Chapter 6

TANYA'S POV

The seats inside the SUV smelled expensive, and at the same time, it was also suffocating. I knew what this was… or I thought I did.  I was being shown what real power looked like, and I was going to have to decide whether or not I wanted in on her terms or not.  

My damp hair was sticking to the collar of my blouse, my injured ankle still ached, and my breathing was anything but steady.  

Outside, the familiar brick buildings of Moonstone College blurred into a smudge of grey and green. I watched Jess and Gina disappear, their worried faces replaced by the tinted reflection of my own, pale, wide-eyed, but with a strange, flickering crimson light at the back of my pupils.

"You look like you're waiting for an execution, Miss Davis," the woman in the front seat said. She didn't turn around. Her eyes were fixed on the rearview mirror, tracking my every flinch. "Relax. If the Alpha wanted you dead, we wouldn't be using the heated seats."

I didn't answer. I pulled my phone from my pocket, the screen nearly blinding in the dim interior.

Gideon: Tanya, answer me. Where are they taking you?

Gideon: If she touches you, I swear to the Goddess..” 

I began to type a reply, my fingers trembling, when the car suddenly swerved. Not a crash, but a deliberate, sharp veer into a private lane shielded by heavy oak trees. The partition between the front and back seats slid up with a soft, mechanical hiss, sealing me in total silence.

Then, the door opened.

We weren't at a mansion. We were at the edge of the Blackwood Forest. 

I could see her from inside the car, and she looked different, or at least her dress did. She has changed her attire and is now wearing a silk blouse that fluttered in the wind. She looked less like a businesswoman and more like a predator in her natural habitat.

"Out," she commanded.

I stepped out, my left ankle giving way immediately. I stumbled, nearly hitting the gravel, but a hand caught my elbow with bruising force. It wasn't the driver. It was Victoria.

Her touch sent a shock through my system. It wasn't the warm, electric pull I felt with Gideon. It was cold. It was an Alpha’s diagnostic scan. She was smelling my fear, my arousal from the night before, and something else that made her eyes narrow.

"A Crimson wolf," Victoria mused, letting go of me so abruptly I had to grab the car door to stay upright. "Born to an Omega line. Do you have any idea how statistically impossible that is, Tanya?"

"I'm a late bloomer," I spat, trying to find my dignity. "My birthday was yesterday. The Goddess works in mysterious ways."

"The Goddess works in genetics," Victoria countered, stepping into my personal space. 

"Crimson fur isn't just a color. It’s a marker of ancient lineage. It’s the color of the First Pack’s enforcers. And yet, here you are, wearing Harry Potter glasses and crying over a Beta like Kenneth Petty."

She started walking toward the tree line, and despite the pain in my leg, my wolf forced me to follow. It wasn't an invitation; it was a tether.

"Let’s talk about the deal," Victoria said, her back to me. "I don't care about the money. The athletic facility is a tax write-off. What I care about is my son. Gideon is a Thoroughbred. He is meant to lead this region, and eventually, the High Council. He needs a mate who brings a dowry of lands and silver, not a biology major with a penchant for hockey players and dormitory scandals."

"Then why offer me the scholarship?" I asked, my voice cracking. "If I'm such a threat to his future, why not just let me be expelled? Why keep me close?"

Victoria turned, a cruel, beautiful smile stretching across her face. "Because Gideon thinks he’s in love with you. And if I banish you, I make you a martyr. He will spend his life searching for you, wasting his potential on a tragic romance. But if I bring you into the fold... if I show him exactly what you are... he will tire of you."

“Love?” I whispered to myself.  I didn't know what Gideon had told his mother, but I didn't think what he felt was love… at least not yet.  I mean, I liked him and all, especially because of the experience he gave me the night before.  But beyond that, it was too difficult to think that he was in love with me, and I had to feel the same way too. 

“What do you think I am if I may ask?” I said to her, trying to keep eye contact. 

"A distraction," she said simply. "I am offering you the Blackwood Foundation Scholarship. It is worth half a million dollars over four years. It includes a residency at our private medical facility, the one that treats Alpha-level injuries. In exchange, you will sign a non-disclosure agreement. You will also sign a 'Social Conduct' contract."

She pulled a thin tablet from her bag, displaying a document that made my blood run cold.

Clause 14.2: The recipient shall maintain no private, romantic, or physical contact with any member of the Blackwood direct bloodline, including but not limited to Gideon Blackwood, for the duration of the scholarship.

"If you break it," Victoria whispered, leaning into my ear, "not only do you lose the money, but I will ensure your 'average' family is blacklisted from every pack hospital in the country. Your mother’s heart condition... I believe she’s on the waiting list for a transplant at a Blackwood-funded clinic?"

I felt the air leave my lungs. She had checked everything. She knew about my mom. She knew she had me by the throat.

"You're a monster," I whispered.

"I'm an Alpha," she corrected. "Sign it, Tanya. Save your mother. Save your career. And let my son go back to the girls who don't matter."

I looked at the tablet. My finger hovered over the digital signature line. My wolf was screaming, not in fear, but in pure, unadulterated rage. She wanted to rip Victoria’s throat out. She wanted to howl for Gideon. But I saw my mother’s face. I saw the debt collectors.

I lowered my hand to the screen.

VROOOOM.

The sound of a high-performance engine tore through the quiet of the woods. A black Jeep, caked in mud and moving far too fast, drifted around the corner of the lane, tires spraying gravel over Victoria’s expensive SUV.

It didn't stop. It slammed its brakes just inches from Victoria, the force of the stop rocking the vehicle.

The door flew open before the engine even died. Gideon stepped out. He wasn't wearing his hockey jersey anymore. He was in a simple black t-shirt, his muscles taut, his eyes a glowing, lethal gold that I had only seen in my dreams.

"Get away from her, Mother," Gideon growled. The sound was so deep it vibrated in my chest.

Victoria didn't flinch. She tucked the tablet under her arm. "You're late, Gideon. We were just finalizing Tanya’s future."

Gideon ignored her. He moved toward me in three long strides. He didn't ask permission. He reached out, his hand cupping the back of my neck, pulling me toward him until our foreheads touched.

"Did she hurt you?" he hissed. His scent, winter air, and spice filled my senses, instantly dulling the pain in my ankle.

"I'm fine," I whispered, though my heart was hammering against my ribs. "Gideon, you shouldn't be here.” 

“Says who?” He said sharply, turning to look at his mother as though he could hurt her by just starring.