Nyx

The alpha looked like he'd swallowed a live grenade and was waiting to see if it would explode inside him. Leviathan held the toxicology report out like it was a holy decree of stupidity made flesh.

"Wolfsbane?" the alpha croaked, turning pale. "We don't even use that on rogue prisoners!"

"Well Nyx was being casually dosed with every meal thanks to your son," Leviathan said, voice sharp enough to skin a grown wolf. "Not only that—he was going to execute her after propositioning her to be his mistress and getting rejected. I heard him do so myself. This pack's future leadership is a disaster."

The alpha jerked toward my father, panic crawling up his neck. "Why wasn't anything said about this?!"

"Who would've listened to me?" I asked, sweet as venom.

"I would never let this happen!"

Leviathan scoffed hard. "According to your absolute inability to know what's happening in your own damn pack, one of your own was nearly killed for helping me! If she hadn't, your territory would've been swarmed by skinwalkers and gods know what else. But go ahead—tell me again how executing her was 'vital for pack safety.'"

Before the alpha could wind up a pitiful excuse, I lifted a finger.

"Before he starts yapping about law," I said, reaching under my pillow, "he might want to read this."

I pulled out the DNA envelope I'd prepped earlier. The alpha snatched it from me like it contained answers to the universe.

His face turned red instantly—boiling, volcanic, blood-pressure-about-to-explode red. He reread three pages. Twice. Then hurled the whole envelope at my father.

"Explain this! Tell me this is a joke!"

"Alpha Tom, I—I don't know about this. She's lying—"

"It was done at this clinic," I reminded him brightly.

Leviathan folded his arms. "And you have a lying beta on your side. If he can go to this extreme, what else has he misled you about?"

Then came the kill shot.

"You cheated on your mate with a witch," the alpha growled, pointing to me, "and a witch produced her. And you hid this?"

"It was a mistake!" my father shouted, voice cracking.

I smiled like a knife. "I've been locked in his attic for nineteen years and only allowed out to cook and clean."

"She also has the bruises to prove the abuse," Leviathan added smoothly.

That last part was unnecessary but effective—my father's face lost every drop of color. Good. Shame doesn't kill, but I could hope.

"You've been letting your own daughter rot in an attic? Red Fang blood?" the alpha roared. "And you signed the order for her execution yourself! You've broken your moral oath. Disgusting. What else have I been fooled about?!"

Father flinched like someone had thrown acid at him.

"You've broken my trust," the alpha said coldly. "You will step down as Beta effective immediately. Surrender your authority, privileges, access—everything. If I find one more secret—"

"Oh, there's more," I said sweetly.

"You stupid girl—" Father lunged—

—but the alpha slapped him so hard the sound cracked the air.

I took the opportunity to grab Leviathan's sleeve and tuck myself behind him like a trembling little flower.

They ate it up.

"Get out of my sight before I forget myself," the alpha snarled.

Father glared at me one last time. I smiled brightly. He needed to be crushed, ground down, erased. And I wouldn't let him have even a scrap of dignity left to gather.

"If you're having trouble running your pack," Leviathan said, voice smoothing into diplomatic steel, "we can send administrators to help."

Then he stepped slightly in front of me.

"Now that that is dealt with, I'm informing you that I'm taking Nyx with me to my territory."

"But she's my son's mate," the alpha protested weakly. "You can't just—"

"Your son was about to execute her," Leviathan snapped. "Clearly he doesn't want her as a mate. I refuse to let my benefactor die because of him. And perhaps you should tell him that a girl saying no isn't grounds to invent crimes and have her killed."

"That's not—my son is—"

"An idiot?" Leviathan's soldier cut in, hand gripping his sword. "Are you talking back to the king?"

The alpha swallowed loudly. "Fine. She has permission to leave."

"Good," Leviathan said, barely hiding his disdain. "Keep your son away while she departs."

He didn't look half bad while scolding someone. If I weren't exhausted, poisoned, and plotting arson-level revenge, I might've appreciated the view.

"I give my word he won't come near while you depart," the alpha said.

"Now," I said, tipping my head slightly, "I'm going to tell you where the evidence is. And you can decide what to do with your beta after."

Father was going to fall—hard. And by the time he hit the bottom, I'd be miles away, breathing free air.

Shame I couldn't watch him burn in person.

***

Evan held the door open like he expected a monster to leap out of my attic at any second. Honestly? Not a bad instinct.

"Scared?" I asked him.

"Just get you stuff," he rolled his eyes at me.

I stepped inside first.

Same warped floorboards. Same draft carving through the room. Same pathetic little cot shoved against the wall like it was ashamed of existing.

Except this time... I wasn't filthy.

The clean clothes Leviathan's people had forced onto me felt almost like a costume—soft fabric, no stains, no burned holes, no smell of someone else's sweat. I caught sight of myself in the shard of a mirror I'd salvaged years ago.

For once, I didn't look like something someone pulled off the street of the slums.

Neat hair. Clearer skin. A neck that wasn't coated in ash. I looked... human. That was unsettling.

"Just a few notebooks," I muttered, tossing them into a small bag. They were my real treasures—plans, sketches, spells I accidentally learned, strategies, the thoughts I couldn't say out loud. Everything else? Not worth taking.

Well. Seemed like my little trip home was long enough for vultures to swoop in.

"I don't think my sister is capable of managing herself in a new territory," Kori's sugary voice drifted up the stairs. Man the walls were thin here. "She isn't suitable. She has no real skills and is very lazy and uneducated. I'm not sure if I should be telling you this but her inner qualities... who knows if any of it is redeemable?"

My hand paused on the last notebook.

Kori's mother chimed in as if auditioning for Court Snake of the Year. "On the other hand, my daughter has been trained in the finest ways to be a beta since she was a child. She's been recognized as the best of the pack. It's said the Lycan King needs a beautiful and talented wife by his side. The people would be more at ease with someone established like Kori, wouldn't they?"

Ah. So that's the game. Throw me under the bus. Push Kori forward. Classic opportunist behavior.

And she was just worshipping Dante yesterday. This girl is insatiable.

"Well, it's true you are pretty," Leviathan said.

Kori gasped, like she'd just been crowned queen. "Does that mean—"

"But," Leviathan continued, the word dropping like a hammer, "I heard you knock out Nyx and beg your parents to dump her body off the territory so she could die. And I heard the tantrum you threw when they couldn't dump her far enough."

Dead silence.

"I don't think the people would appreciate a jealous, ugly, and cruel person near the king," he added coolly. "If you treat your own sister like that, how would you treat regular pack members or my family?"

"That was just—" Kori sputtered.

"This may be hard for you," Leviathan said, "but I'd like you to be happy for your sister for once, instead of... whatever this is. It's extremely unattractive that you can't see how ugly your insides are."

Damn.

He wasn't even being mean to her, just words, and she looked ready to melt into the floor.

I stepped out then, bag in hand.

Kori's face snapped toward me—humiliation, anger, disbelief, all swirling together. Beautiful.

"I'm done," I said casually.

Leviathan blinked at the tiny bag. "Just a few books? Notebooks? Where are your clothes? Where's your—"

"I don't have anything but this," I replied simply.

The way his expression darkened would've made a lesser wolf pee themselves.

"When we get back to the main territory, I'll get you new clothes," he said pointedly, shooting Kori and her mother a death glare so sharp I felt it from across the room.

Kori glared at me like she wanted to rip me apart and eat the pieces. Good. Hate kept her focused—on me, not her collapsing family.

I watched her carefully. She'd gone from throwing herself at Dante... to trying to climb Leviathan... all in under 24 hours.

She most likely wasn't going to forget this. And she definitely wasn't going to forgive me.

That was fine.

Some people you could leave behind. Some people... you had to crush personally.

Kori had just earned herself a front-row seat to her own personal downfall.