I hauled myself out of bed and hurried into the courtyard, hoping to warn them away before it was too late.
But the moment I opened the door, a face stared back at me. A face that looked seven-tenths like my own.
A scent hit me before her hand did. White jasmine and fresh snow and something underneath that made my skin prickle, sharp and chemical, like polished silver held too close to bare flesh.
Before I could utter a word, a hand cracked across my cheek.
"Where did this wretched little servant come from, wearing my face in the Supreme Alpha's Abyssal Den? What, are you trying to steal his favor from me?"
The slap came out of nowhere, so hard my skull rang like a struck bell.
"A human-born with no wolf blood whatsoever. How did you even get into Shadowfang territory?"
"She must have spread her legs for some low-ranking patrol wolf. That would explain the pregnancy."
"Human-born really are pathetic. She thinks that just because she bears a passing resemblance to our Lady Seraphina, she can hide here and seduce the Supreme Alpha?"
It wasn't until I heard their venom that I realized who had barged in and struck me. The woman standing before me was none other than Seraphina Crystalis, the one the Silvercrest Alpha had offered to end the war between the packs all those years ago.
For hundreds of thousands of years, the Supreme Alpha could have had his pick of countless beauties. Instead, he spent every day at my side.
He had never spared a second glance at any woman other than me.
That was why, when he agreed to halt the great war on account of Seraphina, a thread of doubt had wound through my heart.
Now, seeing her in person for the first time, I understood. She bore a resemblance to me.
That was what had stirred his mercy.
At this moment, Seraphina's face was twisted with fury, her blazing gaze threatening to consume me whole. The scent of white jasmine and fresh snow rolled off her in waves, but beneath it was something sharp and chemical, something that made the small wolf inside me flatten itself low and still.
"You wretched human-born. You knew the Supreme Alpha was hopelessly in love with me, so you thought you could use that face of yours to lure him in? A face that only barely resembles mine?"
Her arrogance was suffocating, but since she clearly had no idea who I was, I chose not to hold the slap against her.
Instead, I offered a warning out of kindness.