a manila folder.

Rejection Ritual - Finley, B. & Cain, K.

He wasn't just cheating. He was planning to discard me like a contract that had expired. A formal rejection. The ultimate werewolf shame-a public branding of unworthy that would follow me for the rest of my life. And the paperwork was already on his desk, waiting for his signature.

The hollow space inside me filled with ice. I thought of every night I'd waited up for him. Every time I'd swallowed Meredith's insults. Every time I'd told myself he still loved me, that the bond still meant something, that the Moon Goddess didn't make mistakes. I had been drowning for five years, reaching for a hand that was busy holding someone else. No more.

I pushed myself up from the floor. My hand was steady as I picked up his fountain pen. His signature line was still blank. The coward had drafted my obliteration but couldn't finish the job. Five years of my life wasted, and he couldn't even be bothered to finish me off with a stroke of ink. Fine. If he couldn't do it, I would. The ink bled into the paper, dark and final. Then I took a screenshot of the yacht photo, sent it to my encrypted email, and deleted the original.

The sharp click of heels on marble echoed from the hall. Meredith Finley. I rose, slid the envelope into my hand, and pulled my mask of docility over my wrecked face.

She swept in, Chanel perfection, her eyes scanning me like she'd found a rat in her kitchen. "Kaila. Bryton isn't here. You should know he's rarely here at this time." You don't belong here.

"I know. I was waiting for you, Mrs. Finley."

She raised a sculpted eyebrow. "For me?" She settled into the leather chair, folding her arms. "Speak."

"I found the rejection document. I've signed it. Now I want to discuss my compensation."

Surprise, then contempt. "Compensation? Kaila, you should be grateful we gave you five years of a respectable life."

"Five years of my youth. And the reputational damage of being publicly discarded by a fated mate. Rejection follows a wolf for life. I'm asking to be compensated for what your family is about to do to my name."

"Don't forget your place. A wolfless Omega. Bryton choosing you was a youthful mistake. He needs a true Luna now who can strengthen this Pack." Wolfless. Defective. Unworthy. They'd called me that my whole life. None of them knew that my wolf wasn't gone. It was just hidden.

I pushed the envelope across the desk. "One billion dollars."

The silence was absolute. Meredith's mask cracked wide open. "Are you insane?"

"No." A cold smile. "I'm simply aware that Bryton's succession and your family's reputation are worth far more. The Northern Territories deal. Billions on the line. Hundreds of Packs watching. I imagine you don't want any unnecessary 'trouble' right now."

My words were a scalpel. I didn't need to mention the photograph. Trouble was enough.

Her face drained to wax. She ripped open the envelope, eyes bulging at my signature. She had expected me broken, begging, pathetic. Not this. "This is blackmail."

"A transaction. I accept the rejection. I get what I'm owed. One month. Then Bryton Finley ceases to exist in my world."

A fated mate's rejection was soul-deep agony. But my soul had already been ripped out. By him, by her, by five years of slow erasure. There was nothing left to hurt.

Meredith stared at me for a long, lethal half minute. "Fine. One billion. You vacate immediately. The ceremony completes within the month. I'll ensure Bryton signs." So he hadn't signed. Their family project all along. "Done."

I walked out without looking back. The moment the door clicked shut, my body folded against the cold marble wall, every ounce of strength gone. Four bloody crescents marked my palms where my nails had bitten through. The wolf in my chest stirred, testing the walls I'd built around it. I forced it back down. Not yet. But soon.

As I pressed my forehead against the cold marble, I had no idea that something worse was about to happen.