"You will pay for this."
The head goddess was still in the doorway. Clipboard. Dead serious expression.
"Both of you." She pointed at Zarek. Then Kruze. "You broke a sacred ritual. The Moon Goddess does not forget this. You will be summoned. You will attend. And trust me when I say you will not enjoy it."
"Understood," Zarek said.
"I'm not finished."
"Sorry. Go ahead."
"Mock it all you want." She looked at Kruze. "Your little pack titles won't save you when she calls."
Kruze said nothing. His thumb went to the band.
She walked out. The other three followed with their candles and their very official documentation of everything that had just happened in this room.
Door closed.
Rodrigo looked at his brothers. At the tracksuit Kruze was holding. At the fake beard Zarek was still carrying.
"Took you long enough," he said. "That the disguise?"
"It is," Kruze said.
"We searched the whole estate," Zarek said. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find clothes that fit—" he looked at Daciana, "—someone her size on short notice? Everyone who works here is enormous."
"Then we couldn't find the room," Kruze said.
Rodrigo looked at Daciana. She was still on the table, dress half-open, cheeks flushed, legs pressed together. His voice dropped. "Get changed. Now. The incense is still going and these two are going to become a problem very shortly."
Daciana slid off the table, legs shaky. "You think I want to stay like this?"
She grabbed the clothes and turned her back, dropping the ruined dress. The oversized shirt went on first. Baggy pants next. Cap last, tucking her hair up. The whole thing felt ridiculous — like a kid playing dress-up.
When she turned around, Zarek whistled low. "Damn. You actually pull it off.
Kruze opened his mouth.
"Don't," Rodrigo said.
"I was just going to say the beard really does complete the look—"
The car was waiting at the side entrance. Same black car. The driver looked at all four of them and said absolutely nothing which was probably why he still had the job.
Zarek went for the front seat.
Kruze stepped in front of him.
Zarek stopped. "You never drive."
"I'm driving today."
"Since when—"
"Rodrigo." Kruze turned to him. " I'll take her alone. You two handle the registry mess. Rodrigo, you need to fix whatever the hell just got recorded. Zarek, help him."
Zarek blinked. "Wait, what?"
Rodrigo's jaw tightened. "Kruze—"
"No arguments," Kruze said flatly. "You want the real bride seeing that test result? I'll drop her at the dorm. She's safe with me."
Zarek looked at Kruze. Then at Rodrigo. Then at Daciana. His brain was clearly running the same question everyone else's was — why does Kruze want to be alone with her — but his face just said sure, like none of it was happening.
Rodrigo stared at him for a second, then nodded once. "Fine. Text me when she's inside."
Kruze turned to her.
"Little wolf," he said. "Get in."
She got in. He drove.
Twenty minutes to the academy. Morning traffic. An AbNormal city doing normal things.
She waited about a minute before she started.
"So how long have you been In the training program—"
Silence.
"Is it just you or do you and Zarek split the—"
Silence.
"Okay different topic. The estate, how long has your family—"
Silence.
"Kruze."
Silence.
"Are you seriously not going to talk to me for the whole drive."
"Correct," he said.
She sat back. Fine. She'd try a different angle. She'd—
"So," she said. "Do you always drive in silence or is this a me thing."
"Daciana."
"Yeah."
"Stop."
She tried again at five minutes.
"Why did you volunteer to drive me."
Silence. Then:
"Because Rodrigo can't think straight around you." Flat. Simple. "He doesn't make mistakes. He's made three in two days. All of them happened because of you."
"That's not my fault—"
"I didn't say it was your fault. I said it's because of you." He glanced in the mirror once. "Whatever you're doing. Whatever you want from him. It stops."
"I'm not doing anything—"
"You're doing something," he said. "I don't know what it is yet. But I know it's not nothing." He paused. "We can erase you. I've said it before. I mean it more now."
She looked out the window.
Kruze shifted gears. His hand brushed her thigh — just for a second, accidental but not. She tensed. He noticed.
"You still smell like the incense," he said quietly.
She snapped, "Eyes on the road."
But her nipples hardened under the shirt. Her thighs pressed together without her permission. Heat pooled low again, like the incense never really left.
Kruze glanced in the mirror once. Smirked — small, quick, gone.
She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to hide it.
He noticed anyway.
She looked away fast, cheeks burning.
The heat between her legs pulsed harder like her body hadn't gotten the memo that the incense was supposed to be wearing off.
"Relax," he said. "I'm driving."
You have no idea, she thought. Genuinely no idea.
"I found the card," he said.
She went still.
"Marcus Vey. In your stocking last night when you were too drunk to notice." His voice didn't change at all. "I don't know what your crew is planning. But I took it. And if you try to contact anyone connected to this family without me knowing—"
Whatever you think you're doing, I'm a thousand steps ahead. Whatever little network you have, it doesn't matter."
She almost laughed out loud.
Network. He thought she had a network.
"Okay," She looked out the window.
The card. She'd completely forgotten about the card. That was stupid. She couldn't afford stupid.
He pulled over two blocks from the academy.
She looked around. "We're not there yet."
"No."
"I'm not walking two blocks in—"
"Look at yourself," he said.
She looked down. Enormous tracksuit. Cap over her eyes. Men's shoes. She looked absolutely ridiculous.
"You can walk in like that," he said, "or you can change. Up to you."
"I'm not changing in a car—"
She looked at him. At the window. At the tracksuit.
"Fine," she said.
She changed in the back seat. It was a whole thing. The dress was not made for small spaces.
She caught Kruze's eyes in the mirror once.
He parked at the gates and got out.
She got out. Looked at him over the roof of the car.
"I can walk from here—"
"I know which building you're in," he said. "I want to know which room."
"Why."
"You know where I live." He came around the car. Stood next to her. "That's fair."
"Kruze. People are going to see you."
"Yes."
"They're going to talk about this all day."
"Probably."
"Kruze Westmont walking some girl to her dorm in the morning—"
People were already stopping on the path. Students. Whispers starting immediately. Kruze Westmont at the academy gates on a Tuesday morning standing next to a girl.
"People are staring," she said.
"I don't care." He started walking. "You shouldn't either."
She walked. He walked beside her. The whispers followed them all the way across the grounds and through the building and down the corridor and Kruze didn't look at a single person the entire time.
She knocked on her door.
Nothing.
She found the spare key above the frame and unlocked it and turned to say bye.
"Won't you invite me in," he said.
"No."
He walked in.
She stood in the doorway. "I literally just said no."
He stood in the middle of her room and looked around. Two beds. Two desks. Books everywhere. Small. Her side neat and organized. Sable's side a disaster.
"You stay here," he said.
"Yes."
"It's small."
"It works."
He looked at her.
"Having a big space means nothing if there's no one in it," he said.
He turned to her desk. Picked up the photograph before she could say anything.
Her mum. Lily. Her brother. The old yellow house. Before everything.
Kruze looked at it.
He looked at it too long. That was the tell. Kruze didn't look at things longer than they needed.
"Nice family," he said.
Then he stepped closer — close enough that his chest almost touched her back. She felt his heat through the shirt.
"They'd hate knowing you're tangled with us," he said, voice low.
His fingers brushed the bite mark on her neck — light, barely there.
"This says you're already ours."
She shivered. Hard. Pushed his hand away.
"Don't touch me."
Her voice cracked. She was breathing too fast.
Her nipples were tight against her dress.
She stepped back, thighs squeezing together like that could stop the ache.
He didn't move back right away. Just stood there, looking down at her neck …memorizing it.
"Take today off," he said. Back to business. Like nothing happened. "Tomorrow. Eight AM. Our building."
"I have conditions," she said.
He stopped.
"Hours. Pay. Days off. I'm not doing this for free."
He looked at her.
"Fine," he said.
"Just fine?"
"Money's not a problem. We'll sort the details tomorrow." He walked to the door. Stopped with his hand on the frame. His back to her. "Stay out of trouble."
"No promises."
Then he stepped away.
"Tomorrow," he said. "You report to Rodrigo."
He turned to leave.
Stopped.
Leaned in — face an inch from hers.
"But remember: I'm watching. Take your suppressant"
He left before she could answer.
She stood there, heart slamming, skin still burning where he'd touched.
The door flew open thirty seconds later.
"OH MY GOD." Sable dropped everything. Books. Bag. Water bottle. All of it on the floor. "Was that Kruze WESTMONT walking out of our room—"
"It's not what—"
"I SAW HIM WITH MY ACTUAL EYES—"
"Sable—"
"His FACE when he came out of this door Dacy his FACE—"
"Nothing happened—"
"Then why does he look like THAT—" Sable stopped. Stepped closer. Her eyes locked onto Daciana's neck. Went wide. "Wait."
"What."
"What. Is. That."
"Nothing—"
"Daciana Mikelson" Sable pointed directly at it. "That is a bite mark."
Daciana's hand went to her throat.
The ritual room. His mouth on her neck. The moment her brain had completely stopped working and hadn't started again for a while.
She'd completely forgotten.
"It's not a big deal—"
"THAT IS A WOLF BITE MARK ON YOUR NECK—"
"It is not a claiming bite—"
"IT IS ABSOLUTELY A—"
"Sable." Daciana grabbed her by both arms. "Breathe."
Sable breathed. Once. Looked at the mark again.
"Jayden," she said. Quiet now. All the screaming gone. "Dacy. Jayden is going to completely lose his mind. He's coming"
The room went still.
Daciana looked at the bite in the small mirror above her desk.
She enjoyed it.
That was almost the worst part.
Knock on the open door.
Jayden entered "Why does it smell like alpha?"
She sat down on her bed and for the first time since she got here she didn't have a single next move planned.