I watched Dimitriโs eyes shift. Just a flick of movement, quick, and seemingly just as calculating, toward the car behind me. He caught himself fast and pulled his gaze back to mine as if nothing had happened, but I had already seen it.
"Why?" I asked.
Dimitri held my stare. His expression stayed neutral, almost pleasant, which made my skin crawl. Men like him never showed up in foreign territory with polite intentions and empty hands. They came with agendas, hidden knives, and calculated risks.
The phrasing landed wrong.
My jaw locked.
She knew something.
Either way, whatever Dimitri wanted with her, it made her deeply uneasy. That alone told me everything I needed to know about how this conversation would end.
"No."
"I do not know what this is for," I said. "I do not care why you think you need to speak to my Luna. But you will not get near her. We are done here."
I kept going. The words felt good leaving my mouth, solid and unshakable.
I paused, letting the silence stretch just long enough to make him uncomfortable.
Dimitri opened his mouth. I did not let him speak.
His eyes narrowed.
The words hit exactly the way I wanted them to. Dimitri went very still. The kind of stillness that came from a predator realizing it had walked into a trap.
I took another step closer. I was close enough now that I could see the exact moment his pupils dilated, the way his breathing changed rhythm.
I leaned in, just a fraction, just enough.
Dimitriโs eyes went wide.
"That is right," I said softly. "I know."
"And I intend to get my pound of flesh in due time."
Then he exhaled slowly.
I almost laughed. Almost. The sheer audacity of that statement coming from him, standing on my territory, asking for access to my mate, after everything his pack had done to this pack.
I waited.
"Your Luna is my granddaughter. Will you deny me access to my family?"
Dimitri went rigid in my hold.
I turned my head just enough to see her face. Her expression held nothing. She was too composed. I knew what it cost her to stand there that way. Even if I did not fully understand what was going on with her and
He stared at her as though she should not exist in front of him. His eyes fixed on her with a disbelief he did not attempt to hide.
His voice had changed. It carried strain now, something uneven beneath the words.
"What?"
Fiaโs jaw clenched. Her hands curled into fists at her sides, tight enough that I could see her knuckles go white even from here.
The question landed cold. Empty of everything except the barest edge of hostility.
When he finally spoke again, his voice had steadied, but something in it had changed.
The question hung in the air between all of us.
I felt it through the bond. The way everything in her locked down at once. The way her breathing stopped, her heartbeat stuttered, the way shock and recognition and something darker all crashed together inside her chest.
"What?" I asked again.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: To ruin an Omega