Lia:

I woke up choking on air.

My body jerked upright before my mind caught up, heart slamming so hard it hurt. White walls replaced trees. The smell of antiseptic burned my nose. Lights, too bright, too clean, made my vision swim.

Not the forest.

Not dead.

The realization didn’t calm me. It made panic crash down harder, my heart racing faster than it should have.

I swung my legs off the bed, ignoring the sharp protest in my arm and shoulder. Pain flared, grounding and terrifying all at once. Someone had patched me up. Someone had brought me somewhere.

Pack territory.

I pushed to my feet, unsteady, instincts screaming to run.

“Easy,” a woman’s voice said, calm but firm. “Breathe. I know that you are scared, but you need to breathe.”

A hand lifted, not to grab, not to restrain, but to stop me without touching me. Authority radiated from her in a way that made my wolf hesitate despite herself.

“Slowly,” she added. “In. And out. You need to calm yourself, child. I know that you don’t want to, but you must.”

I didn’t listen.

I knew better than to trust strangers in packs.

I took another step, dizziness crashing into me like a wall. The room tilted. My knees nearly buckled.

“You won’t make it past the door, your body is still too weak. And frankly, I don’t even think that you would know where to go.” she said gently. “Plus, no one is chasing you here. You can allow yourself to sit. And as much as I wouldn’t have said it, you are safe as my son bids it.”

I froze.

The woman stood a few feet away, composed, observant. Silver threaded through her dark hair, her posture straight, her presence… steady. Alpha-adjacent. Powerful in a quieter way. Her eyes softened as they met mine, not pity. Recognition.

Fear.

She saw it immediately.

“You’re terrified, and we are not going to get anywhere with this.” she said, not accusing. Stating a fact. “And that tells me more than your scent ever could. An Alpha born who turned rogue.”

“You know nothing.” I said, and she smiled.

“I know enough.” She said, looking me in the eye. “And I think that the two of us know that I am not wrong in my statement.”

My chest rose and fell too fast. “Where am I?” I demanded, my voice hoarse.

“Safe,” she replied. “As I said, my son wants you safe. No one is going to harm you.”

I laughed, short, broken. “That’s a lie. This is no safe ground.”

“No,” she said. “It isn’t. I have no reason to lie to you. And if I, or anyone, wanted you hurt, trust me, child… you would have been.”

Her gaze flicked briefly to the door, then back to me. “Sit,” she instructed. “Before you collapse. You are already fighting back to balance, and your wolf has yet to heal. You should exert yourself simply because you are choosing to be stubborn.”

“I don’t trust you.” I said, and she smiled.

“You don’t need to. Your body will do the job before you can choose to say another word.” She said, and though I wanted to object… she was right. My body betrayed me, sinking back onto the bed as my strength drained away.

“How am I alive?” I asked quietly. “I was… I should have been dead.”

Her lips pressed together for a moment before she answered. “My son brought you here. You were bleeding. You were taken care of. You just need to heal for now.”

The words didn’t make sense.

“Your… son?” I echoed. “You keep talking about him, but you never mentioned…”

“Yes, my son.” She stepped closer now, close enough that I could smell her properly, pack, authority, warmth.

“What?”

“You were unconscious when you arrived. Injured. He carried you himself.” She said, not bothering to stop, to allow me to think, to regather my thoughts. “You would have died if he hadn’t.”

My mind scrambled, memories colliding and refusing to line up.

The bond.

The rejection.

The growls.

Violence exploding around me…

Him.

Marcel.

My breath caught painfully as his face surfaced in my mind, sharp and unyielding, his voice low and certain as the world went dark.

You’re safe now.

“No,” I whispered. “That doesn’t make sense. He kills…”

The woman watched the realization dawn, something unreadable crossing her expression.

“You remember him,” she said, stopping me. “And to say the least, you know of him.”

Before I could answer, before I could decide whether to deny it, the door opened.

The room changed instantly.

Power filled the space, heavy and unmistakable, pressing into my skin like a warning. My wolf stirred despite everything, despite the rejection, despite my fear.

He… Marcel, walked in.

His gaze went straight to me.

“Mother,” he said calmly, breaking the tension without raising his voice, “please give us a moment.”

The woman, Isobel, my mind supplied distantly, studied us both. Then she nodded once.

“I’ll be nearby,” she said, her eyes lingering on me. “You are safe here, child. Remember that. If we wanted you dead… you wouldn’t have survived long enough to wake up now…”

Marcel:

I closed the door behind my mother and didn’t move closer right away.

Lia sat rigid on the edge of the bed, shoulders tight, eyes sharp despite the exhaustion clinging to her. She looked like she was ready to bolt, or attack. Either way, she was coiled for violence.

“May I sit?” I asked, keeping my tone even. “I am not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

Her head snapped up. Fury flashed across her face so fast it surprised me.

“Why?” she shot back. “So you can watch me better while you decide how to kill me? Because I doubt that you are here to simply speak to me. What is it going to be? A ransom? Or are you going to torment the answers of whatever questions you might have out of me?”

I frowned. That… wasn’t what I had expected.

“I brought you here because you were bleeding out,” I said slowly. “You would have died in that forest. I wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Questioning or harming you… why would you even think that?”

Her laugh was bitter. Sharp. Both an answer to her pain, my question…

“Don’t insult me by pretending this is mercy.” She said, glaring at me. “What do you really want from me?”

I took a step closer. She didn’t retreat. Good. Fearless, or reckless. Possibly both.

“I wasn’t going to let you die,” I said, firmer now. “Whatever you think of me, that much should be obvious.”

Her eyes burned. “Of course you brought me here. It makes sense. You didn’t want anyone else taking the kill. The great Alpha, the killer of rogues… since that bitch played through your walls and councils chose to break whatever protection…”

“I never needed anything that the council, or Katherine believed to take.” I said, stopping her. “And I wouldn’t have had the rogues kill you.”

“Then by all means, enjoy your kill.” She said darkly as she clenched her fists. “It should be an easy one given my current position.”

The words landed harder than they should have.

I stopped in front of her, leaning down just enough that she had to look at me. “Do you really believe that I want you dead?” I asked quietly. “Do you think that you would have woken up if I did?”

For a heartbeat, uncertainty flickered across her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but she closed it again, fighting back whatever it was that she wanted to say.

“Why?” She whispered, looking me in the eye.

I wanted to think of a proper response, one that wouldn’t have her turning against me…

Then the door opened. “Alpha…”

“Elara?” I said sharply. “What do you want?”

She walked in like she owned the room, expression soft, familiar—too familiar. She crossed straight to my side, fingers brushing my arm as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” she said lightly, smiling up at me. “Your mother’s calling for you.”

I looked at her. “For what?”

“She didn’t say.” A pause. Perfectly timed. “But she sounded concerned. She didn’t want to walk in here herself. She didn’t want to frighten our guest here.”

Lia’s gaze snapped between us, her jaw tightening. The air shifted. Tension coiled tight and volatile.

I exhaled slowly.

“I’ll be back,” I said, more to myself than to Lia. “And we are going to talk when I’m back.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Of course you will.”

I didn’t answer, mostly because I knew that she was going to need to process whatever was going on.

I turned and followed Elara into the hall.

The moment the door closed behind us, I stopped walking.

“What were you doing in that room?” I asked coldly.

She spun around, irritation flashing through her carefully composed expression. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I asked, glaring at her. “And you know well enough that I don’t like repeating myself twice.”

She scoffed. “I was checking on you. On her. Everyone is talking about you bringing her here, and now that you are in her room personally… what do you think that’s going to spark?”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

Her lips pressed together. “You’re being unreasonable. Everyone knows my place with you, and it is my right to ask questions when you bring in a woman, in your arms… and not to mention, she is a rogue.”

“I did not ask for your opinion.” I said, shutting her out completely. “And I wouldn’t ask about something when I am the one making decisions.”

Her eyes hardened. “You don’t get to shut me out, Marcel. I am not going to sit back and watch… And if that is what you expect…”

“I just did.” I said, stopping her. “And if you don’t like it, I believe that you know to walk out that door.”

She stared at me for a long moment, then huffed sharply and turned away. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”

She walked out the door without another word.

I stood there longer than necessary.

Behind me, I felt it before I heard it, my mother’s presence, quiet and observant.

“You really did bring in chaos,”

Lia:

The food was untouched.

I didn’t want to eat, but the maids insisted that I had to get something to eat.

I knew he would notice it the second he walked in. The tray sat neatly on the small table by the window, warm soup, bread, water. Real food. Pack food. I hadn’t eaten any of it, but I had stopped pacing. Stopped shaking.

That alone would tell him I wasn’t as frightened as before.

The door opened without a knock.

Marcel stepped inside, closing it behind him with deliberate calm. His gaze flicked to the tray, then to me. No judgment. No comment.

He pulled out the chair across from the bed and sat. “I see that you are still being stubborn with eating.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything to eat.” I said, and he scoffed.

“And let you starve yourself to death.”

“It would be a better option than being poisoned.” I said, and he raised an eyebrow before taking the glass and taking a sip of the water, setting it back in its place. I looked away from him, knowing that he just proved a point.

Then again, I knew that I would have smelled it if they snuck in poison.

For a moment, neither of us spoke. I just stared into space, wondering what was coming next.

The silence stretched, heavy but not suffocating. Different from before. I hated that I noticed. And I hated, more than anything, that my wolf felt comfortable with whatever this was.

I exhaled slowly. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you earlier. I am sorry for it.”

His eyes lifted to mine. Sharp. Assessing.

“You were injured,” he said. “And cornered. I wouldn’t blame you for being scared given everything that you must have endured until today.”

“That doesn’t excuse it.”

“No,” he agreed. “It explains it. But you don’t need to apologize for it.”

I looked away, jaw tightening. The words sat between us, unsettling in their lack of accusation.

He leaned back slightly. “What’s your story?”

I stiffened.

“My what?”

“Your story,” he repeated evenly. “Why you were running? Not from the rogues that night… from everything. And don’t tell me that you weren’t. It wasn’t me your were running from. You knew, since the moment you saw me weeks ago, that I wouldn’t harm you.”

I didn’t answer.

The seconds ticked by. I could feel him watching me, waiting. Not pressing. That somehow made it worse.

One brow lifted, just a fraction. “I thought so.”

I glared at him. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Pretend you’re patient.”

A corner of his mouth twitched. “I am patient. And I am waiting for an answer. One way or another, I am going to get it.”

“With everyone else,” I shot back. “I have no answers to give to you.”

He didn’t deny it.

“Listen,” he said, voice lowering. “I can’t help you if you won’t speak. I am not going to hurt you, Lia.”

I laughed, short and humorless. “I don’t need your help.”

His gaze sharpened.

“What I need,” I continued, forcing the words out before doubt could stop me, “is for you to accept my rejection. And let me leave. Me staying here is not going to do any of us any good.”

Silence snapped into place.

Then he smirked.

It wasn’t kind. It wasn’t amused. It was slow and dangerous.

He rose from the chair and took one step toward me.

Then another.

I stood my ground, even as every instinct screamed at me to move.

He stopped close enough that I could feel him, heat, power, something ancient and unyielding pressing into my space. His eyes held mine, and then…

Gold bled into the dark.

His wolf surged forward, not fully, but enough. Enough to make my breath hitch. Enough to remind me exactly who I was standing in front of. Enough to remind me that he could have my head if he wanted to, and he was choosing not to.

“That,” he said quietly, voice layered with something not entirely human, “is not going to happen. And it would be better if you allow yourself to breathe.”

My heart slammed against my ribs.

Before I could speak, before I could argue or threaten or beg, he stepped back, turned, and walked out of the room.

I stared at the door for a second too long before releasing a breath that I didn’t even realize that I was holding before opening my mouth.

“Well then, Alpha… it seems to me that you are in for a surprise…”