I sat at the desk in what used to feel like my study, running my fingers over the spine of my herb journal. The leather was worn smooth from seven years of handling. Inside were pages of careful notes—dosages, combinations, treatment protocols for everything from minor cuts to wolfsbane exposure. All of it useless now.
The Luna Protocols forbade me from treating pack members without Archer's explicit permission. That permission hadn't come in months.
Seraphine whimpered faintly in my consciousness. Not words. Just a soft, aching sound that had become so constant I barely noticed it anymore. Like a ringing in your ears you learn to live with.
I turned a page. My handwriting stared back at me, neat and methodical. This entry was from three years ago—a compound for accelerated bone healing. I'd tested it on myself after a training accident. It had worked beautifully. I'd written up the results and brought them to Archer, excited to share.
He'd glanced at the page for maybe five seconds. Then he'd said, "The pack healers have their own methods, Ariana. Don't confuse them."
I closed the journal.
Outside my window, the training grounds stretched across Ironveil territory. I could see wolves moving through drills—Deltas practicing formation shifts, Gammas running the obstacle course. And there, crossing the center of it all, was Peyton Kelley.
She wore Archer's jacket. The dark leather one he'd had custom-made last spring. It hung loose on her smaller frame, sleeves rolled up, his scent clinging to every thread. Pack members stepped aside as she passed. Some nodded. A few smiled.
She wasn't Luna. She had no formal title. But she moved like she owned every inch of ground she walked on.
Seraphine stirred, a faint growl building in the back of my mind. I pressed my palm flat against the desk and breathed slowly through my nose until the feeling passed.
"Easy," I whispered. "Not now."
My wolf subsided into that muffled, distant space she'd occupied for years. I used to be able to hear her clearly. We used to talk. Now it felt like she was calling to me from the bottom of a well.
I stood and smoothed my dress. The Pack Banquet started in an hour. I was expected to attend. To sit beside Archer. To smile.
I could do that. I'd done it a hundred times before.
---
The banquet hall blazed with light. Chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, candles lined every table, and the scent of roasted meat and fresh bread filled the air. It should have felt warm. Celebratory.
It didn't.
I took my seat at the head table, two chairs down from Archer. Peyton sat between us. That wasn't protocol. The Luna sat beside the Alpha. But no one said anything. No one ever did.
Archer didn't look at me when I arrived. He was mid-conversation with Beta Dorian, discussing border patrols. His voice carried that easy authority that used to make me feel safe. Now it just sounded like noise.
Peyton turned toward me and smiled. It was a soft, sympathetic smile. The kind you'd give someone at a funeral.
"You look tired, Luna," she said quietly. "Are you feeling all right?"
I met her eyes. They were pale blue and entirely empty.
"I'm fine," I said. "Thank you for asking."
She tilted her head, still smiling. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here. I know how hard it must be, managing everything alone."
I didn't answer. I reached for my water glass and took a long, slow drink.
The meal began. Plates were served. Conversations rose and fell around me. I ate mechanically, tasting nothing.
Halfway through the second course, Peyton leaned closer to Archer. She laughed at something he said—a bright, musical sound—and rested her hand on his arm. The sleeve of his jacket shifted, angling toward me.
His scent hit me like a wave. Cedar and rain. It used to smell like home.
Now it smelled like ash.
Seraphine surged inside me. Not a whimper this time. A snarl. She lunged toward the surface, clawing at the space between my consciousness and my skin, desperate to break through.
I locked every muscle in my body and forced her down. My hands shook. I gripped the edge of the table, knuckles white.
Peyton gasped.
She jerked backward, clutching her arm, eyes wide. "She—her wolf—"
The hall went silent.
Every head turned toward me.
Peyton's voice trembled. "Her wolf lunged at me. I felt it. I—" She looked up at Archer, wounded and afraid. "I don't understand. I didn't do anything."
Archer's chair scraped back. He stood slowly, and the temperature in the room dropped.
His Alpha aura rolled out like a physical weight. It pressed down on every wolf in the hall—crushing, inescapable. My lungs constricted. My vision narrowed.
"Ariana." His voice was cold. Flat. The Alpha tone threaded through every syllable. "Submit."
I tried to speak. My mouth wouldn't move.
Seraphine whimpered. Then she went silent.
"Now."
My body obeyed before my mind could catch up. I slid from my chair and dropped to my knees. The stone floor was cold and hard beneath me. I pressed my forehead down, arms flat at my sides.
The position of absolute submission.
Around me, hundreds of wolves watched in silence. No one moved. No one spoke.
Peyton's voice drifted down from above, soft and concerned. "I'm sure she didn't mean it, Alpha. She's been under so much stress."
"That's no excuse," Archer said.
I stayed on the floor. I counted my breaths. One. Two. Three.
After what felt like an eternity, his aura pulled back. "You're dismissed."
I stood carefully, keeping my eyes down. I walked out of the banquet hall with my spine straight and my hands steady.
I didn't run until I reached the corridor.
---
In my quarters, I locked the door and sat at my desk. I opened my herb journal to a blank page and picked up my pen.
My hand was still shaking.
I wrote the date at the top. Then, in careful block letters: *Public humiliation. Forced submission. Entire pack present.*
I kept writing. Every detail. The cold floor. Peyton's sympathetic voice. The way no one had looked at me as I left.
It was a healer's habit—document everything. Turn trauma into data.
When I finished, I set the pen down and closed my eyes.
Seraphine was silent. Completely, utterly silent.
I pressed my palm to my chest and breathed in slowly.
Cedar and rain. It used to smell like love.
Now it just smelled like ash.
