I rejected a pack Alpha last night, and my father's study door was the only place left to stand.
Behind it, Alden was already talking water.
I knocked twice and walked in before he could tell me no.
Alden: Shut the door.
I said it straight. No circling, no softening.
Rhea: I rejected Kael Rourke. The bond. Last night, out loud, to his face.
Rhea: I need you to back me at the meeting. Say Greyfen stands behind it.
Alden: You did what?
He put his pen down slow, like I was a bill he had not budgeted for.
For one stupid second I thought that meant he was listening.
Rhea: He put his hands on me twice. He said he'd take me in front of the pack.
Rhea: So no. I'm not marrying your water line. Back me.
Alden: Do you know what a rejected bond costs a pack? Blackpine signs for four hundred thousand gallons next month.
Alden: And you want me to stand in that hall and tell Kael Rourke his mate spat in his face.
Rhea: I want you to tell them the truth.
Alden: The truth is you have embarrassed this family enough for one week.
The night came back at me before I could stop it. His room, one lamp, a door locked twice.
His mouth on mine in the dark, gentle first, then not gentle at all.
He caught my bottom lip in his teeth, just hard enough, and my whole body went loose against his.
Kael: Say my name when you come tonight.
I had said it. Into his neck, twice, like a fool.
Alden: The dam is worth the dam. Your pride is not worth the dam.
Rhea: My pride? He told me he'd fuck me on the table in front of you.
Alden: Then mind your behavior and he won't have a reason to.
Della was in the doorway by then, blue dress, folder in her arms, smiling like a title she had not earned.
Della: Oh, she told me. Half the yard heard.
Della: One night in his bed and she thinks she's a Luna. She's a bitch in heat who cost us a contract.
The two men behind her laughed. One of them did not even bother to hide it.
Rhea: Say that one more time to my face, cousin.
Della: Gladly. You spread your legs for Blackpine and now you want Daddy to fight your war.
I went for the door and Alden caught my arm above the elbow and squeezed until the bone complained.
Alden: You will stand at that meeting and smile, or I'll tie you to the post in that yard and let the pack see what a mouth costs.
He shoved me off and my shoulder cracked into the door frame. My split lip opened and the blood came warm down my chin.
Alden: Clean that up. You look like a stray.
I believed him about the post. That was the thing I carried out of that room.
My mother was in the hall with a basket of laundry, close enough to hear every word.
Rhea: Mom. Tell him. Tell him what he just said to me.
She adjusted the basket and stepped around me like I was furniture.
Maren: You know how he is when the water is on the table.
Rhea: That's not an answer. That's a weather report.
Della's folder was still open on the desk. The meeting agenda, clipped neat.
Item four. Blackpine deal, and then my name. Just like that. A name where a number goes.
Alden: Get out of my papers.
Rhea: I'm a line item. You already sold me and you didn't even tell me the price.
Alden: The price is water for every wolf in Greyfen. Be proud of that.
I walked out with blood drying on my chin and my arm going purple where his hand had been.
One week, Kael had said. Your father's table, then mine.
He had been right about every part of it, and that was the cut that hurt.
My father picked a water line over his own daughter, and my mother let him.
So nobody was coming to save me. Not them, and not the mate who swore I'd crawl back.