"What about her? Did she threaten you?"
"Uhm... n-no. It's just..." I take a long breath. "She is your wife, and I can't be intimate with a married man outside my duty as a breeder."
"Fuck the policy. This is my policy, my rule."
He palms my cheek. "I will send someone to collect you whenever I wish to see you."
I let out a sigh, already dreading that moment.
He began stepping back, but stopped briefly—slipping something into my fingers—a picture
—before turning around and walking away.
I held onto the picture he left with me, watching as he trotted out gracefully, carrying on the charisma and posture of an Alpha, one hand dipped into his pocket.
Once he was gone, I slowly opened my palm to reveal the picture.
My lips parted in shock the moment my eyes settled on it.
It was a picture of me... naked.
He took a picture of me naked?
In the picture, I lay flat on that bed from that night, staring seductively at the camera, both breasts cupped in my palms. The full moon peeked through the window at the corner of the frame, its glow spilling across the floor.
How long had we gone that night? If I had the time to pose for a picture... what more had we done?
Quickly, I tucked the picture away and walked out.
But the instant I stepped out of the hall, a hand gripped my hair harshly, yanking me along. I was hurled into a store room, the door slamming shut behind me. The grip released only to turn me around—forcing me to face them.
Oh, not again...
"L-Luna—?"
A sharp crack landed across my face, my hair whipping aside as the picture slipped from my grasp.
Before I could reach for it and hide it away, the Luna already had it in her hand, flipping it open to study the picture.
Her red-painted lips fell apart as she stared at the image.
"Did he give you this?"
I dropped to my knees immediately. "I-I asked him to take the picture, and I pressed him to give it to me. I swear on my life."
She scoffed, tucking the picture into the pocket of her overcoat. "I believe you. That's why I'm doing this."
Her hand shot out, clutching my throat before hurling me across the room. My body crashed into a shelf stacked with old, dusty books, the wood splintering to pieces beneath the force.
Pain shot up my spine, but I only let out a wince, trying to suppress it.
"You don't seem to get it, do you?" she sneered, advancing. "Dawn used one of his special powers today—mind manipulation."
She knew that?
"He hasn't used it since that fateful night... and yet he used it on a cheap bitch like you."
She grabbed a jagged piece of wood from the shattered shelf as she closed the distance between us.
"Maybe you don't think I'm serious when I say I hold your miserable life in my grasp."
Before I could move, she drove the wood straight through my chest—just missing my heart.
A sharp cry tore from me, blood spilling into my chiffon dress as the jagged piece protruded from my body.
"Let me make this clear." She placed both hands on the wood embedded in me. "Stay away..." she twisted the wood, forcing another scream from my lips, "from..." another twist, another torturous pain, another cry, "Alpha Dawn." A final brutal twist.
"The next time I remind you, it'll be when I tear your flesh apart with my claws and do the same to your fellow lowlife Omegas. Am I clear?"
Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face as I nodded through the excruciating pain.
"Then we're good." She straightened, leaving the wood lodged in my chest. "I'll call for you soon—I'll need you soon. Until then."
Without another glance, she turned and left the storeroom.
My breaths came ragged. My life flashed before me. The blood was pouring, my strength slipping. I had to pull it out—first.
One hand gripped the wood, the other braced against what was left of the shelf for support. Slowly, I pulled, biting down against the scream clawing its way out of me. It hadn't gone in deep, so it came free quickly.
I tossed it across the room, collapsing in sweat and panting.
The bleeding worsened. My strength waned as red spilled through my dress, dripping onto the floor. Dizziness clawed at me, my muscles weak. Then suddenly—something ignited inside me. The pain amplified, searing through every nerve a hundredfold... only to vanish moments later.
I blinked, steadying my vision. My strength returned. The dizziness cleared. The bleeding...
I looked down.
The bleeding had stopped. No—more than that. The wound was gone. Completely gone.
What the hell...?
It was as if nothing had ever pierced me. My dress was still soaked with blood, but my body bore no trace of the injury.
Shaken, I rushed back into the bedroom without running into anyone.
But Miss Naomi was already waiting, her back turned. The moment she saw the blood on my dress, her face fell.
"Oh my goddess, are you okay, ma'am?" She rushed to me, frantic, searching for the wound.
"I-I'm fine, Miss Naomi. The wound healed."
Her brows shot up. "What? H-how? What happened?"
"I was stabbed."
By the Luna—but I wasn't about to admit that.
"How come?"
"I'll tell you the details later, Miss Naomi. First of all, what—?"
"No, no. Not that." She shook her head, muttering mostly to herself. "How did you heal so fast?"
The very question I'd been asking myself, but voicing it aloud would only expose my weakness as an Omega.
"I mean... didn't it happen after the sealing of the breeding? It shouldn't heal this fast."
Her gaze shifted back to me. "For how long were you bleeding before it healed?"
"Um... I don't know. About ten minutes."
From the moment the Luna twisted the wood in my chest, to our exchange, and her departure—it must have been around that long.
"It must be the sex, then," she murmured, staring off.
I frowned. "The sex?"
"Yes. Having sex with the Alpha."
What does that even mean?
"Is that supposed to mean anything?"
"Yes. Many things." She looked around warily, as if to ensure no one was listening. "Things like your powers heightening—and it mostly happens when..." She swallowed, hesitant, "...when the Alpha was supposed to be your mate before marrying the current Luna."