When he finally let go of my neck, I collapsed into the bed, boneless, eyes fluttering. He pulled out slow, cum sliding out of me in a sticky mess. I whimpered at the loss.
He dropped beside me, panting, and pulled me into his arms like I hadn’t just let him use every part of me. His lips pressed to my temple, and I curled into him, body aching, used, perfect.
“I was thinking,” he murmured beside me. “Once things settle down here, once people stop talking about what Fia did or my connection to her. I could ask your father properly. About us. About marriage.”
I turned to look at him. His eyes were bright with hope. Pathetic, really, how much he wanted this. How much he wanted me.
“I want to put a ring on your finger,” he continued. His hand found mine and he held it like it was something sacred. “Run this pack with you. Raise pups with you.”
The image he was painting was so ridiculous that I almost laughed right then. Almost lost control and let the real me show through. A sentinel running a pack alongside a Luna. In what world did that happen? In what fantasy was Milo operating?
But I held it back. I let the smile play at the corners of my mouth instead. Let him see what he wanted to see: a girl who loved him. A girl who was grateful. A girl who might actually want the future he was describing.
“Oh Milo,” I said softly. I leaned closer to him, pressing my lips to his neck. Letting him feel wanted. Letting him feel like he’d won something.
Then I pulled back just enough to look him in the eye. And I let the laugh come. It started small, just a quiet breath of amusement. Then it grew. Louder. Harsher. Until I was actually laughing at him, at the absurdity of everything coming out of his mouth.
I couldn’t help myself even though I tried.
His face changed. I watched the hope drain away, replaced by confusion.
“What?” he asked.
“You cannot be that delusional.”
The words hung in the air between us. I sat up, putting distance between our bodies. I needed him to understand what was about to happen. Needed him to really hear me.
“You think I love you?” I continued. “Milo, you were a tool. Nothing more. A way to hurt my sister. A means to an end.”
His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again like he was a fish out of water.
“I never loved you,” I said. The words came out crisp and clear. “Not once. Not for a single moment.”
“Hazel, that’s not…” He reached for me, his hand stretching across the bed.
I pulled away before he could touch me. “With Fia’s dowry, Silver Creek is doing well now. Really well. There’s money we can set aside. Money that gives me options.”
I could see him starting to understand. Starting to see the bigger picture of what had happened and his place in it.
“In a few weeks, I’ll be attending the Yearly Mate Ball at the capitol,” I said. My voice was almost dreamy now. “You know the one. Where they always looked down on Silver Creek like we were nothing. Like we didn’t matter.”
Milo was still staring at me, his expression cycling through various stages of shock and pain.
“But Alpha Cian showed interest in me,” I continued. “Even though we didn’t end up married, everyone saw that. Everyone knows that an Alpha from one of the most powerful packs wanted me. Do you understand what that means?”
“Hazel…” he started.
“It means I’ll have actual options now. Real Alphas will be interested. Powerful ones. The kind of Alpha that a Luna actually belongs with.” I smiled at him, and I made sure he could see exactly how false it was. “Not a sentinel who somehow thought he could run a pack. My pack for that matter.”
He tried to move toward me again. His hands came up, and I thought for a moment he might actually try something. The rage in his eyes was bright and hot and ugly.
His hands wrapped around my throat.
I didn’t panic. Didn’t scream. I just looked at him while his fingers pressed into my neck, and I laughed. The sound came out strangled, but it was still a laugh.
“Do not ruin what we have,” I said between gasps of breath. My voice was different now. Dangerous. “One word from me and you are finished. You understand that? Your entire life ends because I say it does.”
He was shaking. The rage was still there, but underneath it was fear. That was the moment he really understood the game he’d been playing.
I let the silence stretch for a moment. Let him feel the full weight of his situation.
“You are only permitted to lay hands on me when I need you to,” I said quietly. “And right now, you are getting on my nerves. So fuck out, Milo.”
His hands dropped like I’d burned him. He scrambled off the bed, his chest heaving. He grabbed his shirt from where he’d thrown it, pulling it back on with shaking hands.
“I loved you,” he said. His voice was broken. Hollow.
I didn’t even bother answering. Just turned away from him like he’d stopped mattering the second the words left his mouth. Which, really, he had.
The door slammed behind him a moment later.
I waited until his footsteps faded down the hallway before I let myself smile. The real smile. The one that showed exactly what I was.
Fia was gone. Milo was broken and compliant. The pack had money for my shit now. And I had a future that actually meant something.
The Mate Ball was going to be so much better now. All those Alphas who’d ignored Silver Creek before would be watching me. Wanting me. And this time, I wouldn’t settle for a political arrangement or a sentinel with delusions of grandeur. This time, I’d find someone truly worthy.
Until then, Milo could still serve his purpose. He was good at one thing at least. And for a girl like me, sometimes that was enough.
I lay back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, already thinking about what I would wear to the ball. Already imagining the way other Alphas would look at me. The way they’d want me.
It felt good to finally have a future worth looking forward to.
It felt even better to have destroyed my sister to get it.
CIAN
The first thing I was aware of was pain. Not the sharp kind that meant something was broken. This was deeper. Duller. Like my entire body had been wrung out and left to dry in the sun. My throat felt like I’d swallowed gravel and ash.
I opened my eyes.
White ceiling. Fluorescent lights. The sterile smell of a healing ward that meant nothing good. My body was bandaged from neck to wrist, and whatever they’d slathered under the wrappings smelled like burnt herbs and bad decisions.
I tried to sit up. Immediately regretted it. Every muscle screamed. I fell back against the pillows hard enough to jar something loose in my chest, and I coughed. I even tasted blood.
“Easy, Alpha.” That was Dr. Maren’s voice. She appeared in my line of sight, moving fast. “You need to stay still.”
“What happened?” The words came out scraped raw.
“You nearly died.” Thorne stepped into view next. The old healer looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His robes were stained. His gray hair stuck up at odd angles. “The mourning moon toxin was in your system for a significant time. Longer than hers.”
Hers. The word triggered something. A memory of white fabric. Of purple flowers. Of carrying something that weighed almost nothing and felt like everything.
I turned my head. There was another bed next to mine. For a moment I thought she was there, but the bed was empty. Just rumpled sheets and the faint smell of herbal oils.
Then I saw her.
She stood near the foot of my bed, far enough away that I couldn’t touch her if I tried. Which I wouldn’t. Far enough away that she could run if she needed to. Her clothes still looked fresh, but she wore them like they didn’t belong to her. Her eyes had that hollow look that came from exhaustion. From nearly dying. From whatever she’d done to herself in that forest.
She looked at me like she was waiting for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
“How long was I unconscious?” I kept my voice flat. Clinical. The way an Alpha spoke when his pack was watching and his weaknesses didn’t matter or need to show.
“A little over six hours,” Maren said. “Your fever broke about some minutes ago. We weren’t entirely sure you were going to make it.”
That landed like a punch. I’d nearly died. The thought was strange. I’d been trained my entire life to be too dangerous to kill. Too valuable to lose. And yet here I was, poisoned and helpless and dependent on healers and the goddess’s good humor.
“I feel horrible.” The admission cost me something. Alphas didn’t complain about pain. But this wasn’t complaining. It was just stating fact.
“The known antidote didn’t work on you,” Thorne said to me. His voice had that edge to it. The one he used when he was disappointed in someone. “Not with the concentration in your system. The toxin was building too fast. It was the fault of one person anyway.”
I looked at the old healer. Saw something in his expression that made my stomach turn over. He was looking at Fia. Not angry exactly. But not friendly either.
“But she concocted something,” Maren intercepted. Her tone had changed. It had weight to it now. The kind of weight that meant respect. “An herbal remedy using wolfsbane and nettle. It counteracted the toxin that the standard antidote couldn’t touch.”
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