The Supreme Alpha's Defiant Substitute Bride

Celina Cross POV:

Clarissa hurried down the steps in her designer heels, throwing her arms around Kerrie like a devoted daughter.

"Sister, I know you resent me," Clarissa whispered, her honey-brown eyes swimming with fake sorrow as she looked at me. "If you're angry, take it out on me... but the Pack needs those funds to survive..."

"Shut your mouth," I said coldly.

Under her cloying perfume and styled hair, my heightened senses picked up the faint, nauseating stench of decaying flesh and dark blood magic. She was a Rogue witch who had stolen youth through forbidden skin-binding spells, yet this blind family worshipped her like a sacred blessing.

Clarissa flinched under my stare, retreating behind Kerrie with a theatrical tremble.

"Celina! How dare you speak to Clarissa like that!" Curtis roared, stepping in front of his beloved adopted sister like an enraged guard dog. "She has a weak heart! You're a heartless monster!"

"I don't have time for your pathetic family drama," I said, pulling a sleek black titanium card from my pocket and slapping it onto the glass table. "Call your Chief Financial Officer. Transfer the full hundred million to this account now."

Kerrie's jaw tightened so hard I could hear her teeth grind. Under Curtis's desperate nod, she picked up the internal landline and barked an order.

Within two minutes, the CFO ran into the foyer, clutching an encrypted laptop with trembling hands.

"Transfer the Mcleod dowry funds," Kerrie forced out through clenched teeth. "All of it. To her card."

The CFO didn't dare ask questions. His fingers flew across the keyboard in the tense, suffocating silence of the foyer.

A sharp chime came from my phone. I unlocked the screen. The notification confirmed that one hundred million dollars had cleared into my private Swiss account.

I picked up the black card and twirled it between my index and middle fingers. Watching Kerrie's face twist with grief over the lost money was almost satisfying.

"Now take your blood money and get out of my sight!" Kerrie screamed, her voice cracking.

Clarissa peeked out from behind Curtis, greed flashing in her eyes before she forced her lips into a pitiful tremble.

"Sister," Clarissa choked out, "please take care of yourself in the Mcleod territory. I'll pray to the Moon Goddess for your safety every single day."

I took three slow steps forward, closing the distance between us. The shift in my posture radiated enough pressure that Clarissa instinctively stepped back, her heel catching on the edge of the Persian rug.

I leaned down until my lips were inches from her ear.

"Keep your fake prayers to yourself," I whispered, low enough that only she could hear. "And you might want to check the stitching behind your neck. That rotting-corpse smell of yours is getting harder to cover up."

Clarissa's pupils shrank to pinpricks. The color drained from her skin, leaving her looking like a ghost. Her whole body began to shake with genuine, suffocating terror.

I straightened and gave her a cold, dismissive smirk.

Without another glance at the Decker family, I turned on my heel and walked out the front doors.

Outside on the stone porch, the butler had already tossed my single battered canvas suitcase onto the wet pavement like garbage.

Beyond the driveway, three black Mcleod SUVs waited in the torrential rain, their reinforced steel frames gleaming under the overcast sky.

The rear door of the lead vehicle opened, and two massive werewolf warriors in tailored tactical suits stepped out. They ignored the suitcase, walked up to me, and bowed their heads with formal, rigid discipline.

"Miss Cross," the lead warrior said without emotion. "The Alpha is waiting."

"Let's go," I said.

As I reached the open door of the SUV, Curtis ran out onto the covered porch, shouting through the downpour with vicious spite.

"You think you won because you took the money? Houston Mcleod has lost his mind to silver poison! By midnight, he'll rip your throat out and paint his bedroom with your blood!"

I paused with one foot inside the vehicle. I turned my head, gave him a slow, mocking smile, and slid into the leather interior.

The heavy, bulletproof door slammed shut with a solid thud, sealing away the Decker estate forever. The engine roared to life, and the convoy accelerated smoothly into the dark rain.