Karyme POV:

"If I ever touch her with anything other than duty, may Silver pierce my heart," Archie swore in the moonlight.

I covered his mouth. "Don't make vows you can't keep."

He handed me a glass of warm milk. It smelled of honey and potent valerian root.

"Drink," he urged. "It will help you rest."

He was drugging me so he wouldn't feel my pain through the bond when he went to her.

I faked a swallow, holding the liquid in my cheeks. "Good girl," he whispered, tucking me in.

Ten minutes later, he slipped out.

I spat the milk into a potted plant and crept to the door. He wasn't going to the kitchen. He was heading to the Guest Wing.

I followed.

Faustina sat on her bed, sobbing. "It hurts, Archie! My leg..."

Archie sat beside her. "Let me see."

A scratch. Nothing.

"Please," she whimpered.

My stomach dropped as Archie bent his head and licked the wound. Saliva heals, yes. But licking is intimate. It's caretaking.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much better," she purred, tangling her fingers in his hair. "Maybe... maybe I can stay? As a nanny?"

Archie sighed. "We will see. I will give you a place in the Pack."

I slid down the hallway wall. A place in the Pack.

My phone vibrated. Encrypted text.

Safe house compromised. Traces of the cub found. Moving Jalen tonight.

Jalen.

I stifled a sob. Four years ago, I hid my pregnancy. I birthed him alone in a winter cabin, biting a leather strap to stay silent. He was born early. Small. Weak wolf spirit. If Archie had seen him-a scrawny thing-he would have seen the curse and rejected him.

So I hid him.

I looked at the text. We need to move Jalen.

Archie was staying in that room. Good.

I had a son to save. And saving him meant leaving my mate.

Karyme POV:

I spent the morning building a brick wall around the mate bond in my mind. It felt like a migraine, but it blocked his guilt.

I walked toward the clinic.

"Luna," a warrior nodded, pity in his eyes.

I stopped. Archie and Faustina were outside the exam room.

"Confirmed, Alpha," the doctor said. "High testosterone. Strong heartbeat. Alpha male."

Archie let out a shaky breath. "An heir."

"Our heir," Faustina corrected.

Archie stared at her stomach with a reverence he never gave me. Faustina released a scent-something brewed by a witch doctor, smelling like a potent, high-ranking pup.

Archie's pupils dilated. Instinct overrode logic. He pulled her flush against him, burying his nose in her neck.

"Archie," she gasped. "The Luna."

"She is a gentle Omega," Archie growled, voice distorted. "She understands duty."

Gentle Omega.

I pulled out my phone. Hidden folder.

Jalen. Four years old. Dark eyes, Archie's crooked smile. Holding a stick like a sword. "Mama, when can I meet Papa? I can growl!"

If I showed Archie... if he saw Jalen-sickly, small-he would see a broken thing. A mistake.

No. Archie didn't deserve Jalen.

I turned and walked away. I packed a duffel bag. Cash. ID. Silver dagger.

I was leaving tonight.

Karyme POV:

Dinner was a battlefield.

I picked at my steak. Then, my throat began to burn.

"Wolfsbane," I rasped, airway closing.

Archie roared for the doctor, terror in his eyes. "Get the antidote!"

Faustina watched her plate, a small smile playing on her lips.

The shot stabilized me.

"It was an accident!" Faustina wailed. "I saw a new cook using strange herbs! Oh god, the stress... the baby..." She doubled over.

Archie froze. He looked at me, alive, then at her.

"I have to check on the heir," he said, and left me.

I locked myself in my room. Two hours later, a crash echoed from the hall.

I stumbled out. The massive crystal chandelier lay shattered on the marble. Faustina lay amidst the glass, screaming, a small cut on her head.

"She pushed me!" Faustina shrieked, pointing at me. "Karyme tried to kill the baby!"

I stood on the landing, twenty feet away.

Archie looked up, eyes glowing red.

"Go to your room, Karyme," he commanded. The Alpha voice slammed into me. "You are confined."

"Archie, look at where I am standing-"

"GO!"

Later, I watched from the window. Archie sat on a garden bench, Faustina on his lap. He kissed her. Deep. Passionate.

The curse didn't kill us. He did.

My phone buzzed. Wolfsbane cleared.

I am coming, Jalen.

I opened the window, looked at the three-story drop, and shifted. I suppressed the white glow, remaining a shadow.

I landed and ran for the trees.