Scout’s POV
"Did he touch you or did you freeze up like a broken doll?"
Luna Paisley leans forward in her high-backed velvet chair. The dark room smells like stale dust and bitter fluid. Red, angry patches of the rot crawl up her collarbone, eating into the smooth skin of her throat. They look thick and raw, far worse than last night at dinner.
I press my knuckles into my cheap cotton skirt to stop the shaking. "We talked. That is all."
"Talked." Elder Nathan scoffs from the corner, his heavy hands grinding a stone pestle into a mortar. Thump. Thump. The sound hits the stone walls like a steady pulse. "An Omega gets the Alpha's bed for a whole night and she talks. Waste of a good mattress."
"Shut your mouth, Nathan," Paisley snaps. She does not look at him. Her yellowing eyes stay loc
