Chapter 6

Alpha Ellison.

I paused outside Ethan’s quarters, knocking firmly twice. Nothing.

“Ethan,” I called, my voice echoing faintly. No answer.

Odd.

I tightened my grip on the door handle. If it were anyone else’s room, I wouldn’t have thought twice, but Ethan was my beta—and had no freaking right not answering my call when I could smell that he was in there.

With a grunt, I shoved the heavy oak door open, the hinges creaking as it swung inward.

And then I froze.

There, standing in the middle of Ethan’s room, was Lucy.

My breeder.

My new breeder. The one who had only just arrived at the palace. The same woman I had seen in hushed conversation with my stepmother just a day ago. Her eyes snapped up to meet mine, wide, startled. Guilt? Fear? I couldn’t place the exact emotion on her face, but I saw it all the same.

And Ethan stood near her, his jaw tight, arms folded across his chest like he’d just caught her in the middle of something.

“What the hell is going on in here?” I demanded.

But before either of them could speak, a sharp, intoxicating scent wrapped around me like a noose—sweet and warm, like vanilla and something deeper, wilder. My breath caught. The pull was instant. Primal. And Scar, my wolf, reared up inside me.

"Mate!" he snarled. "She’s our mate. Take her. Claim her. Now."

I stumbled a step back, gripping the side of the doorway. “No,” I growled under my breath. “You must be mistaking, this lowlife breeder can never be our mate so control yourself.”

"Why not now? She’s right there! You feel that pull—you know she’s ours. Don’t you dare walk away from her!"

My heart thundered in my chest as I tried to suppress Scar’s instincts. The room tilted slightly, and for a moment all I could do was stare at her—Lucy. Her face pale, her fingers trembling ever so slightly, and that scent... gods, that scent.

"She’s ours. Say it. Say she’s ours," Scar whispered again.

“I said no,” I growled again, louder this time. I clenched my fists, focusing on the coolness of my breath. I had to stay in control. There's no freaking way I'd let a breeder be my mate.

Scar retreated reluctantly, pacing in the back of my mind like a caged beast, still growling possessively.

Finally, I looked up, narrowing my eyes at Lucy. “What are you doing in my beta’s room?” I demanded, my voice as cold as steel. “And what the hell is that?” I gestured toward the shredded parchment on the floor, the seal of the Western High Ministers still faintly visible on one torn piece.

Lucy opened her mouth, lips parting—but Ethan was faster.

“I walked in just as she tore it apart, and I was about punishing her before you started knocking,” he said, his voice calm but firm. “I think she’s a spy, my Alpha. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

“What?” Lucy gasped, turning to him with wide, horrified eyes. “That’s not true!”

Her voice trembled, cracking on the last word. She looked at me, and for a brief moment, our eyes locked again—and something shifted inside me. Confusion. Pain. Conflict.

“I—I wasn’t—” she tried to say more, but the words caught in her throat. Her shoulders shook, and then, like a dam breaking, she began to cry. Soft, broken sobs that twisted something deep in my chest.

Scar growled again, low and dangerous. "You’re letting them hurt our mate. You’re just going to let this happen? Can't you see she's telling the truth, or at least she's trying too?"

"shut up and let me think!" I yelled inwardly, and at this point I could give anything just to have scar mute for a while, while j think of what's really going on.

“Guards,” I called, and immediately two uniformed men appeared in the doorway, stiffening at attention. “Take her to her room immediately. House arrest. No contact with anyone except designated staff. Do not harm her unless absolutely necessary.”

“What?” Lucy’s voice cracked. “No, please—please, Alpha, I didn’t—”

“I will figure out what happened,” I cut in sharply, steeling my expression even though her sobs twisted at something primal inside me. “Until then, you will remain under close watch.”

The guards stepped forward, and Lucy instinctively stepped back, then looked to me again—eyes pleading.

I said nothing.

Because I couldn’t.

Not when Scar was snarling inside me, begging me to rip the guards apart and pull her into my arms. Not when I was still trying to make sense of how my breeder—my mate—was caught destroying a letter from the Western High Ministers. That's the one thing about helping the poor, you try to help them and they try to bring you down to their level.

She didn’t resist as the guards gently took her by the arms and escorted her out, her sobs still echoing down the hall long after she disappeared.

I turned to Ethan slowly.

“You said you walked in on her?” I asked, voice low, dangerous.

He nodded. “The scent of the letter ink was still fresh. I could smell it. She had just torn it, the pieces were still fluttering. Why would she be in my room? Why destroy that letter? Unless someone sent her.”

I looked down at the shredded pieces again. My chest tightened.

“Did you know she was my mate?” I asked.

Ethan blinked. “What?”

I stared at him hard. “Did. You. Know.”

“No,” he said slowly, carefully. “I swear, I didn’t. I thought she was just a breeder. That’s all I knew.”

I rubbed a hand over my face. My thoughts were spiraling now. Lucy’s scent still clung to the air. Her face. Her tears. Scar’s frantic energy hadn’t faded.

“She smelled like vanilla,” I muttered, more to myself than to him. “Like the first breath of spring. And the second I stepped into this room, Scar knew.”

Ethan’s expression softened slightly. “Alpha Ellison, we both know that you have to reject her immediately. I mean she's not up to you standard and also not fit for Luna... what if this is a setup?”

I looked up sharply.

He continued, “You said she spoke with your stepmother, and we both know that your stepmother wants nothing more than your downfall. What if she sent Lucy to destroy the letter? i mean if you look at it very well, the young girl desperately wants money and that's the only reason one would accept to be a breeder. I am sure your mother knows this and she's taken advantage of it."

I didn’t respond, but the idea coiled in my gut like a snake. My stepmother. She never liked the Western Ministers—said they meddled too much in pack politics and that's because she doesn't want them getting in the way when she comes for my grown. She’d have every reason to destroy a diplomatic letter. And Lucy... Lucy was new. Young. Vulnerable.

But if that was the truth, then why hadn’t Lucy just said so?

"Because she’s afraid," Scar answered for me.

I sighed, pacing. “I need to think,” I said finally. “I’ll talk to her. But not yet.”

Ethan nodded once. “Do you want me to look into the origin of the letter? Maybe trace who else knew it was coming?”

“Yes,” I said. “And see if my stepmother sent any servants to your wing this morning. Quietly.”

As he left the room, I sank into the nearest chair. I stared down at the torn paper.

Scar was silent now, but I could feel him watching—waiting. My mate. My breeder. My suspected traitor.

The universe had one hell of a sense of humor.