Chapter 4

Rhea went white. If I filed with the Council, she'd have to pay, and there'd be no way around it.

Outside the atelier, passersby were already leaning in to watch. Caius's face tightened. "Fine. I'll pay."

"Selene Ashford, I never thought you were this kind of woman."

I didn't answer. I lifted the ruined gown in my arms and was about to leave when a sharp pain shot through my thigh.

"Ah —"

Mina had darted up without my noticing and slashed my calf with the silver dagger. The pain knocked me to the floor. Blood poured out fast.

"Selene!"

Caius's face cracked open with panic. He instinctively reached to help me. Then the pup screamed.

"Mama! Mina hurts! She started it! She pinched Mina and called Mina a pup with no father, and called Mama a she-wolf who seduces mated males!"

The pup pulled up her sleeve as she cried. There were small purple pinch marks along her little arm.

Her voice was shrill and sharp. Passersby gathered fast.

The crowd started murmuring.

"Can't keep her own mate, and now she's bullying a pup."

"No wonder. Nobody will claim her, so she takes it out on a child. And she still expects to be paid for a gown a pup tore? She deserved it."

"Exactly! She's the bully here. Alpha Langford, don't let this woman get away with it!"

They worked themselves into outrage. The looks they gave me were all contempt.

I pressed on the wound. Blood wouldn't stop. My eyes drifted to the pup's arm. The pinch marks were tiny. No adult hand made those.

She'd pinched herself.

Caius held Mina's hand. His brow tightened a little.

In the end, all he said was, "Selene, you've disappointed me."

Something cold twisted in my chest. The hate rose up fast. The sharpest Alpha on the Council, the youngest promising Alpha Heir of his generation — how could he not see those marks weren't made by me?

He saw. He was choosing the pup.

I looked him dead in the eye. "You know I didn't pinch her."

"But she was frightened by you. Selene, I know you have feelings for me. But you shouldn't have called her a pup with no father, and you shouldn't have called her mother a home-wrecker."

"I'm the one who chose not to Mark you."

The crowd's eyes settled on me with open pleasure at my pain. He finished speaking, tossed down a roll of linen bandages and a pouch of moonlight healing salve.

"Think about what you did. If you keep being this jealous and petty, I won't Mark you in five years either."

He scooped up the pup, took Rhea's hand, and walked out.

A hit and then a sweet word. Caius was good at that trick.

I sat on the floor with them pointing at me, their shaming words and stares cutting like knives. The pain was bad. The hate was worse.

When I got home that night, my parents learned what had happened and were furious.

I held my father's hand. "Father. Is everything sorted?"

"Don't worry. I have all of it."

I nodded. My mother still wasn't satisfied.

"Are we really going to let them walk? Because she's a five-year-old pup?"

"A five-year-old pup should know right from wrong. When Caius was five he could read and write and knew better."

I took a breath. "They won't discipline their own. Someone else will do it for them."

For the next few days, I stayed home and prepared for my Marking.

My gown was ruined. I was going to have someone stitch it through the night, but the next day, Rhys Thorne himself sent over a new one.

"Alpha Thorne says the pattern is common, but the twin moonlilies on the front were embroidered by his own mother. If Miss Ashford doesn't mind, she can wear this one."

I thanked the messenger and took the gown.

Before the ceremony, I put a thick folded letter inside a wooden box and had a servant deliver it.

...

The eighth day of the fifth month. An auspicious morning under the rising moon. The day I would be Marked.

My mother combed my hair slowly with a wooden comb. One stroke after another. Her eyes were full of grief.

"Selene. May your whole life be smooth."

My eyes stung. I held her hand and stood up.

Then, outside, there was shouting.

"Wait — you can't go in there! This is the Alpha's daughter's Marking Day —"

"Marking Day? Move. Everyone, move."

My mother's hand tightened on mine. It was Caius.

He was in a plain white robe. He strode in, saw me in the ceremony gown, and sneered. "Selene Ashford, I really didn't think you'd go this far to Mark me. Forcing my hand like this. Shameless."

"Fine. Once your bridal procession reaches Langford Manor, I can't very well send you back. But I'll say this now. You come to me as Chosen Mate. I'm not paying a courting gift."

There was an uproar. The noble She-Wolves who had come to see me off stared at him, stunned. His words were that shameless.

He didn't seem to notice.

He flicked his plain white robe like it was a great favor. "Selene Ashford, remember — today, you're the one forcing this Mate Claim. So you'll enter as a Chosen Mate. You'll behave, and you will not fight Rhea for anything."