SAMANTHA
Miss Daisy shifted uneasily, still avoiding my gaze. Her face was a mask of uncertainty, her lips pressed together like she was trying to hold something back. But the words came anyway.
"You're lying, Sam." Daisy's voice was quiet but firm. "I agree with Molly. You should be cast out and made a rogue. You don't belong here."
The king's gaze hardened. His eyes moved from Daisy to me, cold and assessing.
"You really have the nerve," he said slowly. "To stand in my hall and cause this much chaos."
I looked at Daisy and I understood.
Molly had already bought her. Not with money—with fear. Daisy was terrified that after this moment, Molly would harm her. So she chose to lie. She chose the side that had power. She chose survival over truth.
I could not blame her. I might have done the same.
But I would not let her lies destroy me.
I summoned every ounce of courage I had left. My voice came out clear, steady, even as my heart raced.
"Your Highness, if approaching the triplets is forbidden and seen as an insult to Miss Molly, then why are the princes required to have slaves?" I paused, letting the question hang in the air. "Do you not want your grandpup to be seen as bold? As fearless? As wolves who will not cower because some Gamma's daughter throws a tantrum?"
The king hesitated.
I saw it and I flickered. There was a crack in his cold expression. He was considering my words.
I pressed forward.
"What happened between the princes and me was unexpected. I did not cause it. On the contrary—" I turned and pointed at Molly, my finger shaking with anger now, not fear. "It was Miss Molly Hanes who came into the hall with a dagger. She wanted to disfigure me. I swear to the Moon Goddess. She wanted to kill me."
The memory of that day flashed in my mind. Molly's hand reaching for the blade. Her eyes wild with jealousy. The cold steel glinting in the torchlight.
Anger and resentment flooded through me. How could Molly be so casually able to take a life simply because she was the Gamma's daughter? How many other women had she threatened? How many had she hurt?
I looked into the Alpha King's eyes and spoke from my broken heart.
"If a slave faces the threat of being disfigured or even killed because she merely interacted with the princes, then who would dare to be with them? Who would dare to bear their children? Who would risk their life for a chance to serve this family?"
The hall was silent.
Molly's face twisted. She could see I was winning. She could see the king considering my words. So she tried to change the topic. Her voice was desperate now.
"Your Majesty, she does not have a wolf! She is wolfless! I have never scented it. None of us have. She is an imposter!"
"Lies!" I yelled.
The word tore from my throat before I could stop it. And something inside me—something I had been holding back, suppressing, hiding—broke free.
I turned into my wolf.
The shift was not graceful. It was violent, painful, raw. Bones cracked and muscles tore and reformed. All of this was because my wolf turned without my consent.
Fur erupted from my skin. But when it was done, I stood on four legs in the middle of the king's hall, my white fur gleaming in the torchlight, my yellow eyes fixed on Molly.
The whole hall shouted.
Women screamed and guards reached for their weapons.
"See!!" Molly yelled in excitement. "I told you she's a barbarian!"
Even the king leaned back in his throne, surprised.
Molly's face went red. Then purple and jealousy burned in her eyes—bright and ugly.
She shifted too.
Her wolf was massive with dark brown fur. Muscles rippled and she was visibly bigger than me. She was stronger--more experienced.
And she was angry and she lunged at me
I dodged and her teeth snapped closed on empty air. She turned and lunged again and I ran.
I was not ashamed to run for my life. With the anger Molly had, she could tear me apart and she'd be forgiven because she was the gamma's daughter.
I jumped around the throne, between the columns and past the rows of screaming women. Molly chased me, her claws scraping against the stone floor, her growls echoing off the walls. She was faster than me.
But I had an advantage. I was smaller, quicker and I could turn faster. I could change direction before she could react.
"Catch her!" Molly's wolf growled. "Someone stop her!"
But no one moved. Everyone was intrigued. Watching the show with either curiosity or excitement.
The other women exchanged horrified glances. Some looked at me with pity and others with fear. A few—the ones Molly had bullied before—looked at her with something like satisfaction.
I finally turned back into my human form. I was no naked, breathless, duckinv behind one of the girls and using her body as a shield.
Molly shifted back too. Her chest was heaving and her face was red with fury.
"Come out from there, coward!" she screamed.
I stayed where I was.
And in that moment, I saw him.
Jayce.
A sneer of happiness was spread across his face. He was enjoying this. The chaos. The fight. The fear. His eyes followed me like I was entertainment.
I looked away.
Since we had come here, Molly had been a thorn in our flesh. All of us. We endured her insults because we were not of royal blood. We swallowed her cruelty because her father was the Gamma. It seemed like our lives held no value. Any woman who tried to get close to the princes was targeted by her. Bullied. Threatened. Sometimes worse.
But today, someone was finally fighting back.
King Lionel's frown deepened as Molly turned to face him. Her voice was suddenly sweet, apologetic and fake!!
"Your Majesty, I am so sorry. The omega tempted me. She provoked me. I swear to the Moon Goddess, I did not mean to—"
"Father."
Darlington's voice cut through the room like a blade.
Everyone turned to look at him. He was standing beside his brothers, arms crossed, his expression calm but his eyes blazing.
"Father," he repeated. "She is speaking the truth."
He smiled and my heart stopped.
He is defending me. Darlington is defending me.
Goddess, I loved this boy in that moment. He was the first person in this wretched place who had spoken up for me without being asked.
Darlington stressed his voice and stared directly at his father.
"I can vouch for her." His voice was loud. Clear. Final. "She is speaking the truth. Every word of it."