4

**Chapter 4**

Victoria’s scream came from the Council corridor before we even reached the final connection chamber.

Alexander stopped.

He did not turn fully, but I saw the shift in his shoulders. His wolf heard her panic and reacted before his mind could. Even now, with silver burns around his wrists and my severance file in my hands, some part of him still moved toward her first.

Beta Daniel stepped in front of him. “The Council will handle Victoria.”

“She just drank the Moonbane Cure,” Alexander said, voice low. “If the examination triggers a reaction, she could be hurt.”

I almost laughed, but there was no humor left in me. “She could be hurt?”

Alexander looked back at me, jaw tight. “Scarlett, don’t twist this.”

“I’m not twisting anything. I’m listening.” I held his gaze. “You were half-shifted in my clinic because your wolf almost tore through Moon Hall without my blood, and you’re still worried about whether Victoria is uncomfortable during a medical examination.”

His eyes flashed. “She may be carrying a rogue mark because of your cure.”

Daniel’s expression hardened. “The mark appeared because the cure reacted with an existing binding. Scarlett’s report already stated the Moonbane formula cannot create a rogue-pack mark out of nothing.”

Alexander did not answer him. He looked at me instead, and there it was again: that stubborn, ugly need to make me the cruel one so he would not have to admit what he had chosen.

I smiled faintly. “You still want it to be my fault.”

His face changed. “That’s not what I said.”

“You didn’t have to.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke. The corridor around us was lit red by the Blood Moon, and the air was thick with heat, fear, and exposed secrets. Alexander stood close enough that I could feel the pull of him under my skin. His scent had always been dangerous to me during Blood Moon nights—cedar, smoke, and the sharp edge of wolf heat. For three years, that scent had meant responsibility. Pain. Need. A body shaking against mine while I gave him my blood and told myself being needed was almost the same as being loved.

Tonight, his scent was mixed with Victoria’s.

That made it easier to step away.

Before Daniel could urge us forward again, Sarah rushed from the end of the corridor with Emma behind her. Sarah’s robe was thrown carelessly over her nightdress, and one hand pressed against her chest as if her heart medicine had already worn off. Emma’s face was blotchy from crying, but her anger returned the moment she saw me.

“Scarlett, stop this right now,” Emma snapped. “They suspended me from the elite warrior program. Do you understand what you’ve done?”

“I ended my sponsorship,” I said.

“You can’t just do that.”

“I can. I did.”

Her eyes widened, furious. “You paid for it because you’re part of this family.”

“No,” I said. “I paid because I was stupid enough to think I was.”

Sarah took a shaky breath. “Scarlett, this is not the time for bitterness. Alexander is sick, Victoria is being questioned, and Emma’s future is at risk. We should handle this privately.”

Privately. That was what the Reed family always wanted when the truth made them look ugly. Publicly, I was expected to smile beside Alexander, heal Sarah, fund Emma, and keep every crack in their family name hidden. Privately, I was allowed to bleed.

I opened my tablet and pulled up the Reed account.

“Fine,” I said. “Let’s handle it clearly.”

Sarah’s face went still. “What are you doing?”

I projected the records onto the Council wall before she could stop me. Line after line appeared in bright white text against the dark stone.

Sarah Reed. Three years of heart medicine. Unpaid.

Emma Reed. Elite warrior sponsorship, equipment, private combat coaching. Paid by Scarlett Hayes.

Reed villa. Safe barrier renewals, travel permits, emergency safe house access. Paid by Scarlett Hayes.

Alexander Reed. Blood Moon therapy, rare herbs, isolation chamber, stabilizers, private blood treatment. Paid by Scarlett Hayes Private Clinic.

The corridor went silent.

A few elders had gathered nearby, drawn by Victoria’s examination and Alexander’s relapse. Now they stared at the numbers. Warriors who had once bowed to the Reed name looked from the wall to Sarah, then to Alexander, and finally to me.

Emma’s voice turned thin. “Why would you show everyone this?”

“Because everyone saw me accused of jealousy tonight,” I said. “So everyone can also see what my jealousy paid for.”

Sarah trembled. “We are family.”

I looked at her. “If I were family, would you have let your son take my life-saving cure and give it to another woman?”

Sarah had no answer.

Alexander stared at the records on the wall as if seeing his own life from the outside for the first time. Pride, shame, and disbelief moved across his face. He had always hated needing me. That was why he called my care control, my warnings jealousy, my sacrifice duty. It was easier for him to feel powerful if he pretended I was only standing beside him, not holding him up.

Then a soft voice came from behind Daniel.

“I didn’t know it was your robe.”

Victoria stood between two guards at the end of the corridor.

She had changed out of Alexander’s coat. Now she wore a pale dress under a gray silk robe, tied loosely at the waist. My gray silk robe. The one Alexander had given me last year after a Blood Moon, when he said I should wear something soft after spending the night saving him. The robe hung open just enough to show the curve of her collarbone and the dark mark pulsing beneath her skin.

My wolf went still.

Victoria lowered her eyes. “Alexander let me rest at the villa. I was cold, so I took the first thing I found. I swear I didn’t know it belonged to you.”

The first thing she found.

In the master bedroom.

My fingers curled around the tablet. “You were in my bedroom?”

Alexander’s silence answered before his mouth did.

I turned to him. “You let her sleep in our bed?”

“It wasn’t like that,” he said quickly.

Victoria flinched. “I was weak. The guest room barrier was unstable. Alexander only wanted me somewhere safe.”

“Safe,” I repeated.

I could smell it now. Not as strongly as before, but enough. Alexander’s scent on the robe. On her skin. The familiar warmth of his wolf wrapped around her body in a way every adult wolf in that corridor understood. Maybe he had not crossed the final line. Maybe he had not taken her the way a mate takes a mate. But he had given her my space, my clothing, my bed, and his scent.

That was already a betrayal.

Victoria’s hand moved to the robe belt. “If Scarlett is upset, I can take it off.”

Alexander caught her wrist instantly. “Don’t.”

The word came out too fast.

I watched his hand close around hers. Hours ago, my palm had been bleeding because of him, and he had not stopped. Now Victoria only pretended to remove my robe, and he protected her like I was the one humiliating her.

Something cold and clean settled inside me.

“You’re right,” I said.

Alexander looked at me warily. “About what?”

“It isn’t like that.” My voice was calm. “It’s worse.”

His face tightened.

“You didn’t just give her my cure,” I said. “You gave her my place.”

No one spoke.

Then Daniel’s communicator rang. He listened for three seconds before his expression changed.

“Say that again,” he ordered.

The corridor seemed to hold its breath.

Daniel ended the call and looked straight at Victoria. “Border patrol found a forged travel pass under your name. You attempted to leave pack territory thirty minutes ago.”

Victoria’s face went white. “I was scared.”

Daniel continued, colder now. “And the Reed family’s last silver mine contract is missing from the villa safe.”

Sarah gasped. Emma covered her mouth.

Alexander slowly turned toward Victoria.

For the first time that night, he looked at her as if he did not recognize the woman in front of him.

Victoria’s eyes filled again. “Alexander, please. I can explain.”

Daniel stepped forward. “You will. In the Council chamber.”

The guards took Victoria by the arms. She looked at Alexander, waiting for him to stop them.

He moved half a step.

Then his eyes flicked to the robe she was wearing, to the mark under her collarbone, to the financial records still glowing on the wall.

This time, he stopped.

Victoria’s expression cracked.

As the guards dragged her away, she screamed his name. The sound echoed down the corridor, high and desperate.

Alexander stood frozen.

I watched him quietly.

He had finally hesitated.

But hesitation was not loyalty. And it was far too late to be love.