Chapter 640

Azalea POV

The cold stone of the conservatory floor bit into my knees, but it was nothing compared to the hollow crater Vance had just carved into my chest. Childish fantasy. His final words echoed in my mind, suffocating me in the damp, Moonflower-scented air. My Inner Wolf howled — a soundless, agonizing cry of pure rejection.

“Tears are a waste of hydration, little one.”

The scent of old parchment and sharp fir cut through the humidity. I jerked my head up, my vision blurred. The man from the ballroom — the one who had openly threatened Dallas — stood over me.

“Julian Valerius,” I choked out, scrambling backward until my back hit a stone planter.

“Your mother’s brother. Your biological uncle,” he said smoothly, his voice carrying the undeniable, heavy resonance of an Alpha.

Before I could protest, he tossed a heavy, ancient parchment onto the stones between us. It bore the Valerius crest, sealed with dark, shimmering blood magic. “You found her diary, didn’t you? You read her frightened little scribbles about our family’s curse.”

I stared at the crest, my reality fracturing. My mother’s dying words rushed back to me — a feverish whisper from my childhood: Don’t let them find you, Azalea. Don’t let the name Valerius ever touch you.

“Why are you here?” I whispered, my chest heaving.

“To offer clarity,” Julian murmured, his eyes gleaming with a predator’s calculated pity. “I heard your little display with the Gamma. You think he rejected you out of duty?” He chuckled — a dark, scraping sound. “His Inner Wolf is sharp. It sensed the instability in your veins. The taint. A warrior like him craves a pure she-wolf to bear strong pups, not a dangerous, polluted half-breed.”

The lie slid into my heart like a silver blade. My Inner Wolf let out a pathetic, broken whine, curling in on herself in absolute shame. It wasn’t duty. It was me. I was defective. The realization was a poison that paralyzed my very soul.

“But you are still Valerius blood,” Julian continued, his voice dropping to a velvet whisper. “And I can help you save the only family you have left. Dallas Marshall is dying.”

My head snapped up. “No…”

“The silver poisoning is eating his soul,” Julian pressed, stepping closer. “He cannot shift. His enemies are circling the Blackwood Pack. Only the Valerius blood-witches and our legendary Healer Elias can purge the silver from his system.” He leaned down, his gaze locking onto mine. “I will save your Alpha. But you must return to your true Pack. Come with me, and sever all ties with the Marshalls forever.”

I looked back through the glass walls toward the distant, glowing ballroom. Vance had rejected me. My father was dying, and I had been entirely powerless to save him. If my heart was already irreparably broken and my blood was a cursed taint, I could at least be a weapon for the man who had raised me.

“I’ll do it,” I whispered, the last piece of my childhood dying on my tongue.

“Good girl. Have your things ready,” Julian said, turning toward the shadows. “We leave before dawn.”

Minutes later, I stumbled out of the glasshouse onto the dark garden path. The cool night air hit my tear-stained face.

“Azalea?”

The voice pierced the night. Adella.