Hattie:
The halls were too quiet.
I’d been up for hours, pacing my small room in the pack house. The queen’s presence in the territory should have brought me a measure of peace, but instead, it left me restless. Her words still echoed in my head—how important my daughter was, how she must be protected at all costs. It should have been reassuring, but all I could feel was the weight of the target on us growing heavier.
I ran a hand over my belly, the baby shifting inside me. Strong. Determined. My little fighter.
I tried to convince myself the queen’s arrival meant safety, but that would be naïve. Rogues didn’t stop because someone with a crown walked in. And the looks… goddess, the looks I’d caught from certain people still burned in my mind. Not just suspicion—resentment.
Especially
