Valerie's POV
I leaned against the balcony railing, knuckles white from the pressure I didn’t even realize I was applying. The moonlight kissed the courtyard in silver hues, but none of it touched the fury boiling inside me. My gown stuck to my back with sweat, and every breath I took felt like a war between staying composed and exploding.
He said it would just be a moment. Alaric, my supposed mate—no, my fiancé—walked off to speak with her.
Thalia. The name tasted like ash in my mouth.
No title. No family. No wolf. Just skin and breath and that disgusting little voice she uses to pull sympathy. A slave, trembling in shadows, now somehow drawing the attention of the most powerful Alpha of the North Pack.
And not just attention. His focus.
I tilted my head, straining to hear them. The
