Questions With Teeth
771 Words
Aria had barely finished eating when the guard returned.
“You’re wanted,” he said.
“By who?”
He didn’t answer—just gestured toward the door. Aria followed, her steps slow but steady. The corridors of the border hall were lit with torches, shadows flickering across stone walls.
They stopped at a wooden door.
The guard opened it without knocking.
Inside was a wide room dominated by a long table and maps pinned across every surface. Red markers, black lines, and pins covered the territory sketches. Someone here thought about borders a lot.
Leon stood with his back turned, hands clasped behind him, staring at a map spread on the table.
The door shut behind Aria, leaving her alone with him.
Leon didn’t look up when he spoke.
“Sit.”
Aria stared at the single chair opposite him. “Is this where I confess to crimes I didn’t commit or…?”
Leon lifted his head just enough to glance at her.
“Sit, Aria.”
She sat.
Leon turned a page on the table before finally facing her.
“You were found chased by rogues,” he began. “At least twelve. And they broke off when the hunters intervened.”
Aria kept her gaze steady. “I lived. That should count for something.”
Leon ignored that. “Rogues do not coordinate unless there is profit. So let’s begin there.”
He leaned forward slightly.
“Why are you worth chasing?”
Aria inhaled slowly. “I’m not.”
“That,” Leon said, “is a bad lie.”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Your hands,” he said, gesturing. “No calluses. Not a fighter. Not a laborer. Your posture—trained to stand straight. The way you speak is educated. Not a rogue stray. Not a commoner.”
Aria stiffened. “You got all that from looking at me?”
“I got that in the first ten seconds,” Leon corrected. “I’m trying to determine the rest.”
Aria looked away. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters anymore.”
Leon circled the table and stood directly across from her, arms folded.
“What happened to your pack?”
“They exiled me.”
“Why?”
Silence stretched.
Leon waited.
Aria finally said, “My mate rejected me.”
Leon did not soften. He didn’t offer sympathy. He didn’t even blink.
“Name of the Alpha.”
Aria tensed. “No.”
Leon tilted his head. “You think protecting him will help you?”
“He doesn’t need help,” she muttered. “He has everything.”
Leon studied her for several long seconds, then asked:
“And you? What did you have?”
Aria breathed once. “Nothing.”
Leon didn’t react, but something shifted in the air.
“Stand up.”
Aria frowned. “What? Why?”
“Because you’re lying again.”
Aria pushed up from the chair reluctantly, legs trembling but steady. Leon walked closer. Not predatory, not invasive—just analytical.
“Your scent is wrong.”
Aria blinked. “Wrong?”
“No pack scent. No wolf scent. And yet—” He inhaled, and the frown between his brows deepened. “—not human.”
Aria’s pulse spiked. “I’m not—”
“Careful,” Leon said quietly. “If you tell me you’re nothing again, I’ll know you prefer lies to survival.”
Aria’s hands curled into fists. “Why do you care what I am?”
Leon stepped back. “Because I need to know if keeping you here endangers my territory.”
That shut her up.
Leon returned to the table, placing a small dagger beside the map.
“Last question for tonight,” he said, voice level. “Do you want to stay alive?”
Aria swallowed. “Yes.”
“Then start telling truths,” Leon replied. “Or someone else will tell them for you.”
Before she could speak, the door opened just enough for Damon to stick his head in.
“Leon,” he said. “Border scout returned. Says we have movement. North tree line.”
Leon’s posture sharpened. “How many?”
“Too many to be wildlife.”
Leon turned to Aria briefly. “We’re not finished.”
Then he strode out with Damon.
The guard closed the door behind them, leaving Aria alone in the interrogation room, heart racing.
Not because she feared Leon.
But because he had looked at her—really looked—and for the first time someone hadn’t seen a weak wolfless girl.
- Writer
