Chapter 4

Rose raised her gaze, her expression cold and detached, as though Sally's pitiful performance were nothing more than a stray dog's whimpering in the distance.

"Sally, do I owe you an explanation for every decision I make regarding my own operations?"

Sally's eyes reddened instantly, her lips trembling. "Rose, have I done something to offend you? Is this because of Zack and Shawn? Are you angry that they've shown me kindness?"

As she spoke, she fumbled with the silver wolf-claw pendant at her throat, the one Zack had gifted her. She unclasped it with shaking hands, then pulled off the leather bracelet etched with Shawn's clan sigil. Holding them out like fragile offerings, she whispered, "These were given to me by Zack. I'm returning them to you. Please, don't be angry anymore. And this..."

She reached into her satchel and withdrew a gleaming wolf-bone Honor Mark—carved from the ribs of a northern alpha, its surface engraved with Shawn's bloodseal. The kind of prize only the strongest earned in the Council of Marks ceremony.

Sally sank to her knees before Rose, clutching the Mark to her chest. "This was meant for you, wasn't it? Shawn promised it to you once. I'm giving it back. Rose, please... don't punish me for something I never asked for."

Her voice cracked, tears streaming down her face. The sound of her sobs drew the attention of every wolf attendant in the corridor, their gazes shifting between the two women.

Rose didn't so much as glance at the items in Sally's hands. She stepped to the side, intending to walk past her entirely, but Sally lunged forward and grabbed the hem of Rose's cloak.

The sudden motion sent everything tumbling from Sally's grasp. The pendant, the bracelet, and the Honor Mark clattered against the stone floor. The Mark shattered on impact, its fragments scattering like broken teeth.

Sally let out a sharp cry and collapsed onto the debris, her palms and knees landing directly on the jagged shards. Blood welled immediately, dark and vivid against her pale skin.

"Ah! Alpha Rose, why are you doing this to me again? I've given you everything—why won't you leave me alone?"

At that exact moment, the grinding of stone gears signaled the arrival of the platform lift. The corridor fell silent as Zack and Shawn emerged from the dim passageway, their eyes locking onto the scene before them.

"Sally—are you hurt?"

Both men moved in unison, their expressions hardening with alarm. Zack reached her first, his hands steadying her trembling shoulders. Shawn crouched beside her, his gaze sweeping over the blood streaking her arms and legs.

Shawn's jaw clenched. He pulled a wolf-clan sigil from his belt and activated the emergency summons, his voice tight. "Get a healer to the Rollins estate. Now."

Zack's eyes shifted to the wreckage on the floor—the shattered Honor Mark, the bent pendant, the torn bracelet. His expression darkened. Slowly, he lifted his gaze to Rose.

"Rose," he said, his voice low and edged with reproach, "I saw the dismissal order you sent Sally this morning. I thought maybe it was just business. But now I see what this really is."

His tone sharpened. "You can't stand her, can you? I never thought you'd stoop to something this petty."

Rose's breath caught in her chest. Petty?

Did Zack even know what state the Rollins trade operations had been left in after Sally's mismanagement? The contracts she'd bungled, the alliances she'd nearly destroyed?

"I handle my affairs without sentiment," Rose said evenly, her voice cold as winter stone. "Sally failed in her duties. I removed her. I didn't strip her of her bloodseal protections or exile her from the city. I've been more than fair."

Shawn's eyes flashed with anger. He rose to his feet, pointing at the shattered remains on the floor. "Then why destroy the things we gave her? You call that fair?"

His voice rang through the corridor. "You'll replace the Mark. You'll replace the pendant. And you'll apologize to her."

Rose's lips curled into something bitter and sharp. She pointed toward the enchanted scrying lens mounted above the archway—a device that recorded every movement within the estate.

"Shawn, perhaps you'd care to review the lens records before you accuse me. I never touched her. She dropped those items herself. She fell on purpose. Everything is recorded."

Shawn's hand shot out, his clawed fingers closing around Rose's throat. His grip tightened, cutting off her air. "Do you think I'm a fool, Rose? This is your estate. If you wanted to forge the records, it wouldn't be difficult. You've always been clever. Too clever."

His claws pressed deeper, and Rose's vision blurred. Her hands clawed uselessly at his wrist. Just as the edges of her sight began to darken, Shawn released her with a snarl, shoving her backward.

Rose crashed into the pile of broken bone and metal, a strangled gasp tearing from her throat. Pain lanced through her side as a shard of the Honor Mark sliced into her ribs.

Several attendants moved to help her, but Zack's enforcers stepped forward, blocking their path with growls of warning.

Shawn's voice was cold, final. "You'll feel every injury Sally suffered. Every cut. Every bruise. And you'll feel it a hundred times over."

The healer arrived moments later, a thin wolf-woman carrying a satchel of salves and bone-knit charms. Shawn lifted Sally into his arms without a word, cradling her as though she were made of glass. Zack followed close behind, his expression unreadable.

Neither of them looked back.

Rose lay motionless among the debris, her breath shallow, her body screaming with pain. Every shift sent fresh agony through her limbs.

Raphael knelt beside her, his own palm bleeding where he'd caught a shard trying to reach her. "Alpha Rose, let me take you to a healer."

Rose's gaze drifted to the cut on his hand. "No. Tend to yourself first. I'll manage."

Under the horrified stares of the remaining attendants, Rose dragged herself upright, biting back a scream as broken fragments shifted beneath her weight. She limped from the corridor, leaving a faint trail of blood in her wake.

By the time she returned to the villa, her entire body was wrapped in makeshift bandages, her breathing ragged. She'd barely finished binding the worst of the wounds when the sound of boots echoed in the entryway.

Zack and Shawn had returned.

Zack's gaze lingered on the strips of cloth wound around Rose's arms, his lips parting as though to speak—but before he could, Rose's wolf-clan sigil pulsed with light.

An incoming message. Her mother's voice.

Rose pressed the sigil to her ear. "Mother."

The moment she heard the familiar tone, something inside her cracked. Her voice wavered, barely audible. "I'm... I'm fine."

Her mother's concern was immediate, sharp with worry. Rose forced herself to steady her breathing, to smooth the roughness from her words. "I'm fine, truly. I'll arrive in Golden Oak City tomorrow by sundown. Have Alpha Thorne meet me at the gates. We need to finalize the marriage rites."

Zack and Shawn exchanged a glance, their expressions darkening in unison.

"Marriage?" Zack's voice was low, dangerous. "What marriage?"