Ariel POV:

They moved me to a small room off the main hall. A cot, a basin of cold water, two guards outside talking about what Corbin had said.

The door shut. I stopped acting weak.

The chip was still with me. Whatever had brought me back had brought it too. Under normal conditions it made me close to untouchable in a fight or a surgery. Right now it was useless. I tried to power it on and got nothing but a flicker of a low-battery warning before it died. It needed power, and I had none to give it.

I let myself remember instead, properly this time, not the panicked flashes from the platform.

Wolfless. Born that way, into a world built entirely on pack hierarchy. That made me — the girl I used to be — worth nothing on my own. The Sun River Pack had traded me into this marriage to buy peace with the Black Moon Pack. My own family signed the contract and never once asked if I wanted to survive it. Nothing in that life explained what Corbin had just said in that hall. If Alphonso and I shared blood, I'd have known. I hadn't.

The door opened. Alphonso walked in with Chase.

He talked to Chase first. "Corbin's wrong."

"Corbin's never been wrong," Chase said. "Not once, in thirty years."

"Then he's wrong this time." Alphonso's voice was flat. His hands weren't steady.

"The elders want a formal verification," Chase said. "Today, if you fight it. Tomorrow, if you don't."

Alphonso looked at me. "You understand what this means. If it's true, this isn't a bad marriage. It's a crime, on both our heads."

"It's not true," I said.

"You don't know that."

"I know what I am," I said. "And a claim like that needs proof before anyone acts on it. So get me the proof."

Alphonso stared at me a long moment. "Fine. Corbin verifies it on my terms, not the elders'. Until then, she stays somewhere quiet. Away from the pack."

"The Secluded Cottage," Chase said.

"Fine." Alphonso turned to leave, then stopped at the door. "For your sake and mine, I hope he's wrong."

He left.

A servant named Trina came to walk me to the cottage. She grabbed my arm hard, on purpose. I said nothing. I just looked at her until she looked away.

On the walk there, she kept talking. "Everyone's already saying it. The wolfless bride and the Alpha's own blood." I didn't answer.

The cottage was small, damp, and cold. A cot. A table with a broken leg. Trina shoved me toward the bed. It pulled at my wound. I hissed through my teeth.

"Dinner comes later," she said. "Don't expect anything special, wolfless waste."

I stood up straight and looked at her. "From now on, you do not enter this room without my permission. Get out."

She froze for a second, then ran out and slammed the door.

The second it shut, my legs gave out. I slid down the wall to the floor.

Round one. A narrow win. But somewhere in that hall, an old man's nose had handed someone a weapon that could tear this whole marriage apart before it started, and I still didn't know who'd loaded it.

Ariel POV:

They moved me to a small room off the main hall. A cot, a basin of cold water, two guards outside talking about what Corbin had said.

The door shut. I stopped acting weak.

The chip was still with me. Whatever had brought me back had brought it too. Under normal conditions it made me close to untouchable in a fight or a surgery. Right now it was useless. I tried to power it on and got nothing but a flicker of a low-battery warning before it died. It needed power, and I had none to give it.

I let myself remember instead,not the panicked flashes from the platform.

Wolfless. Born that way, into a world built entirely on pack hierarchy. That made me — the girl I used to be — worth nothing on my own. The Sun River Pack had traded me into this marriage to buy peace with the Black Moon Pack. My own family signed the contract and never once asked if I wanted to survive it. Nothing in that life explained what Corbin had just said in that hall. If Alphonso and I shared blood, I'd have known. I hadn't.

The door opened. Alphonso walked in with Chase.

He talked to Chase first. "Corbin's wrong."

"Corbin's never been wrong," Chase said. "Not once, in thirty years."

"Then he's wrong this time." Alphonso's voice was flat. His hands weren't steady.

"The elders want a formal verification," Chase said. "Today, if you fight it. Tomorrow, if you don't."

Alphonso looked at me. "You understand what this means. If it's true, this isn't a bad marriage. It's a crime, on both our heads."

"It's not true," I said.

"You don't know that."

"I know what I am," I said. "And a claim like that needs proof before anyone acts on it. So get me the proof."

Alphonso stared at me a long moment. "Fine. Corbin verifies it on my terms, not the elders'. Until then, she stays somewhere quiet. Away from the pack."

"The Secluded Cottage," Chase said.

"Fine." Alphonso turned to leave, then stopped at the door. "For your sake and mine, I hope he's wrong."

He left.

A servant named Trina came to walk me to the cottage. She grabbed my arm hard, on purpose. I said nothing. I just looked at her until she looked away.

On the walk there, she kept talking. "Everyone's already saying it. The wolfless bride and the Alpha's own blood." I didn't answer.

The cottage was small, damp, and cold. A cot. A table with a broken leg. Trina shoved me toward the bed. It pulled at my wound. I hissed through my teeth.

"Dinner comes later," she said. "Don't expect anything special, wolfless waste."

I stood up straight and looked at her. "From now on, you do not enter this room without my permission. Get out."

She froze for a second, then ran out and slammed the door.

The second it shut, my legs gave out. I slid down the wall to the floor.

Round one. A narrow win. But somewhere in that hall, an old man's nose had handed someone a weapon that could tear this whole marriage apart before it started, and I still didn't know who'd loaded it.