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“Where is my son?”

“He’s not yourson,” Garrick said simply. “But if you mean theboy, he’s fine. He woke early. Said he was hungry. He’s downstairs having breakfast with some of the others. One of the servants is bringing something up for you too—”

“I don’t want your food!” I roared, voice raw. “I want him! I want to see that he’s safe, not hear it from the mouths of wolves who would rip us apart if your Alpha said the word!”

Garrick’s eyes darkened, but before he could speak—A laugh. Low. Cruel. Silken like oil, and twice as filthy. It drifted down the corridor behind him, sweet as rot. Familiar. I turned toward it just as she stepped into view.

Her. ThatOmega.

The polished one. The one I’d seen that first day. The one with the silk dress and perfect skin and eyes like poisoned glass. She leaned against the stone archway like she was posing for a portrait, smiling like a cat that had already eaten the canary.

“Oh, how the mighty crumble,” she purred, her voice thick with venomous delight. “You’re far louder than you were in the dungeon. Is that what motherhood looks like on a stray?”

“Tanya,” Garrick said, warning in his voice. “Not now.”

But the woman wasn’t done.

She stepped closer, gaze sliding over me with distaste. “I expected something more… threatening. You were quite the little terror when you arrived. I heard you even bit one of our men. How uncivilized.”

I didn’t speak. I stared. My silence made her grin.

“I suppose the only thing more pathetic than a feral Omega is one pretending to be human.” She laughed, delicate and cruel. “You should see yourself. Hair like a nest. Clothes wrinkled. Eyes wild. It’s almost quaint.”

I didn’t move. But gods—I wanted to.

Creatures like her never stopped when they tasted blood. And right now, she thought I was bleeding. She stepped forward, each movement deliberate—hips swaying, chin lifted, voice dripping with courtly sweetness and barely veiled scorn.

“You know,” she said, looking me up and down as though I were something clinging to the bottom of her shoe, “in the courts down south, they would’ve stripped you bare and paraded you through the halls for what you did. Fighting guards. Snarling like a beast.”

I didn’t flinch.

“I suppose you never learned how to be chosen.” She smiled, slow and wicked. “Alphas don’t want broken things, little stray. They want silk. Grace. Loyalty.”

I laughed. Quiet, low, humourless.

“Oh, spare me your shitty games,” I said. “I was raised in a house where girls were trained to smile with their mouths closed and bleed with their thighs open.” I took a slow step toward her, savouring the flicker in her eyes. “You don’t scare me, Tanya.You’re not dangerous. You’re justdecorative.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t strike back with her hands—no, she wasn’t that kind of wolf. Tanya used words like daggers dipped in perfume.

I turned and walked away, back toward the room that had been transformed into my cage. The guards watched every step I took, eyes following me like I might explode again—and maybe I would.

My fingertips trembled. Not with rage. With something worse. It slithered down my spine like smoke curling under locked doors.

I touched the wall as I passed it, steadying myself. Something was wrong. Behind me, Tanya scoffed, voice lifting again—loud enough that she wanted me to hear.

“You should keep her locked down tighter,” she said to Garrick. “She looks like a bitch in heat already. Maybe your Alpha should’ve let me handle her.”

I stopped. Dead in my tracks.

Garrick’s voice followed, tense and sharp. “You shouldn’t be here, Tanya.”

Her tone turned syrupy. “And you should be careful how you speak to me,Beta. Considering how many times I’ve warmed the Alpha’s bed, you might be looking at your futureLuna.”

The word hit me like a fist to the chest. Something in my body snapped. I gasped—sharp and involuntary—as the first rune cracked. Not physically, but inside. The magic it held unravelling in a pulse of pain that stole the air from my lungs. My knees nearly buckled. Heat surged down my spine, real now. Alive.

No. No, not now—

I turned, vision blurring. Tanya was still smirking. Still looking at me like I was less than dirt.