Rosella ran through the woods with all her might.
Her breath came in ragged gasps as branches tore at her arms and legs.
Her lungs burned as every breath scraped her throat raw.
She didn’t dare look back, She already knew what she would see—torches cutting through the dark, boots crashing through the undergrowth, men who used to bow when she passed.
They were hunting her now.
“She dies today just like her mother did two years ago.” The words wouldn’t leave her head.
She had overheard them only minutes ago, spoken so calmly, so easily, by the man she once called Father.
Her stepfather.
The same man who had wiped her tears when her real father died.
The same man who had promised she would always be safe.
Liar.
Tears blurred her vision, but she kept running.
She couldn’t stop, not when she finally knew the truth about her mother’s death, not when the only person left who might believe her was still out there.
She didn’t want to believe it, but the footsteps behind her were evidence enough that this wasn’t a nightmare.
She had been marked for death.
“Pl…ease.” She whispered in labored breath, praying to the moon goddess to save her.
The woods were unnaturally silent.
No birds called from the trees.
No insect chirped beneath the leaves, even the wind itself had even gone still and stiff like it was holding its breath from what was about to come.
Her foot caught on a root.
She crashed down the slope, shoulder slamming into a tree as pain exploded through her leg and skull.
For a second the world spun.
“Arghh.” She groaned, pain spreading through her leg to her head.
“There she is!” A torch swung toward her.
Light burned across her face.
“No… no, no, no—” She forced herself up, limping hard, every step a fresh knife of pain.
The old path was just ahead, the one her parents had shown her years ago.
The hidden boat.
The place they said would keep her safe if the worst ever happened.
She was almost there.
Almost.
The lake came into view, black and still under a low, lonely moon.
Relief hit her so hard her knees nearly gave out as she staggered toward the large tree that overlooked the water, searching for the boat her mother had hidden.
A figure stepped out of the shadows.
Rosella’s heart stopped for just a bit before she realized Who it was “Lord Alaric!” She fell against him, clutching his coat like a drowning person.
“Thank the moon goddess—you have to help me.
They’re coming.
My stepfather… he killed my mother.
He’s going to kill me too.
His guards are right behind me—” Alaric’s arms closed around her in a Warm, steady yet familiar way.
“Slow down, child,” he murmured, voice soft with worry.
“Tell me everything.” “There’s no time!” Her voice cracked as fresh tears spilled.
“Any second and we’ll both be dead.
Please, Lord Alaric.
You’re the only one left I can trust.” He looked down at her, for a moment, he wanted to question her more but the look in Rosella’s eyes made him pause.
Her safety first, with this, his expression softened the way it used to when she was small and afraid of storms.
Then he nodded.
“We leave at once.
You’re not safe here.” He dragged the old boat from its hiding place and pulled it to the water’s edge.
Rosella’s legs shook with relief, she was going to make it, she was going to live.
She was going to make them pay for what they did to her mother.
Torches broke through the trees.
“Lord Alaric.” One of the guards stepped forward, breathing hard.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
The guards looked at each other unsure of how best to put it.
“The Alpha ordered us to bring Princess Rosella back.” Rosella’s fingers dug into Alaric’s sleeve.
“Please,” she whispered.
“Don’t let them take me.” Alaric looked at the guards, then he looked at her.
His face changed, as the kindness drained away like water down a crack.
“I won’t,” he said quietly.
Rosella exhaled, the first real breath she’d taken in what felt like hours.
His expression softened.
“I won’t let them take you.” He repeated.
My fingers loosened.
“Thank you.” I almost smiled.
I actually thought I was safe.
I reached for his hand.
His fingers closed around mine.
Then he squeezed it Hard and with this, my smile disappeared.
” Lord Alaric?” She called but he didn’t answer, his grip tightened until her fingers hurt.
She stared at him.
Something was wrong.
“Lord Alaric, you’re hurting me.” He suddenly pulled her toward him, then she stumbled.
“What are you—” His hand closed around her throat as she gasped, her back hit his chest as his arm tightened around her neck.
She couldn’t breathe.
“Lor…Lord…A…Alar…ric?” She grasped for air.
He dragged her toward the lake but she fought against him, she was grabbing at his arm.
“Stop!” He didn’t and the guards didn’t move, they simply watched.
My eyes darted toward them, then back to Alaric.
“You…” My voice came out weak.
“You’re with them?” He looked down at me, there was nothing familiar in his eyes.
No concern, no warmth.
Nothing.
Just pure coldness.
Then Alaric’s hand closed around her throat.
“I’ll be killing you myself.” The words didn’t make sense at first.
She blinked up at him.
“What…?” He lifted her like she weighed nothing and slammed her into the lake as Ice-cold water swallowed her whole.
Rosella thrashed, clawing at his fingers, trying to scream, Only bubbles came out, his grip was iron.
He held her under with the same steady hands that had once carried her when she scraped her knees.
She stared up through the dark water.
Alaric’s face floated above her, twisted with something that looked almost like satisfaction.
Hate.
This man—her mother’s most trusted advisor, the man she had run to for safety—wanted her dead.
Water forced its way into her lungs.
Her chest burned like it was on fire.
She kicked harder, nails raking his wrists, but she was too weak.
Too small.
She was just a wolfless omega princess after all.
She thought of her mother, of the soft way she used to hum while brushing her hair.
Of her real father smiling at them both.
She thought of the stepfather she had trusted with everything and also her step sister.
Tears mixed with lake water as the fight drained out of her.
She had come so close.
She had finally learned the truth… and she would die without ever using it.
Her chest hurt so badly that she thought it would burst.
She don’t want to die.
The thought came with such force that she almost fought again.
She wanted to live long enough to see him pay for what he had done.
She wanted to know what love was supposed to feel like when it wasn’t a lie.
But the darkness was already taking her as suddenly, her arms stopped moving, her legs went still and the last thing she saw was Alaric standing above the water.
The man she had trusted.
The man she had believed would save her.
He watched me disappear beneath the surface and did he did nothing.
My eyes closed as the body sank into the darkness.
My final thought was not anger.
It was a question.
If She had known everyone She loved would betray her, would she still have loved them?
She never found the answer.
Her lungs gave out.
The last bit of strength left my body.
And Rosella died beneath the lake, believing she had been forgotten by everyone who was supposed to love her.
••••••• Alpha Colette Ansgard peeled off her red robe and stepped toward the sunken bath.
Rose petals floated on the surface.
A bottle of dark wine and a tray of fruit waited on the ledge.
Her long silver-white hair spilled down her back, hiding the faint mark of the curse she had carried for years.
She tested the water with one painted toe, then sank in with a low sigh as heat soaked into her bones.
After three days of arguing with her council over the Serpent Pack territory, she needed this.
The land was already hers in her mind.
The council could agree or they could be replaced.
She had never been in the habit of asking permission.
She reached for the wine, took a long swallow, and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, a man in a mask stood at the edge of the bath.
Colette’s hand shot to the dagger hidden beneath the fruit tray.
“Who are you?” Her voice was pure ice.
The man tilted his head.
“No need for that, Your Highness.
It would only be a waste.
I already have you exactly where I want you.” She rose from the water, completely unbothered by her nakedness, dagger steady.
“I don’t know how you got past my guards, but you will not leave this room alive.” He laughed—a soft, bitter sound.
“I am Sebastian.
Of course you don’t remember.
No matter.
My name means nothing.
You will die here tonight.
Alone.
Just like you left my father.” Colette’s mouth curved into a cold smile.
In twenty-four years, no one had ever spoken to her like this and lived.
She was going to enjoy cutting the arrogance out of him piece by piece.
She stepped forward and her body betrayed her.
Weakness flooded her limbs like poison.
The dagger suddenly felt too heavy.
Her vision swam.
“What… is this?” she snarled.
Sebastian moved closer.
“Such a beautiful waste.
I would have liked to taste you before the end.” Understanding hit her too late.
The wine.
Or the fruit, Something had been laced.
“You poisoned me,” she forced out through gritted teeth.
“How?” He only smiled, almost gently, and caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers.
Then he drove the knife into her chest.
Mercury-laced iron.
The only metal that could kill her.
Colette staggered, staring down at the hilt protruding from her body, Pain exploded outward, white and absolute.
She dropped to her knees, then to the cold stone floor.
Sebastian stood over her, watching.
“I told you,” he said quietly.
“You killed my father.” Her life flickered behind her eyes—her parents’ assassination, the heavy crown forced onto a child’s head, the ruthless mask she had worn ever since, the curse she had accepted to keep their legacy alive.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this.
Not while the people who murdered her parents still breathed.
She tried to speak, to curse him, to promise she would crawl back from the grave itself if she had to.
Only a wet gasp left her lips.
The darkness closed in.
Alpha Colette Ansgard was pronounced dead at 5:15 p.m.