of a powerful, dangerous pack. Guards, their senses heightened by generations of instinct, sh

agnificent, muscular beasts, were fed just outside the massive iron gates, their low growls and eager barks echoing through the crisp dawn air. But

, blood-red signet ring glinting on his right hand-a mark of his lineage and his lethal power. His presence was like thunder held in an iron grip, a storm barely restrained by sheer

deliberate, a silent defiance in itself. She didn't s

is voice a low, gravelly so

h-backed chair opposite him, her spine st

culous, predatory sweep that felt like a violation. He saw the subtle flush, the lingering softness around her lip

g this morning," he stated,

venly, her voice a low, stea

tired, Luna. Your stamina was

en thread, a lure d

r gaze steady, unyielding. "Nothing." The single word wa

lines around his mouth tighten

ed steps, his eyes never leaving her. When he reached her, he didn't touch her-just hovered behind, his massive fo

ngerous growl, barely a whisper. "Something recent. Male. Strong." The sce

cold knot forming in her stomach

, her lie practiced, yet

lice skin, cutting through her feeble excuse. The controlled thu

d up in a defiant challenge, meeting his furious gaze. "And what if I did lie,

just seventeen. During a moon hunt that had gone violently wrong, in a rebellious attempt to flee the suffocating confines of the estate and his control, she had tried to run.

ience etched int

zing second. Every scream

shared wound, hung heav

replaced by a cold, manipulative calm. "You think me cruel, Lun

yes. But more importantly, from the da

unwavering. "The world? Or the stifling we

deliberate, like a chess master returning to his board. He sat, his fingers ste

said, his voice low, laden with a chilling certainty. "Predators

ons, they contaminate

fear she'd been carrying solidified into dread. "You mean Et

Beta, with no ancestral bloodline to vouch for him, no innate loyalty to this pack. He showed up at

a reaction. "He's loyal to the cause, Father. To our

tic scoff. "Is that what he whispered in your bed last night, child

e him all the a

but she refused

fe? That because he touched you like a man and not a beast, he means you no harm? That hi

ils digging into her palms. "I won't be u

been whispering in the ears of my most trusted enforcers. Ludo. Marta. Even Grayson. Planting doubt, insidious

I promise you this-he has one. And it lea

llenged, her voice surprisingl

the room with menace. "I'm never wrong about

hawking goods from the village, trainees sparring in the practice rings, messengers arriving with scrolls bound with crimson ribbon. Luna stood under one of the cool, stone arches that lined the courtyard, wra

re cutting through the crowd like a shadow, her pul

oke of past battles. A hunter's knife was strapped to his thigh, a gleam of polished steel against dark cloth. His steps were casual,

nger. The seaml

k of no

nnerving precision. A faint, almost imperceptible smirk touched his lips before he b

under his breath, his voice a low, intimate murmur,

w, laced with genuine urgency. "My father... he knows. Or at the ve

hed, a cool, unp

inally said somethi

's clothing. Of you contaminating his enforcer

as not a sigh of weariness, but one of calculated impatience. He stepped closer, invading her personal space, his

up. "Move... how?" The question was b

he courtyard, towards the greenhouse at the very edge of the estate-a secluded, rarely visited structure, abandoned during the harsh winter, now half-reclaimed b

the soft click echoing in the hushed air, s

said quietly, his gaze

est, a defensive gesture, yet her

than. About who you are.

ow, deliberate

. You chose to protect my secret, even

yes burning with a mixture of de

an. Don't make me regret choo

hurried, each step a deliberate

on to," he murmured, his v

jaw. His thumb stroked the soft skin beneath her ear,

; it was a potent declaration of power, a calculated step in his intricate game. She tasted it on his tongue-not abstract power, but his fierce will, his unwavering control. She

The defiance within her warred with a comp

reaths mingling, their eyes locked, reflecting the

ust me, Luna. Now

sing even herself, a fragile admission

e here to do," he pressed,

ll simmering in her veins. "Which is what, exactly

once more the ruthless strategist. His eyes, though still golden, held a cold, unwa

ck with a subtle unease, a tension that spread like a s

a half-empty bottle of potent whiskey clutched in his hand, a limp, blo

casually, leaning against the cold stone wall besid

er the rim of his bottle. "Dominic?" The

His strategies are archaic. He demands absolute obedience, but that makes

s gaze fixed on the distant forest. But a flicker of somethi

ng?" Ethan pressed, his voice laced with a subtl

's ego? Before we were just pawns in

ing Ethan's, a spark of defiance in their

e of his lips. "So do I look like

like someone who kno

g her technique, her raw, untamed strength. He told her she deserved more than endless guard duty, more than being relegated to a decorative warrior. He whispered that Dominic

Ethan fed him a vision of new leadership, a revolution cloaked in progress. A pack where betas could rise, where bloodlines did

of discontent. Subtle,

preading through the fertile ground

-the brutal, physical reminder of the night Dominic had caged her. Her fingers traced its raised line like a prayer, a silent warnin

the night before-how his kiss had left a warmth that still linger

en two predators. Tw

whose brutality was a famil

ved, whose dangerous intentions wer

ard a

the window, a soft, delibe

robe, her heart quickening. She opened the

presence filling the room with the scent of pine and som

he whispered, his voice

her gaze locking with h

distance between them, until

ake, Luna." The words were a quiet promis