Alina's POV
I wake to a knock on my door.
Not a servant's knock. Not a soft tap. A commanding knock that makes my heart jump into my throat. I sit up in bed and check the window. The sun is barely rising. No one knocks on the Luna's door at this hour unless something is wrong or someone important wants something.
I pull my robe around myself and open the door cautiously.
Kael is standing in my doorway looking like he has not slept. His shirt is partially unbuttoned. His hair is disheveled. His eyes are dark and intense and focused entirely on me.
I have never seen him look at me like that before.
"The attack was targeted," he says without preamble. No greeting. No softness. Just a statement that hangs between us like a weapon. "Someone knows about our marriage. Someone wanted to hurt you to hurt me."
My stomach drops. This is what I was afraid of. This is exactly the complication I did not need.
"From now on, you will have constant guards," he continues and his voice is absolute command. "You do not leave this fortress without me. You do not go anywhere without your detail. Do you understand?"
I nod because refusing would break my submissive act.
He steps closer and his expression shifts. The hardness softens slightly and something that looks almost like concern flickers across his face.
"Are your rooms comfortable?" he asks and it is so unexpected that I almost forget to answer. "Do you need anything? Is the pack treating you well?"
The questions are so simple but they feel like traps. Like if I answer wrong, everything collapses. Kael has not asked me personal questions in three weeks. Three weeks of ignoring me has been perfect for my mission. But now he is standing in my doorway at dawn asking if I am comfortable.
"Everything is fine," I say quietly. "Thank you for asking."
He watches me for a long moment like he is trying to see through my skin again. Like he is looking for something beneath the surface that I am desperately hiding.
Then he nods and leaves without another word.
I stand alone in my doorway feeling like I just survived something dangerous.
The day is a nightmare.
Four warriors appear at my door within the hour. They introduce themselves and explain that they are my personal guard detail. They will rotate shifts but at least one of them will be with me at all times. Where I go, they go. What I do, they observe.
The worst part is Owen.
The Beta of Shadowpeak stands before me with those assessing eyes and I feel something shift. He looks at me and I can see him thinking. I can see him calculating. I can see him trying to solve a puzzle that has my face on it.
He gives me a long, searching look that makes my entire body go cold.
"Luna," he says politely. "I am Owen. I will be responsible for most of your protection detail. I take the job seriously."
Something in his voice feels like a warning. Something in his eyes feels like a threat that is not quite formed yet.
I lower my eyes immediately. "That is kind of you."
But it is not kind. It is surveillance. It is a cage made of warriors and good intentions.
I spend the entire day under their watchful eyes. I cannot explore. I cannot search for information. I cannot do anything but sit in my rooms and pretend to recover from the trauma of the attack. The guards rotate shifts and I note every schedule change, every moment of vulnerability, every gap I might be able to use to escape.
By evening, I am vibrating with frustration.
The suppressants are burning through my system faster than they should. My wolf is clawing at my skin. My mind is racing with questions about what Marcus Hale's signature was doing on those Moonvale reports. My body is trapped in this beautiful cage.
Around midnight, I wait until the guard rotation changes. Owen takes the night shift which is both good and bad. Good because he is the strongest warrior and if anyone can be distracted, it is him. Bad because his eyes never stop analyzing.
I slip out of bed and change into dark clothes. I move quietly to my sitting room and wait for my moment. Owen is posted outside my door in the corridor. The other guards are at the fortress entrances. The servants are sleeping.
This is my window.
I move to the service passage behind my wardrobe and slip through. The hidden corridor is narrow and dark but I have memorized the path. I move through it toward the main corridors where Kael's office is located.
My heart is pounding so hard I think it will give me away.
I reach the junction where the service passage opens into the main hallway and I pause. The corridor is empty. Perfect. I step out and move quickly toward Kael's office. The door is locked but nothing I cannot handle. I have been practicing lock picking on the Luna's rooms for weeks.
I am so focused on the lock that I do not hear him until he speaks.
"Going somewhere, Luna?"
I freeze.
Owen steps out of the shadows like he materialized from nothing. He is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and an expression that is not quite a smile. He is not surprised. He is not shocked. He looks like he was expecting me.
Like he was waiting.
My mind races through options. Run. Fight. Lie. Threaten. None of them feel like they will work against someone who has clearly anticipated this moment.
"I could not sleep," I say and I make my voice soft and uncertain. "I thought a walk might help."
"In the direction of Kael's office," Owen says flatly. "At midnight. While everyone is sleeping."
He does not believe me and I can see it written across his face.
I drop the act slightly because I have to. Because a completely submissive response to being caught sneaking would be suspicious. Because sometimes the best lie is a partial truth.
"I was curious," I admit quietly. "About my new home. About Kael. I wanted to understand him better."
Owen pushes off the wall and steps closer. His movement is casual but there is nothing casual about the intensity in his eyes.
"Curious," he repeats. "That is one way to describe it."
We stand there in the corridor and I feel like I am standing at the edge of a knife. One wrong word and this goes sideways. One mistake and Owen tells Kael what he is suspecting. One slip and my entire plan falls apart.
"I should return to my rooms," I say carefully.
"You should," Owen agrees. "Before Kael realizes you are gone and worries. He would probably send the entire fortress searching for you. And that would raise questions that I do not think either of us wants him asking."
There is something in the way he says it. Something that feels like a threat and a warning and possibly an offer all at once.
I move past him toward my rooms and he does not stop me. He just watches me go with those eyes that see too much.
When I reach the Luna's wing, I turn back. Owen is still standing there, still watching, still thinking about whatever puzzle I represent to him.
I slip back into my rooms and lock the door behind me.
My hands are shaking and not from fear. From the realization that Owen knows I am hiding something. From the certainty that he is investigating what that something is. From the growing dread that my time before being exposed is running out faster than I calculated.
I pull out my suppressant potion and take twice the recommended dose because I can feel my wolf pushing against the boundaries of my control.
Tomorrow Owen will remember where he knows me from. Tomorrow his investigation will lead somewhere dangerous. Tomorrow everything could collapse.
But tonight, I lie in bed listening to the guard shifts change outside my door and realize that the cage is getting smaller.
And the worst part is knowing that Kael Draven is the one who built it because he is starting to care whether I escape.