The Supreme Alpha's Defiant Substitute Bride

Celina Cross POV:

The sound of my bare heels clicking down the hardwood steps silenced the foyer.

Kerrie Decker sat rigidly on the Italian leather sofa below. Her jet-black hair was pinned into an immaculate bun, and her narrow, dark-brown eyes flashed with venom. Beside her stood Curtis and a nervous man in a gray suit holding a black leather briefcase—the Decker Pack's chief legal counsel.

"You dare threaten this family with suicide?" Kerrie slammed her porcelain teacup onto the glass table, splashing hot tea across the polished surface.

As my biological mother, she had never given me an ounce of warmth since retrieving me from the rural sanctuary. To her, I was an embarrassment—a wolfless stain on the Decker bloodline, useful only as a pawn.

I reached the bottom of the stairs, stopping a few paces from the coffee table. I didn't sit down.

"Cut the theatrics," I said evenly. "Are the papers ready?"

Kerrie's chest heaved with fury. "You ungrateful little monster! We gave you life, brought you back from the dirt, and this is how you repay us? Taking Clarissa's place to secure our Pack's future is the highest honor you could ever achieve!"

"Trading my life to keep the Decker Group from collapsing is not an honor," I replied, my voice slicing through the room like a silver blade. "If it's such a privilege, let your precious adopted daughter go."

"Shut up and sign the papers!" Curtis barked from behind the sofa, glancing anxiously toward the front doors where the Mcleod convoy was waiting. "Mother, don't waste breath on her. Get it done so we can hand her over."

Kerrie signaled the lawyer with a sharp jerk of her chin.

The lawyer scrambled forward, laying two thick documents on the edge of the glass table. "Miss Cross, these are the dual-notarized severance documents. One copy for the municipal human legal system, and one on enchanted parchment for the Royal Court's blood records."

I leaned down and skimmed the terms. The clauses were ruthless. They stated that I voluntarily surrendered every inheritance right, stripped myself of the Decker name, and declared that my life and death would no longer bear any connection to the Decker Pack.

It was exactly what I wanted.

I took the custom fountain pen from the table and signed my name on the human legal contract without a second of hesitation.

Then, I raised my right hand, bit into the tip of my index finger, and pressed a bead of fresh blood onto the enchanted parchment. A dark-red spark ignited along the parchment's edges, sealing the blood oath before fading into the fiber.

The moment the oath locked into place, a subtle, heavy chain deep within my soul shattered. The biological tie connecting me to the Decker lineage dissolved completely. A wave of profound lightness washed over my chest.

I picked up the signed documents and slapped them onto the table directly in front of Kerrie.

"From this second on," I said, "I am no longer a Decker."

Kerrie stared at the bloodstain on the parchment, a satisfied smirk curling her thin lips. To her, she had successfully discarded a useless burden while securing her family's wealth.

"Good," she scoffed. "Now get out."

"We aren't finished," I said, standing tall and locking eyes with her. "There's still the matter of the dowry."

Curtis frowned, stepping around the sofa to confront me. "What are you talking about? You signed the severance! Get in the damn car!"

"The Mcleod Pack transferred one hundred million dollars into your corporate escrow account this morning as the official dowry for their bride," I said, my voice echoing clearly through the high-ceilinged room. "Since I am the bride stepping into that den, that money belongs to me."

The color drained from Kerrie's face. Her fingers dug violently into the leather cushions.

"You're out of your mind!" Kerrie shrieked, jumping to her feet and abandoning all upper-class decorum. "That money is the Mcleod Pack's strategic investment in the Decker Group! Why would a dying substitute bride need a hundred million dollars?"

"It is the dowry paid for the bride's life," I replied with chilling calm. "It is not a charity handout for your failing business. Transfer the money to my private offshore account right now, or I walk out that back door and let the Mcleods tear down your gates."

Right on cue, a heavy horn blared outside the iron gates. The armored SUVs were idling impatiently, their sheer presence rattling the estate's reinforced windows.

Curtis broke into a cold sweat. He knew Houston Mcleod's reputation. If they failed to deliver the bride today, the Mcleod Pack's financial and military forces would obliterate the Decker Group by midnight.

"Mother, give it to her!" Curtis hissed, leaning down to Kerrie's ear. "Let her take it! Once she arrives at the Mcleod territory, Houston's silver madness will rip her apart in hours. The Mcleods will still honor the alliance as long as the bride reaches their gate. We can recover the loss through the merger after she's dead!"

Kerrie trembled with rage, her eyes burning with pure malice. But faced with total ruin, she had no choice.

Before she could speak, a delicate, tearful sob echoed from the second-floor landing.

"Sister... please don't fight with mother..."

Clarissa Decker walked down the grand staircase, clutching the banister as if her fragile body could barely support her weight. She was draped in an expensive white lace gown, her pale face streaked with carefully placed tears—the perfect picture of an innocent, heartbroken Omega.