Freya's POV Blood still thrummed behind my ribs when Everett Williams lifted his hand. A single gesture and the shadows inside the Williams estate shifted. A dozen enforcers stepped out from the dim stone hallways, broad-shouldered, combat-trained, every scent drenched in Silverfang steel and obedience. And all of them surrounded me. My wolf rose instantly, bristling beneath my skin. I didn't step back. Parker's voice cracked in alarm beside me. "Everett, what are you doing?" Everett's expression barely moved. That smooth, scholar-like mask he always wore-gentle voice, gentle posture-finally cracked enough for the predator beneath to peek through. "Only showing you," he murmured, "how easily the Williams Family can remove a problem when necessary." Kill intent rolled off him. Controlled. Precise. Like a blade pressed to the back of the throat. I swept my gaze over the encircling guards, then lifted my eyes back to the so-called head of the Williams Family. "So you're set on it, then? You really want Parker to never reclaim his name?" "You misunderstand," Everett said lightly, almost kindly. "I only protect what matters. My mother… and my sister." His eyes sharpened with an icy devotion that bordered on madness. "For them, I can burn cities. I can raze Packs. I can end bloodlines. So don't test my patience, child." Child. Funny. Because the heat rising in my chest didn't feel childish-it felt like the Stormveil blood that never bent, never crawled, never yielded. "You have people you can die for," I told him quietly. "I understand that. Truly. But so do I." My breathing steadied; the Wolf within me steadied with it. "You want Parker to repay the Williams Family's debt? Fine. But not by erasing everything he ever was. Not by forcing him to live an entire life wearing a mask." "Reasonable words," Everett said, "but tell me-" His gaze swept me once, dismissive. "-what qualification do you think you have to negotiate with me?" Qualification? I smiled. And then I moved. I shot toward him, explosive speed ripped straight from my training with the Iron Fang Recon Unit-speed that the Williams guards didn't expect from a woman who carried the scent of the Bloodmoon Pack's diplomatic branch. They went for me anyway-dozens of boots pounding against polished stone, bodies crashing toward mine. Parker tried to reach me but three guards locked him down instantly. I didn't look back. I fought. Not to win. I didn't need victory. All I needed was a path. So I traded blows recklessly, every step fueled by my wolf and my rage. My left shoulder tore open at the old wound beneath my jacket-hot blood flooding down my arm-but pain meant nothing right now. One guard went down. Another. I slipped between two more, spun away from a strike, slammed my elbow into a throat, and kept moving. My vision tunneled. My wolf howled. And then-I broke through. Everett's eyes widened as I lunged, pressing my arm around his throat, locking him in a perfect chokehold. His guards froze instantly, every instinct screaming at them not to take another step.Everett himself… looked almost stunned. I tightened my arm. "Now," I said, breathing hard, "am I qualified to talk?" He exhaled once, a soft, humorless sound. "You dare hold me?" "If I wanted to hurt you," I answered, "we'd already be on the ground." He didn't disagree. But anger-real, sharp, poisonous-twisted beneath his calm expression. "You move one inch," one guard warned, "we won't let you leave alive!" "I said I'll release him." And I did. At the exact same second that my free hand shot downward-and ripped off the pendant hanging around Everett's neck. A chain snapped. A small, old, oval locket hit my palm. Everett's face changed instantly. The man who threatened to burn down the world stood frozen, fury whitening his knuckles. "That," he growled, "is not something you can touch. Return it." But I had already opened the latch. A faded photograph stared back at me- a girl of maybe three years, bright-eyed, smiling shyly at the camera. The edges of the picture had long yellowed. The analog print was old, ancient even-no copy, no backup, no digital scan. It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of photograph. The only one left. "Don't-" Everett's voice broke into something rawer, deeper. "Don't you dare damage that. I am warning you-for my sister, I will hunt you down to the ends of this earth."His sister. The missing one. The ghost the Williams Family still whispered about. And this-this fragile little photo-was his last piece of her. I finally understood. I closed the locket gently and lifted my eyes to meet his. "You value your family," I said softly. "Good. Then understand me when I say this." I took a step closer, blood still dripping from my shoulder, my wolf still snarling beneath my skin. "Eric is the only family I have left. My father Arthur Thorne and my mother Myra died without ever finding him. Their ashes rest in the Ashbourne Legion's Hall of Martyrs, and the last thing they wanted in this world was to bring their son home." Everett's jaw clenched. "For my family," I continued, "I can be just as ruthless as you." Silence folded over the entire hall. Guards didn't move. Parker didn't breathe. Even the air smelled of iron and blood and the edge of war. I tightened my fingers around the chain. "You threaten me, Everett? Then understand something perfectly: I am not prey. I am not disposable. And I don't break." My voice dropped to a frigid whisper. "If you'll destroy everything for the people you love- then know this. So will I." The wolf inside me lifted its head, eyes full of fire. And Everett finally understood that Stormveil wolves were never meant to kneel.