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Still locked on Vex's knot, I process what this means. Time—precious days or weeks before the Council might try to take me. Time I desperately need to figure out my next move.

Kain moves toward the tunnel entrance, pausing to deliver his parting shot. "Expect Enforcement Division follow-up within standard procedural timeframe. Council jurisdiction assessment typically requires fourteen to twenty-one days depending on caseload."

Two to three weeks. That's my window.

When Kain's footsteps finally fade, Vex's knot remains firmly locked inside me, showing no signs of subsiding. We're still joined completely, his massive bulk stretching me beyond mylimits while his seed continues to pulse into me in lazy spurts. I try to pull away, but any movement sends sharp pleasure-pain through my overstretched channel.

"Don't move," Vex growls, his hands settling on my hips to hold me in place. "My knot won't go down for another fifteen minutes at least."

I'm trapped, naked and filled with his cum, forced to remain connected to him while we have this conversation. The vulnerability is overwhelming—I can't even cover myself with his massive frame caging me from behind, his knot ensuring I can't escape his claim.

"I hate you," I whisper, though the words ring hollow with his knot still pulsing inside me. The blood bond makes even my anger feel compromised, tainted by biology I can't control and the ongoing physical connection I can't escape.

"I saved you from breeding facilities," Vex says quietly, his hands still gripping my hips to keep me steady while we're locked together. Without the dominant growl from our performance, his voice carries something that might be regret. "The demonstration was necessary to prevent immediate transfer."

"By making me your property instead of theirs," I spit, trying to twist away from him despite the painful stretch of his knot. The movement sends fresh sparks through my oversensitive channel, making me gasp.

"Hold still," he commands, tightening his grip. "You'll hurt yourself fighting the knot." His tone gentles slightly. "By making you my mate. Breeding stock has no protection beyond utility. Mates have rights under Conquest Law that even the Council must acknowledge."

I'm forced to remain motionless, impaled and filled with his seed while processing his words. The vulnerability is overwhelming—having this crucial conversation while nakedand knotted, unable to put distance between us or even face him properly.

"What's the difference?" I ask through gritted teeth, another pulse from his knot making me shudder involuntarily. "I'm still trapped. Still claimed. Still carrying your cum whether I want it or not."

"The difference," he says, one hand moving to stroke my hair with surprising gentleness, "is that mates can't be transferred without consent. Can't be bred by other alphas. Can't be sold or traded like livestock."

His knot gives another lazy pulse, reminding me exactly how thoroughly I've been claimed. The physical reality makes his words feel both like salvation and deeper entrapment.

"Two to three weeks," I whisper, my voice shaking as much from his continued presence inside me as from emotion. "I have two to three weeks to figure out what that means."

"We have two to three weeks," he corrects, and I feel him shift slightly behind me, his knot still firmly locked in place. "This concerns both of us now."

The claiming marks on my neck throb with each heartbeat, permanent reminders of what's been taken from me. But beneath the marks, beneath the claiming, beneath the humiliation still burning through my veins and the alpha seed still filling my womb, something essential remains unbroken.

I am still Amelia Miller. Still thinking. Still planning. Still surviving.

Even knotted and claimed, even with his cum painting my insides and his scent marking my skin, I haven't surrendered everything that matters.

And two to three weeks might be enough time to change everything.

CHAPTER 12

RELUCTANT ALLIANCE

Amelia's POV

Two days after the humiliating demonstration, I still feel Kain's eyes on me.

The memory clings like smoke to skin—being claimed in front of a rival alpha, being used as a territorial marker, being reduced to property displayed for inspection. I scrub my skin raw in the cave pools, but no amount of washing removes the sensation of being watched while Vex thrust inside me. The water runs cold over my flushed skin, but it can't wash away the shame or the unwanted heat that still coils in my belly when I remember.

My thighs still ache from being stretched around his knot for so long. The soreness is a constant reminder every time I walk, every time I sit, every time I shift position. My body bears the evidence of how thoroughly I was claimed, how completely I surrendered despite my mind's fierce resistance. The ache should disgust me. Instead, it sends traitorous warmth through my core that I try desperately to ignore.

I'm checking our pitiful medical supplies when Vex returns from his morning patrol. The sound of his wings folding echoes through the cavern as he lands on the ledge outside. His massiveframe fills the entrance, backlit by mountain sunlight that makes his black scales gleam with purple highlights. Those scales fold tight against his back now—a sign I've learned means trouble brewing.

His usual storm-and-stone scent carries an edge of aggression today. Territorial anger that makes my omega instincts want to bare my neck in submission. I force myself to keep sorting bandages instead, counting our meager supplies with methodical focus.

"Feline patrols on the eastern ridge," he announces without preamble, crossing to where I've spread our medical kit across the stone floor. "Three groups. Coordinated movement pattern."

My stomach drops like a stone. The bandages crumple in my suddenly nerveless fingers. "He's not giving up." I try to keep my voice steady as I repack the supplies, but my hands shake slightly. "Kain will be back with reinforcements."