— A saintly air? Was that meant to be an insult?
Elizabeth looked down at Dandara. The omega was a few centimeters shorter, one meter seventy at most. Elizabeth crossed her arms and frowned faintly.
— Learn the difference between saints and a Lycan marked by the Goddess.
She corrected her without altering her tone.
— I am not playing games, Dandara. You are Theo's friend. I have never attempted to change that. From where does this supposed rivalry arise?
She stepped forward.
— You know? I do not feel jealousy toward you. Not because I lack suspicion, but because your wolf carries no scent strong enough to claim territory. Camellia is the perfume of your human form… but your pheromones? They are weak. And to Safira, anything that smells weak is irrelevant.
She lifted her hand lightly, palm turned upward.
— You are not an object of desire. You are an object of care, flavored with childhood and familiarity. His wolf is marked by the Moon Goddess, bound to Safira. And should that bond ever break, he may lie with other small omegas for fleeting pleasure… but he would never be bound to them.
Her voice remained low.
— As for the waterfall, I intend to spend a great deal of time with my Alpha. You should be pleased for your friend, rather than attempting to intimidate me.
Elizabeth took another step, invading Dandara's personal space in a manner that would have forced any common wolf into submission. Safira's aura rippled outward, cold and vast as a glacier, smothering the scent of camellia until nothing remained but the fragrance of dominance.
— You say he always returns to what is familiar… — Elizabeth tilted her head, a smile curving her lips that was not kind, but predatory. — But wolves grow weary of what is familiar. They seek what challenges them. What elevates them. You are his past, Dandara. I am his destiny. There is an abyss between being the comfort… and being the crown.
She reached out and, with insulting delicacy, adjusted a loose strand of Dandara's blonde hair.
— Keep your childhood memories. They are all you will have. While you attempt to trap him with the past, I am building a future where you are not even a footnote. Now, if you will excuse me, my father awaits. And unlike Theodor, he has no patience for… unnecessary noise.
Elizabeth brushed past her, her shoulder striking Dandara's lightly — a collision of power that sent the omega stumbling back against the column.
In Samuel's Chambers
When Elizabeth entered her father's quarters, the air shifted. Alpha Samuel stood beside an oak table, studying border maps. He lifted his gaze and, upon seeing his daughter's expression, released a short, rough laugh.
— The scent of a she-wolf quarrel clings to you, Elizabeth. And by your face, the other one left bleeding… metaphorically, of course.
He set the maps aside and approached her, crossing his powerful arms.
— I depart in an hour. My scouts report unusual movement along the Crystal Valley borders. I must ensure our home is secure while you finish… educating your Alpha. But before I leave, tell me: is your patience with that omega thinning, or do you still find amusement in her desperation?
His gaze sharpened, fatherly concern blending with sovereign calculation.
— If she becomes a true obstacle to your peace, Elizabeth, one word from me to Theodor's father is enough. We need not rely on herbs to cure what exile resolves in seconds.
Elizabeth approached him like a cub.
— Father, I will miss you.
She began before meeting his eyes.
— She showed her claws. I removed them and sealed the wound with iron.
She turned toward the maps upon the table.
— Exile would be mercy, Father.
She faced him again, her eyes wide and deceptively soft.
— Should I allow Safira the satisfaction of placing that wolf in her proper rank… or drive her into a scandal that condemns her by her own existence?
Elizabeth was gentle. Safira was chaos. The girl was resentful. Safira was vengeful.
— I know everything could be resolved with a single request from you… but do you not think that for women who believe being a mistress is a worthy ambition, a greater punishment is exposure? To be revealed as less than a wolf with dignity?
Elizabeth was sweetness embodied for a Lycan — too kind, too patient, too composed. Yet her father had seen the predator beneath when anything granted to her by right or blood was threatened.
— Do you remember that dancer who attempted to occupy the empty throne of Luna at your side? Then imagine that I shall be… more refined.
The dancer in question had been stripped of dignity so thoroughly that even exile afterward seemed delayed mercy.
— I will not drag Dandara naked by the hair. So rest assured. But I will prepare the perfect bed upon which she will strip herself of dignity… and bind herself to a solar misery of her own making.
Samuel's laughter thundered, making the chandelier crystals tremble. He cupped her face proudly between his hands.
— My little heir… you carry my blood, but your mother's cunning. That dancer did not survive to tell her tale, and it appears Dandara is digging her own grave without realizing you handed her the shovel.
He kissed the black crescent mark upon her brow with near-reverence.
— Go. Play your part. If Theodor is worthy of you, he will see through the fog. If not… the Crystal Valley will always welcome its queen home. But something tells me that after today, at those waterfalls, he will belong to no one but Safira.
The Sunset Waterfall
The path to the waterfall was ancient, lined with trees whose canopies arched overhead like a natural cathedral. The steady rush of falling water created a soothing hymn. Theodor was already there, as promised.
He had bathed first. He wore only light linen trousers, barefoot upon the damp rock, broad chest bare, droplets of water glistening against sculpted muscle. When he heard Elizabeth's approach, he turned. His gaze no longer belonged to an Alpha commanding soldiers — it was the gaze of a starving man, captured by the sight of the woman walking toward him.
Elizabeth carried only a silk mantle concealing her bathing attire. The late afternoon light filtered through leaves, casting upon her an almost supernatural aura.
— You took your time, — Theodor murmured, his voice vibrating like a low growl of satisfaction. He stepped closer, his body heat rising as Safira's pheromones mingled with the scent of fresh water. — My father departed with yours minutes ago. We are alone now, Elizabeth. No pack. No duties… and no clumsy "friends."
He reached for the clasp of her mantle, his eyes locked with hers, asking silent permission.
— Let me see the wolf who stole my reason this morning.