Before Zoe could hit the ground with force, and before Viola, who had reflexively reached out as though to catch and stop her fall, could get to her, someone else stopped it first, catching Zoe against them and holding her steady.

Everything happened so fast that even Zoe could hardly believe she hadn’t slammed into the floor or the fabric shelves.

Viola’s worried eyes immediately went to her friend, who had been caught in none other than Laila’s arms, and she let out a breath of relief that was instantly cut short because it now seemed they were surrounded on all sides. These two had already been here, and now Laila had shown up as well.

It was the definition of a complete disaster, with arrogant, bullying she-wolves crowding the place, and Viola could already feel her headache worsening.

"Are you all right?" Laila asked.

Zoe immediately jerked away from her and moved to stand protectively in front of Viola, as though the bullies were multiplying by the minute and she needed to shield her friend, who didn’t have a wolf, barely thinking about herself in the process. That made Laila’s emerald eyes narrow.

"What are you doing here?" Zoe asked.

Laila was wearing less makeup than usual and dressed casually, something completely unlike her, considering how much she normally loved flaunting her elegance and class in front of everyone in the pack, especially those she considered beneath her.

"I came to see how you were holding up after everything, you did lose a brother." Laila said, her eyes already moving around the room and taking in the scene, settling briefly on the two she-wolves before landing on the wolfless woman she resented more than ever for what she believed was her role in Sebastian’s death and the impossible position it had put her in with her uncle. "What is going on here?"

As much as she hated Viola and would have loved nothing more than to deal with her directly, these two she-wolves had been making her life considerably worse lately, spreading rumors about her around Silver and mocking her at every opportunity for losing her chance of becoming Luna and losing to a wolfless once. They had moved to the top of her dislike list.

Laila had genuinely come to check on Sebastian’s bratty little sister because it was the least she could do for him after his death, and she hadn’t expected to walk into these backstabbing bitches.

As much as she didn’t particularly like Sebastian’s sister, she had cared about her brother, and she wasn’t about to let these two cause Zoe any trouble. Honestly, that role belonged to her, not outsiders, who believed they could rule Silver.

"Were they bullying you, Zoe?" Laila asked, narrowing her eyes at the two she-wolves who were already smirking at her arrival and giving her dirty looks.

"Zoe knows we aren’t bullies. We just want a dress made and were talking about the perfect style, that’s all," Ember said with a roll of her eyes, privately thinking it was almost amusing that this she-wolf, who had become the joke of Silver after losing her backing, had chosen today of all days to show up here.

Ember had never liked Laila. The two of them had never been close and had always seen each other as competition even in the past when they were teens living in the werewolf media world.

"And Zoe has already told you she isn’t making any dresses. Is that so hard to accept and live with?" Viola said, stepping out from behind Zoe because she had seen enough of their entitlement and bullying. While she might have tolerated it when directed at herself, she wasn’t about to stand there and watch it aimed at her family. "She wants you gone."

Hearing Viola’s words, Laila surprised everyone by saying, "Then the two of you should leave."

She turned to face Ember with the calm authority of someone who had grown up being obeyed and had no intention of allowing otherwise.

"Go find another designer in Silver. Zoe is still grieving."

"Look who’s talking." Leni chimed in, tilting her head at Laila with a slow smile. "I used to admire you once, Miss Serrano, but I’m sorry, you’ve lost your power now. You can’t tell the future Luna what to do. Stay out of this if you don’t want to get your own medicine. This is our world now and start preparing to serve my friend when she is crowned."

Laila had lived her entire life being worshipped and deferred to, and she stood very still for a moment as those words landed, staring at Leni, the same Leni who had sidled up to her during Sebastian’s wedding trying to get on her good side, now speaking back to her because she had found someone new to attach herself to.

Who does this bitch think she’s talking to like that? Laila thought, her jaw tightening as she cursed under her breath.

Without even thinking, she stepped forward, grabbed Leni by the hair, and twisted it tightly into her fist.

"Watch that dirty mouth of yours before I shut it for you. You don’t belong in Silver and have no say here."

Leni had a strong wolf for a female but she wasn’t a very strong Alpha wolf, and Laila was more powerful than she was. Leni cried out in pain and looked desperately toward her friend. "Ember!"

As if waiting for that moment, Ember didn’t hesitate to move. She stepped forward and released her Alpha wolf strength, grabbing Laila’s wrist and wrenching it behind her back.

"Show your strength on someone your own size." She gritted. "Do you remember how you used to talk about me during our school days, Laila? Now I am going to be your Luna and you will respect me and bow the fuck down to me."

Laila felt the pain shoot up her arm and a wave of humiliation washed over her that she hadn’t felt in years. Normally she was stronger than Ember, but too much had been breaking her from the inside lately and it was showing. She groaned and twisted around, jerking her wrist free and summoning her strength, but Ember was faster, she seized her wrist again and wrenched it back before shoving her hard into the glass fabric shelves with a strength that broke the shelf into pieces.

"Damnit, they are going to ruin my fabric room." Zoe pressed her fingers to her temple, not wanting them to fight in her place, and if they absolutely had to take it outside, she would gladly sit back and watch the two arrogant she-wolves fight with popcorn in hand.

"Then let’s send them outside to fight," Viola muttered.

Before Zoe could ask how exactly they were supposed to manage that, Viola stepped forward because it stung her heart to watch the fabrics she had spent the entire morning carefully stacking for the designers end up scattered across the floor and see the beautiful fabric room being torn apart.

Though Viola had no idea how she was going to stop a fight between the she-wolves, she stopped a safe distance away, knowing it wasn’t smart to get too close to either of them, and said,

"That is enough, Ember. If you want to fight, take it outside and stop destroying people’s hard work in here."

Ember immediately released Laila’s wrist and turned toward Viola with narrowed eyes, deeply offended at being addressed by her name as though they were equals when, in truth, she stood far above the wolfless woman in the hierarchy. She hadn’t tolerated it from Laila, and she certainly wasn’t about to tolerate it from Viola either.

Without another word, she released Laila and walked toward the wolfless woman. She raised her hand, intending to slap her and damage that stupid mouth of hers, but Viola did something completely unexpected that caught Ember and almost everyone off guard.