I didn't respond.
She leaned in even closer to him, her arm grazing his as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then slid a glance sideways at me, subtle, almost playful.
"Salveth," she said lightly, "aren't you going to introduce her? She's…"
Salveth's expression stiffened instantly.
It was clear he hadn't expected this.
His eyes flickered toward me, a brief flash of unease, almost panic, before he forced himself back into stillness. Beneath the surface I caught the faint hitch in his scent, obsidian and cold ash gone sharp for half a breath. The lighter went still in his hand.
For a second, I almost laughed.
"Selene Ashford," I said before he could speak, my tone calm and even. "I serve in Alpha Bloodmoor's outer den. The trading-post was full, so we're only sharing a table."
His head snapped toward me.
That flicker of panic vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced by visible relief. He let out a breath, then nodded fast. The lighter resumed its slow rotation.
"Yeah, that's right," he said. "This is Selene. One of my pack's own."
Aurelia smiled slowly.
The kind of smile a wolf gives when it already has its quarry pinned beneath its paw.
"Then Selene must be very capable," she said, tilting her head slightly. "I've never seen Salveth sit at the same table with any she-wolf besides me."
Her tone was light, but every word carried weight.
Then she set her crystal communicator casually beside her wine glass, nudging it forward just enough to be seen. It looked accidental.
It wasn't.
I caught a glimpse of the surface.
Her image-glyph.
It matched Salveth's.
A bonded-pair portrait.
Even their colors today were coordinated. The same tones, the same palette, down to the smallest detail, the matching bands at their wrists. Everything deliberate, curated, costly. The kind of paired presentation that in this world meant more than affection. It meant claim. It meant territory.
Under the warm light of the trading-post, they looked perfect.
Like a portrait of an Alpha and his Luna.
I lowered my gaze, set my chopsticks down carefully, and stood.
I didn't want to stay.
Before I could take a step, Aurelia reached out and seized my wrist.
Her fingers were slender, her nails long and perfectly tended.
They dug into my skin just enough to hurt, just enough to leave a mark, but hidden from Salveth's line of sight. Jasmine and cold copper drifted off her, sweet on the surface, wrong underneath.
"Selene," she said softly, her voice laced with feigned concern, "leaving already? Did I say something wrong?"
Her eyes shimmered, almost as if she were genuinely sorry.
"Let me apologize, all right?"
I didn't have the patience for this.
Didn't have the energy to play along with someone wearing sweetness like a borrowed pelt.
I pulled my hand back sharply, breaking free of her grip. Low in my chest, my wolf bristled, a growl held just behind my teeth.
As I lowered my eyes to check my wrist, I saw it: thin red marks where her nails had dug in, one of them already beading with blood.
Before I could even process it, everything happened in an instant.
Aurelia suddenly lifted her own hand and swung it outward.
A loud smack rang through the trading-post.
A little pup standing nearby was struck across the face.
His cry broke out at once, sharp and piercing as he clutched his cheek, tears spilling as he sobbed without control. Two fingers hooked into the hem of his tunic, twisting the cloth tight, and he couldn't look up.
The whole room went still for a split second. The low music between songs. The clink of silver stopping at three separate tables. The kind of hush that in any pack-held den meant someone of standing was watching.
Aurelia's expression changed just as fast.
Her face turned pale, her eyes widening in exaggerated shock.
"Oh no!" she gasped, covering her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! Sweetheart, are you all right?"
Salveth was already on his feet.
He crossed the room, apologizing again and again to the pup's parents, his voice urgent and sincere. Without hesitation he drew his communicator and sent a transfer of moon-credits, smoothing it over as quickly as he could. The Alpha tending to the lesser-ranked. Keeping the peace in a public den where the Bloodmoor name hung over every dealing like smoke that wouldn't clear.
Then the little pup suddenly pointed straight at me.
"It was her!" he cried between sobs. "She grabbed that lady's hand and made her hit me! She should say sorry!"
Every gaze in the trading-post shifted.
All at once.
Aurelia turned to me slowly, her eyes filling with hurt, her face trembling just enough to look real. Her fingers drifted to the pale stone at her throat again, holding it like a she-wolf afraid she'd be struck next.
"Selene…" she said softly, her voice fragile, "I don't know what I did to upset you."
She lowered her gaze slightly, as if holding back tears.
"If you have a quarrel with me, please… take it out on me. Don't drag innocent ones into it…"
Whispers began to spread.
Low voices. Judging. Speculating.
I could feel it.
The weight of every stare pressing against my back. In a place like this, where half the room owed something to the Bloodmoor name, the pack's opinion wasn't just opinion. It was verdict.
Salveth turned toward me, his expression darkening instantly. The air around him thickened, his Alpha aura pressing down cold across the table, and somewhere beneath my skin my own wolf flattened low under the force of it.
"What are you standing there for?" he snapped, his voice sharp and cold. "Apologize. Now."
His tone left no room for argument.
"Stop making a scene."
Like I was the problem.
Like I was the one who had shamed him.
Like I was the one who didn't belong.
