"I'm warning you—I just gave him a son! A strong, healthy pup! My bond-mother adores him!" Her chest heaved. "Give up already!"
Passersby stopped. Heads turned. A crowd of pack members and market-goers began to form.
And all I could feel was the sheer absurdity of it crashing over me like a wave.
I laughed.
The Nightbloom Pack was my father's territory—my bloodline's legacy. He'd only entrusted it to Kael to manage as Alpha-Consort. Since when did that make Kael the true Alpha?
And the real joke? Kael's doting mother—the she-wolf who smiled so sweetly at me, who played the perfect pack matron—she'd known about this affair all along.
Which meant she'd approved of my pup's moon-gold being handed over to Raven.
But spending my pack's resources to keep another she-wolf? That, I would not tolerate.
I snapped back to the present.
My hand moved before I could think.
Crack.
The slap echoed off the stone facades.
"Who are you calling a rogue omega?"
Raven stood frozen, palm pressed to her cheek, too stunned to react.
I looked down at her, eyes cold and wolf-bright. "You're the one warming another wolf's mate's bed, and you don't even have the self-awareness to be ashamed? You think that's something to be proud of?"
My voice hardened. "I'm ordering you to stop this renovation immediately. Or I'm summoning the pack enforcers."
The crowd swelled. Whispers rippled through the onlookers. Fingers pointed at Raven.
"Wait—so it's the bonded Luna confronting the mistress?"
"Looks like the mistress isn't even as pretty as the bonded mate. What was that wolf thinking?"
Raven's face twisted with fury. She lunged at me, claws extending as her fingers tangled in my hair. "I'm the mistress?!"
"I've been mated to my mate for three years! I just whelped his son! His mother even performed the naming rite herself!"
"Don't let her deceive you with her lies!"
Our bodies crashed together, struggling for dominance—and that's when my heightened senses caught it.
The moon-gold chain gleaming at her throat.
One of the pieces from my pup's stolen heirlooms. Seren's favorite, etched with protective runes by my own mother.
Rage ignited in my chest like wildfire. I tore the chain from her neck with a sharp yank. "You dare wear my pup's things?!"
"You're not worthy of touching them!"