Adrien.

The urge hit me without warning, sharp, insistent, impossible to ignore. I suddenly wanted to see my mate.

Yes. My mate.

No matter how fiercely my brothers and I tried to deny it, no matter how often we told ourselves it meant nothing, the bond did not care about our pride or our decisions. It pulsed beneath my skin, tugging at my chest, dragging my attention toward her like an invisible chain tightening link by link. I could fight it with my mind, curse it with my mouth, but my body had already chosen.

So I went to her.

But the moment my eyes found her, the pull in my chest twisted into something ugly.

There was no softness in her gaze. No fear. No timidity. What stared back at me was raw anger, hot, unfiltered, and beneath it, something far worse. Hatred. Sharp and unmistakable, like a blade aimed straight at my throat.

My steps faltered.

Before I could even process what I was seeing, her hand came down hard against someone’s face. The sound of the slap cracked through the air, loud and jarring, silencing the space around them for a split second. The impact echoed in my head, and just like that, another image surged forward without my permission.

Anabel.

On the floor.

Helpless.

The memory struck so fast my breath caught painfully in my chest. My jaw tightened as my mind tried to reconcile the two images, the trembling girl we had always seen, and the woman standing before me now, shoulders squared, eyes blazing, unapologetic.

Was this who she really was?

Had she been pretending all this time? Playing the role of the weak, broken girl while something far more dangerous simmered beneath the surface?

Disappointment spread through me like a slow poison. I felt it settle in my expression before I could stop it, hardening my features, weighing down my gaze. The bond pulled, confused and frantic, but my thoughts were loud, drowning it out.

"Maria!" I shouted her name, the sound of it cutting through the murmurs rising around us.

The disappointment was clear in my voice, impossible to hide. I didn’t soften it. I didn’t try to understand, not yet. All I could see was what stood right in front of me.

From the looks of it, the person she had just slapped wasn’t some nobody. One glance told me they were one of our guests. Someone who had been invited. Someone whose presence mattered.

My fingers curled slowly at my sides as questions piled up in my head, each one sharper than the last.

Was she deliberately trying to cause a scene?

Was this some reckless attempt to draw attention, to challenge us, to disrupt the fragile balance we were maintaining?

Or worse, was she trying to sow discord right under our roof?

The bond still tugged at me, whispering her name like a plea, but I ignored it. Right then, all I could see was the chaos threatening to unfold, and the mate who stood at the center of it, eyes blazing, unrepentant, and nothing like the fragile image we had believed her to be.

I took a step closer to her, the space between us shrinking to nothing. Before anyone could react, before I could even stop myself, my hand moved. In a split second, it connected with her face.

The sound rang out sharply.

It wasn’t hesitation that drove me. It wasn’t confusing. It was the cold, unyielding belief that she needed to be disciplined. Right there. Right then. Not as my mate, not as anything tender or sacred, but as someone who had crossed a line in front of everyone.

The moment passed as quickly as it came, leaving a thick, suffocating silence behind.

I turned away from Maria and faced the lady she had just slapped, forcing my expression into something controlled, something diplomatic. "Are you okay?" I asked, my voice measured, restrained.

"I am fine!" she replied quickly, but the lie was obvious. Tears gathered in her eyes, clinging to her lashes as her lips trembled. "I just didn’t expect to be treated this way by a rogue!" Her voice cracked, and she choked on her sobs. "I only followed my mate here to honor your invitation but..." She paused, swallowing hard. "I was disrespected."

My jaw tightened.

"We are really sorry for the inconvenience," I said immediately, the words coming out smoother than I felt. I tried to placate her, to keep the situation from exploding further, even as my eyes slid back to Maria. The look I gave her was sharp, warning, filled with barely restrained fury.

"It’s okay," the lady said after a moment, lifting her chin slightly. "Alpha Darren would possibly not take it to heart."

Alpha Darren.

The name slammed into my head like a war drum.

The world seemed to tilt for a brief second as realization crashed over me. She wasn’t just anyone. She wasn’t some random guest.

She was the Luna of the Frostmoon pack.

Shit.

My blood ran cold as the implications sank in. My brothers and I had worked tirelessly to calm tensions between packs, to build alliances, to stabilize the fragile balance holding us all together. Peace hadn’t come easily, it had been negotiated, fought for, bled for.

And Maria had just threatened to shatter it with one reckless act.

I turned slowly, deliberately, and locked my gaze on her. The anger burning in my chest flared hotter, darker. If looks could kill, she would have dropped to the ground right then.

I was so going to kill her.

"If you say so..." I murmured, turning back to Luna while still speaking calmly. "We will take our leave."

The decision was made. There would be no more words here. No more explanations.

I reached out, grabbed Maria’s hand with a grip that left no room for resistance, and pulled her toward where my brothers stood waiting. She stumbled slightly but I didn’t slow down.

The bond screamed. My temper roared louder.

She was so dead in our hands.

And this time, there would be no excuses.