After Alexander finished speaking,he led Jessica and Rhiannon upstairs without once looking back at her.The warmth of the lodge felt meaningless;the rain still clung to her hair.Elena moved through the motions of a hurried shower and crawled into bed,heavy with exhaustion and the ache in her belly.

How long she slept she could not tell.When she woke,her throat felt raw,as if she had been screaming into the wind.She called Alexander’s name a few times,but the only answer was the muffled cadence of a story drifting through the wall.

“Rhiannon is so much like you,”Jessica’s voice chimed,bright and proud.“Even when she’s upset,she copies you and tries to comfort me.”

“Of course,”Alexander replied,the pride in his tone unmistakable.“I raised her right.She’ll look after you when I’m gone.”

The image of Jessica’s smile was vivid even through plaster and timber.Elena listened as Alexander patted Rhiannon’s small back.“Alright,get some sleep.I’ll tell you both a bedtime tale.”

A few moments later his measured voice floated through the partition.“In a distant valley,there lived a king and queen…”

Staring up at the plain,white ceiling,Elena could only offer a bitter smile.Three years of marriage,and Alexander and Jessica shared the easy intimacy of a true pair—and the child they tucked in together belonged to them in every way that mattered.

She tried to sit up for water and knocked a framed portrait from the bedside.The glass shattered and the photograph of her and Alexander skittered across the floor,scuffed and misaligned.She rose despite the dizziness,barefoot into the dark,and stepped on shards.Pain lanced across her foot as she reached for the switch,swept the mess,and poured herself a drink.All the while,the story from the next room continued on—soft,steady,another life being described for a child who was not hers.

Bandaged and back beneath the covers,a memory stabbed through her:a time when Alexander had cancelled council duties to infirmary attendants a fever she’d barely had.“Don’t worry,”he had murmured then,“I’ll stay with you.I ache worse than you do.”That gentleness felt like a relic now.Tonight he had handed the ginger broth to Jessica.

Tears tracked silently down Elena’s face as dawn pinked the sky.Laughter from below roused her the next morning.She opened the door and found Jessica and Alexander’s mother in the parlor,whispering and smiling.

When Jessica spotted her,a smug expression crossed her face.“Aunt Evelyn,”she cooed to the elder woman,“don’t worry.Alexander only allows us to stay for a few days because of Rhiannon’s heart.Once the pack medic tends to her,we’ll leave.Besides,Natalie might grow overemotional.”

Evelyn Greyson held Rhiannon with a practiced air of adoration.“Why would she be upset?”the matriarch said coolly.“They’ve been married three years without heirs.Our little Rhiannon is perfect.Call me Grandmother.”

Rhiannon peered up and chimed,“Grandmother.”

Evelyn’s face brightened.She patted Jessica’s hand.“Jessica,one daughter isn’t enough.When you bear a son,I’ll make sure Alexander marries you properly.”

Elena’s stomach turned.She moved toward the doorway,but Evelyn’s voice snapped like a whip.“Stop right there!”

Two attendants—pack attendants,accustomed to carrying orders as easily as trays—materialized and seized Elena’s wrists,not allowing her to step forward.

“You’ve grown insolent,”Evelyn declared with theatrical disdain.“You do not even come downstairs to serve me tea.Bring her here.”

They hauled Elena to the landing.She fought,but their grips were iron.Evelyn,face alight with superiority,directed them with a delicate cruelty.“Make me a cup of tea—ninety-nine degrees.Do not fail.”

Elena stood,jaw clenched,and pretended not to hear.Jessica’s voice slid forward like honey.“Auntie,please.Let me handle this.I’m used to doing heavy work like that.”

Evelyn placed her hand in Jessica’s,indulgent.“You are the future daughter-in-law,child.How could you stoop to chores?Let her do it.”

Elena watched the tableau as if seeing herself from a distance—the way Jessica tried to step away,then froze under Elena’s stare.Annoyance creased Jessica’s features.

“What use is she here?She cannot bear pups and now she won’t even serve tea.Lock her away.I do not want to see her about the lodge.”

Two attendants tightened their hold to take her away.

At that moment Alexander emerged from the study,frowning.“Mother,that’s enough.”

Alexander’s glare cut through the parlor like winter wind.“Enough.Natalie is my mate,”he snapped,stepping between his mother and Elena.“You will not treat her this way.”

Evelyn Greyson blinked,incredulous.“Alexander,you defend an outsider over your own mother?Three years married and no pups—she’s less than a hen!Worthless.”Her voice dripped with the old breeding-house contempt of pack aristocracy.

Alexander opened his mouth,then closed it.Elena already knew the truth he could not say aloud:the child she had lost,the sickness in that night—Daniel’s complicity.She felt the old wound flare.

“Regardless,”Alexander said finally,voice hard,“you will not humiliate her.”

He reached for Elena’s hand.She yanked it away.“If you wanted a wolf who could give you pups,you should have taken one already.”

Her words landed like stones.Without meeting his mother’s eyes,Elena turned and went upstairs.

Alarm flickered in Alexander’s features;he hesitated,then started after her.A sudden cry from Rhiannon halted him.Jessica scooped the child up with an expertly performed gasp of alarm.“Rhiannon!Are you hurt?Is your heart—”

“Alexander,she startled Rhiannon.Will you come see?”Jessica’s voice trembled with practiced concern.

Alexander spun toward them,worry written across his face.He called for the family pack medic and knelt beside Rhiannon,searching the child’s small features for any sign of distress.He looked back once at the stairwell,torn;Elena had already seen too much.

What Elena could not know in the moment was the small,cruel pinch Jessica had delivered to Rhiannon’s arm as Alexander turned—an instant that would never register in his eyes as anything but genuine concern.Even if Elena had tried to tell him,he would have refused to believe it.

On the landing,Elena watched his concern for Rhiannon and felt the last thread of something like faith splinter.Back in their bedchamber she pulled every remnant of their life apart.Photographs,letters—three years of coiled promises—were swept into piles and tossed.Where he had once filled the world with vows,there was now only the echo of their old life.

She had barely begun to sit when Alexander’s hand forced the door.He stepped in and froze at the sight of the emptied shelves.“Natalie,what have you done?”

“Nothing,”she said,steady when her voice could have rattled.“Just taking away what isn’t mine.”

His expression was flat.“Bring tea to my mother.I made it.Go down.”

He shepherded her downstairs and shoved a steaming cup into her hands.Elena moved through the motion as if under water.Just as she reached for the tray,Jessica slid forward with the grace of a wolf who knows how to use attention as a knife.

“Allow me,”Jessica murmured,all sugar and predatory ease.“I’ll fetch it for her.”

Her smile was a blade.Elena stepped to intercept;their hands collided over the cup.The ceramic tipped.Tea sloshed and struck the floor.Jessica shrieked,clutching her arm as if struck,as if the silvered porcelain had left wounds.Instantly the room filled with a chorus that sided with the show:Evelyn gasped;attendants clustered;Alexander’s jaw tightened.

“Natalie,you’ve gone too far,”he said,voice rising.“Jessica was trying to help and you attacked her.”

Before Elena could explain,his hand flashed and struck her—quick,brutal judgment from the pack’s leader where mercy should have been.The sting sent her backward;her back hit the stair rail and she tasted copper.Evelyn’s thin smile widened into triumph.

“I warned you,”the matriarch intoned.“Lock her away before she disgraces us further.”

Two attendants seized Elena again,their grips trained and cold.They hauled her toward the basement storeroom as if moving a trapped cur.Alexander watched,the lines in his face closing like a snarl.He said nothing.

“Alexander,”Elena called,voice small under the weight of the cellar door,“you know I fear the dark.Will you truly let them lock me away?”

He paused at the threshold,conflict visible only for a breath,then turned his face away.“You hurt Jessica,”he said,voice clipped.“This is for order.A small punishment.”

The door thudded shut.Cold swallowed the storage room.Elena pounded until the hollowness around her took on the rhythm of a heartbeat.She curled in a corner,the world narrowing to the smell of old cedar and the distant murmur of the hearth above.Memories rose—how Alexander,once gentle in storms,had promised never to leave her in darkness.He had known.He had still let them do this.

With each sob that shook her,something inside Elena unlatched and fell away.

When Natalie woke,she found herself lying in her own bed.

She turned her head and saw Daniel beside her.Noticing her gaze,he opened his eyes and pulled her into his arms,his voice soft with a guilty timbre.“Natalie,you’re awake.Do you want to sleep a little longer?”

Feeling the warmth of his chest—the steady,familiar heat of a mate and pack-bond—a sharp ache cut through her and she pushed him away.

“Daniel,what are you pretending for?”

He froze,then answered,“I’m sorry.I thought Mother was only trying to scare you.I didn’t think those two retainers would actually lock you in the cellar.”

“Mother went too far this time,but you were the one who hurt Jennifer.”

Even now he made excuses.Natalie let out a cold,humorless laugh.“If you hadn’t said what you did,would they have dared to lock me up?”

She paused,then added,“Since your mother already treats Jennifer like her real daughter-in-law,why don’t I just leave?Then you and Jennifer can be together and your mother won’t be upset every time she sees me.”

With that,she rose and started to walk away.

Daniel moved quickly and pulled her into a hug,his voice shaking.“Natalie,after three years together,I won’t let you go.”

“Are you still upset about Jennifer?Then I’ll ask her to move out.I won’t see her again.”

His words might have fooled a naive girl;Natalie would not fall for them again.She shoved him away.Just as she opened her mouth to speak,the bedroom door burst open and Jennifer stood in the doorway,frozen,eyes wide,tears welling.

“No need to kick me out.I’ll take Rihanna and leave right now.”

With that,she turned and hurried away.Daniel sprang from the bed in a panic and chased after her,not even glancing at Natalie.

Natalie followed him down the hall.

Jennifer waited on the second-floor balcony,staring down at the two-meter-deep swimming pool below.Her eyes were rimmed red as she faced Daniel,voice trembling.“Daniel,if even you don’t want me anymore,then I’ll just jump.I know you and Natalie are the real couple,but I can’t stop feeling jealous.”

“Please take care of Rihanna after I’m gone.Don’t try to stop me.”

She stepped toward the railing.

Daniel lunged and wrapped his arms tightly around Jennifer,eyes full of anguish.“I’m sorry.It was my fault.I shouldn’t have said those things.The one I truly love is you.We still have Rihanna.If you really jump,what will happen to her?What about me?”

He looked at Jennifer with an affection that made Natalie’s skin crawl.Watching their little spectacle unfold,Natalie stepped from the shadows and slowly began to clap.

When Daniel saw her,his face went numb.He opened his mouth,then finally said with difficulty,“Natalie,I’ll explain everything tonight,okay?”

She shook her head and met him coolly.“No need.I’ll leave on my own soon.I won’t get in the way of your love.”

She turned to go,but Daniel reached out as if to stop her.Before he could touch her,Jennifer stepped between them.

“Natalie,please don’t leave Daniel because of me.This is my fault.I shouldn’t have brought Rihanna here and I shouldn’t have gotten so close to Daniel.I should be the one to leave.”

Jennifer’s false contrition made Natalie sick.

“Are you done?If so,move aside.”

Instead of stepping back,Jennifer grabbed Natalie’s arm.“Natalie,you and Daniel have to stay well.That way I’ll feel better even if I leave…”

Natalie gave a mocking smile and wrenched her arm free.

The next instant Jennifer screamed,flung up an arm and stumbled backward.Daniel,panic-stricken,shoved Natalie aside and lunged to catch her.He held Jennifer at the waist,voice trembling with relief.“Thank goodness you’re okay.I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

He did not see Natalie slip from the balcony;she fell into the pool below.