"That's right. Let every shameless wretch out there know that the Supreme Alpha's mate is not a title just anyone can claim."

Every one of them spoke with razor-edged malice, their eyes burning with a hatred so sharp it seemed they wanted to tear me apart where I lay. I could smell it on them, sour and metallic beneath their perfumed scents. The hunger for violence.

I kept my expression grave. "You should go ask the Supreme Alpha himself who I am."

Seraphina lifted her chin, contempt dripping from every pore.

"You, a common human-born who snuck into the Abyssal Den, think you're worthy of me inquiring about your identity?"

"I am the one closest to the Supreme Alpha's heart. I am the Silvercrest Alpha's most treasured daughter. What are you? You think your status could ever compare to mine?"

She let her gaze drift across the darkened hall, and her voice turned soft, almost idle.

"This Abyssal Den is far too gloomy. It could use a splash of red."

The Silvercrest she-wolves understood instantly. One by one, they shifted their hands into half-claws, long and gleaming, tipped with the faint silver sheen of their bloodline power.

And they lashed into me without mercy.

I was human-born flesh and bone. I had no way to withstand an assault from this many pureblood wolves at once.

I was beaten to the ground, curled into myself, my skin split open in ribbons of blood. The scent of my own blood filled the chamber, night-blooming moonflower and warm amber drowned beneath the copper tide of it.

Through the blinding agony, I locked both hands over my belly and screamed with everything I had left:

"Stop! I am the Luna Queen!"

At those words, the Silvercrest she-wolves froze mid-strike.

Seraphina stood off to the side, eyes narrowing as she studied me.

"What did you just say? That you're the Luna Queen?"

I met her gaze without flinching. "That's right. If the Supreme Alpha finds out what you've done to me, none of you will walk away from this."

I laid the truth bare, certain that Seraphina would stop.

Instead, they burst out laughing in unison.

"This filthy human-born has lost her mind! She actually thinks she's the Luna Queen?"

"Just because she looks a little like Lady Seraphina, she has the nerve to claim our lady owes everything to her?"