Third Person's POV Maddox's fingers curled tightly around the metal frame of his wheelchair, knuckles paling from the strain. The biting cold of steel seeped into his bones, but it was nothing compared to the icy dread gnawing at his heart. Was she drawing a line between them? He wouldn't allow it. "What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Maddox snapped, voice trembling with disbelief. "Riley, we're mates!" Riley let out a mocking laugh. "You may have been my ‘mate,' Maddox, but you sure as hell weren't my father. You don't get to tell me who I see and do you need I repeate again that you have rejected me five years ago?" Maddox's face flushed with rage. His eyes flared, locking onto Caelum Knox, who stood protectively at Riley's side. Envy burned in his gaze like a wildfire, a feral growl rising in his throat. "You forgot our promise?" he spat, voice strained and low. "You said when I made something of myself, you'd stay by my side." Riley's expression twisted with bitter amusement. The laugh that left her lips was sharp as a silver blade. But deep down, a wave of sorrow rolled beneath her mocking tone-a sorrow for the girl she used to be. She had believed in Maddox. Back then, in the cold halls of the Ebonclaw where they clung to each other like broken twigs in a storm, she had thought they'd never part. It was one sentence from him-"I'll study law, and send everyone who's ever hurt you straight to the cells." That promise had bewitched her. She worked herself to the bone to help him. She slaved away at part-time jobs, entered every scholarship competition at Mooncrest Academy, and scraped by with the bare minimum. And every coin she earned? She sent it to Maddox-anonymously-so his pride wouldn't suffer. She thought she was helping him survive. Helping him climb. In her dreams, Maddox would one day rise as one of Mooncrest's most respected legal Alphas, standing before the Council, protecting her like a silver-cloaked guardian.But reality... was cruel. Maddox hadn't sent her tormentors to prison. He'd sent her. And worse-he spent her hard-earned money not on books or food, but on thousand-dollar sneakers, luxury jackets from rogue-hunting brands, watches worth a month's wage, and gifts for Scarlett. Scarlett-pampered, spoiled, and utterly unimpressed by Maddox's pathetic attempts at courtship-threw those gifts to the house staff like scraps. Riley, raised in poverty, had never known the brands. She hadn't realized that Maddox had dressed like a young heir for years, building himself a false identity as a born elite while feeding off her sacrifice. It wasn't until Caelum Knox's investigation into the Ebonclaw Pack revealed that Scarlett had impersonated Riley to send Maddox anonymous donations... that Riley saw the truth. He wasn't the same wolf she once loved. He was greedy. Vain. Selfish. He was the very kind of male she now despised. Her eyes darkened. Her voice dropped into a growl. "A promise?" she hissed. "Maddox, do you honestly think you deserve to speak that word?" "You threw me into prison. You handed me over like I was trash." "You really think I'd forgive you?" She stepped closer. Her presence radiated Alpha blood now, cold and composed. "I've made it very clear how I feel about you. So spare me the delusion. You don't even deserve to be called a stranger. At least strangers don't make me sick to my stomach every time I see them." Maddox's face twisted, a flush of shame and fury climbing his throat. His breath came in ragged gasps. His entire body trembled, humiliated and cornered. "No... No!" he snapped. "It wasn't me! You did that to yourself! If you hadn't lured Tessa into the Black Forest-if she hadn't been attacked by rogues and fallen into that coma-you never would've been sentenced! You brought it on yourself!" Riley's gaze turned glacial, her patience vanishing like mist under moonlight. Smack!Her hand connected with his cheek, the crack echoing through the air like thunder. His head snapped to the side. "Are you blind? Or just completely delusional?" she hissed, voice low and vibrating with fury. "Tessa woke up. She remembered everything. And she cleared my name the moment she could speak." "She told them it wasn't me who led her into that forest-it was Scarlett. Scarlett set her up. Scarlett left her to die!" Her chest heaved with rage, the storm in her heart breaking free. "And you-you knew! You knew, Maddox! You helped cover it up. You pinned it on me to save Scarlett. To keep me under your damn leash." "You ruined my life." Maddox's mind blanked. He couldn't process it. He didn't want to. Because if he admitted he had been wrong five years ago... Then he had truly destroyed everything between them. So he clung to the lie. Tried to make it true. He wanted her to carry that false guilt forever-wanted her to need him. Depend on him. Belong to him. He couldn't stand the thought of losing her. Especially not to someone like Caelum. He had known that Ronan Duskcliff once loved her. And back then, when he saw the growing closeness between them, he panicked. He couldn't let her go. So instead... he destroyed her. He let the world brand her a criminal. Because if she was hated, cast aside, broken-then maybe she'd come crawling back. Maybe then she'd be his again. He wasn't just obsessed.He was possessed. Even now, seeing her beside another wolf, Maddox's control shattered. The beast inside him howled. He would rather ruin her than watch her be loved by someone else.