Third Person's POV Ivy left the office with her pulse still unsteady, her wolf pacing beneath her skin. As she stepped into the foyer of the Darkmoon Pack's manor, she nearly collided with Olivia, the young she-wolf returning from outside, the winter wind still clinging to her cloak. The moment Ivy saw her, a tide of emotion surged up-pain, disappointment, disbelief, anger, all snarling together like wounded wolves. Because of her argument with Raya many years ago... Because rage had pulled her wolf into a frenzy inside the car... Because she had lost control- She had lost her unborn pup. And afterward, the healers had no choice but to remove her womb. A she-wolf forever denied the right to bear young- In their world, that was a wound that carved bone, a lifelong shadow no Alpha aura could suppress. In generations of the Darkmoon Pack, no girl had been born until Ivy. She grew up blessed by the moon, cherished as the clan's rare daughter. To lose the possibility of ever carrying another pup was a blow that hollowed out her chest. And Olivia- Olivia, her blood, her brother's child, the next generation's only daughter- Ivy had loved her fiercely, protectively, almost as if she were her own pup. Yet this girl- This child she had sheltered and raised- Had turned her back on her for the sake of a man. For the sake of Magnus Sanchez, the Shadowbane Alpha-wolf of ruin, storm, and shadow. Fate truly mocked them all. Olivia, unaware that every word she had spoken in Magnus's office had reached Ivy's ears, flinched under the icy sharpness of her aunt's gaze."Aunt Ivy... why are you looking at me like that? You're scaring me." She noticed Ivy's reddened eyes, the faint tremor in her breath, and glanced instinctively up the staircase as if guessing she came from the Alpha's floor. "Did you fight with my father?" she asked, voice tinged with worry. "I'll talk to him for you." "Olivia." Ivy's voice cut through the air-low, cold, threaded with the echo of an injured wolf's growl. "When," Ivy asked, "did you start liking that Shadowbane Alpha-that wildborn wolf no pack dared claim?" Olivia froze. Under Ivy's unyielding stare, she lowered her eyes, lips pressing into a thin line. "When I was seventeen," she whispered. Back then, most boys her age were clumsy, half-grown wolves with bright eyes and untested claws. But that boy- The young Magnus Sanchez, a lone wolf carved from frost and night, blood-stained aura hanging over him like a second shadow-dangerous, cold, untamed. He stood apart. And she had fallen. Ivy let out a laugh that trembled between bitterness and heartbreak. "So early." Shame flickered over Olivia's face, her voice shrinking. "Aunt Ivy... I couldn't control my heart." She had tried to stay away. But Lucas and Abram had repeatedly created opportunities, pushing Magnus into her path. In the face of that, her resolve had crumbled. "You think Magnus Sanchez is a good match?" Ivy whispered, a razor smile cutting across her lips. "Cruelty and blood-hunger run in the Shadowbane line. And when it comes to love, their wolves are territorial to the point of madness-Magnus will never choose you.""He already has a Luna he would raze kingdoms for. Aysel Vale nearly sent Rudi Sanchez and her mother to the infirmary, and the Shadowbane elders still bowed their heads to apologize. You think you can shake Aysel's place?" "Aunt Ivy, if you could steal Uncle Ulric from Raya," Olivia argued, lifting her chin stubbornly, "why can't I do the same?" Ivy's smile curled, cold and cutting. "Because Aysel Vale is not Raya," she whispered. "And Magnus is not Ulric Sanchez." And no one-not even Ivy-knew the truth: Had she even won those years? Had twenty years of sharing a bed been devotion... or a long, quiet war fought in the dark? Only those inside it knew the truth. Looking at the stubborn, blinded girl before her, Ivy felt her chest ache with something sharp and exhausted. She turned her gaze away-it hurt to look at her. "I will advise you only once," she said. "Do as you will, but prepare to bear the consequences." She walked past her stunned niece and stepped out of the Darkmoon Pack manor. The winter wind hit her face like claws, and she finally understood what it meant to stand alone. So this was how Raya had felt- Losing father, mother, mate- Her world collapsing into silence and bitterness. But at least Ivy had one thing Raya didn't: Twenty years of victory. And she did not regret it. Not even now.