Two days after the incident in the dirt arena, Karina invited me to dinner.

She called it an olive branch. She said she wanted us to start fresh before the formal Mate Ceremony. Sebastian had beamed when he told me, kissing my forehead and saying how proud he was of Karina for being the bigger person. I didn't want to go, but refusing wasn't an option.

We sat across from each other in the small family dining room. A fire crackled in the hearth, casting flickering shadows across the polished oak table. Two Omegas stood quietly by the sideboard, their hands clasped in front of their aprons, eyes fixed on the floor.

Karina smiled warmly as an Omega placed a steaming bowl of dark, rich stew in front of me.

"I asked the kitchen to make something hearty," Karina said, taking a delicate sip of red wine. "You looked so pale after your fall the other day, Lennon. You really need your strength."

I looked down at the bowl. The broth was thick, smelling of rosemary and roasted meat. My stomach turned, but I picked up my spoon to be polite. "Thank you."

"Do you like it?" she asked, tilting her head. Her green eyes glittered in the firelight. "It's fresh game. Very tender."

I swallowed a small bite. It was sweet, unfamiliar. "What kind of meat is it?"

Karina set her wine glass down with a soft click. She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. Her smile widened, sweet and venomous.

"Oh, just a stray," she murmured, her voice dripping with mock innocence. "You know how careless people can be with little animals. Running around the courtyard, making noise. That scruffy little pup you dragged in... Barnaby, was it? Such a fragile little thing."

The room seemed to tilt on its axis.

The spoon slipped from my fingers, clattering loudly against the porcelain rim. Dark broth splashed across the white tablecloth. My breath caught in my throat, freezing into a hard, jagged knot of ice.

"What did you say?" I whispered.

"I'm just saying," Karina purred, her eyes dancing with wicked delight, "nothing goes to waste in a strong pack."

My wolf didn't just wake up—she detonated.

A raw, feral roar ripped from my throat. I shoved my chair back so hard it crashed to the floor. The table shook as I lunged forward, slamming both palms onto the wood. Dishes rattled. Silverware clattered.

"Where is he?!" I screamed, my vision swimming in red. "What did you do to him, you sick bitch?!"

Karina flinched backward, throwing her hands up in theatrical horror. "Lennon, please! I was only joking! Stop!"

"What is going on here?!"

The heavy doors flew open. Sebastian stormed into the room, his jacket unbuttoned, his jaw clenched tight.

Karina shrank back into her chair, trembling, eyes wide with terror. "Sebastian! I only made a joke about strays, and she... she came at me! She threatened me!"

"She killed Barnaby!" I choked out, spinning toward Sebastian, my hands shaking uncontrollably. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. "She put him in the stew, Sebastian! She cooked my pup!"

Sebastian didn't check the bowl. He didn't look at the meat. He looked only at me, his handsome face hardening into pure, disgusted fury.

"Enough!"

The word struck like a physical blow. His Alpha tone slammed into the room, crushing the air from my lungs. The sheer force of it dropped me instantly. The pressure bore down on my neck and shoulders, grinding my knees hard against the wooden floorboards.

"You are completely out of your mind," Sebastian snarled, stepping over my fallen chair to stand over me. His voice rumbled through my bones, paralyzing every muscle. "You're screaming like a rabid animal over a joke? In front of pack servants?"

"Sebastian, please—" I gasped, tears finally spilling over my burning cheeks. "Barnaby—"

"Silence!" he barked, the Alpha command locking my jaw shut. He pointed a rigid finger at Karina. "Apologize to her."

I stared up at him, my soul tearing at the seams. "What?"

"You heard me," he said coldly, looking down at me as if I were dirt beneath his boots. "Karina is an honored guest of Shadowveil. Dawnridge may let its wolves act like wild beasts, but you will show respect in my house. Kneel, and apologize."

I looked toward the sideboard. The two Omegas had their heads bowed, their shoulders stiff. In the reflection of the dark windowpane, I saw the elder Omega's eyes. They were wide, brimming with a quiet, helpless pity. They knew. Everyone in this house knew how twisted this was, and no one dared to speak.

The Alpha tone pressed down harder, threatening to snap my collarbones. My wolf whimpered, utterly subjugated by her fated mate.

Slowly, agonizingly, I turned my head toward Karina.

She sat back in her chair, watching me with a smug, victorious sneer playing at the corners of her lips.

"I'm... sorry," I whispered, the words tasting like ash and blood in my mouth. "I apologize, Lady Karina."

"See that it doesn't happen again," Sebastian said coldly. He turned to Karina, his voice instantly softening. "Come, Karina. Let's get you away from this."

He guided her out of the room, his hand resting gently against her back. The heavy doors shut behind them.

I stayed on the floor, my knees aching against the hardwood. I couldn't move.

A soft touch brushed my shoulder.

"Lady Lennon," a timid voice whispered.

I blinked through the blur of my tears. It was the older Omega from the sideboard. Her face was pale, lined with deep worry.

"Come with me," she breathed, casting a fearful glance at the closed doors. "Quickly. Before the guards cycle their rounds."

Numbly, I pushed myself up. I followed her out a narrow service door, moving like a ghost through the dim, stone corridors behind the kitchen. We descended a flight of damp stairs into the back of the cellars, weaving through stacks of dusty wine crates and spare linens.

She stopped at the very end of the hall, unlocking a low wooden door.

Inside the dark utility closet, sitting on a pile of worn towels, was a small ball of scruffy brown fur.

Two bright amber eyes blinked in the gloom.

"Barnaby," I choked out.

The pup let out a high, joyous yip and scrambled forward on clumsy paws, throwing his tiny body against my shins.

I dropped to the stone floor. I pulled him into my chest, burying my face in his scruff. He was warm. He was whole. He smelled like cedar chips and old wool. His little pink tongue frantically licked the salty tears from my jaw.

I held him so tightly my arms shook.

And then, the tears simply stopped.

I didn't sob. I didn't break. Sitting in the pitch-black storage room with the pup pressed against my heart, something inside me changed.

The desperate, frantic need to be loved by Sebastian—the pathetic urge to prove I was worthy of the mate bond—withered and died.

In its place, a strange, terrifying stillness took root.

It wasn't despair. It was cold, razor-sharp clarity.

My mind began to rewind through the last few weeks. I remembered the heavy brass key Sebastian kept on the ring in his study desk. I remembered how the hallway guards always rotated on the hour, leaving the east wing blind for exactly four minutes. I remembered the private mind-link terminal in the archives, and the locked records room in the healing wing where Sebastian retreated whenever Silverfang couriers arrived.

I stroked Barnaby's soft ears in the dark, my eyes wide and unblinking.

They thought I was broken. They thought I was a frightened, cursed stray who would take whatever scraps of cruelty they tossed my way.

I kissed the top of the pup's head, my heart beating with slow, lethal rhythm.

*Let them think it,* I thought. *Let them believe they've won.*