~Rowan's POV
The hall was filled with music, clinking glasses, and forced laughter, but none of it reached me. Not truly. I stood beside my brothers, face carved in stillness, hands clenched behind my back. My wolf paced inside me, restless and snarling. Damon to my left wore his usual smirk, though it was thinner now, more brittle. And Kael…Kael looked like he could tear down the walls of the palace with his bare hands.
We were all unsettled. The entire evening had soured the moment we sensed that human girl was our mate. Our mate.
The Moon Goddess was either playing tricks or testing the depths of our patience.
I watched Kael grip his goblet too tightly. A hairline crack formed, and red wine trickled through his fingers like blood. Damon didn't bother hiding his discomfort. He kept glancing at the doors, as if wanting to bolt.
The event dragged like an anchor through the mud. Courtiers bowed, nobles flattered, but none of it mattered anymore.
When the last of the guests finally departed, we left the hall like a storm, our silence heavy with rage. No one dared cross our path. The guards stepped aside. The servants bowed so low I feared their bones would snap. They knew what it meant when the Alphas were in a mood like this.
Kael was the first to speak.
"This is madness. A human?"
I said nothing.
"She can't even shift. She has no wolf. The Moon Goddess must be mistaken," Kael growled, slamming his fist into a marble pillar. The crack echoed down the corridor.
"She isn't mistaken," Damon said, his voice low.
Kael turned on him, eyes burning. "You pushed us to accept her. This is your doing."
I stepped between them, eyes narrowing. "Enough."
"He's right," Damon said coolly, brushing invisible lint from his sleeve. "Don't you remember what she said? The Moon Goddess? Years ago…the prophecy."
Kael glared. "That our mate would be the key to breaking the curse?"
"Do you remember now?"
I did.
We had been younger then. Kael couldn't recognized faces, Damon couldn't taste and I couldn't smell.
"It doesn't have to be Lisa," Kael spat. "Anyone else. Anyone but her."
"Where is she?" Damon asked.
"Probably still in that guest chamber," Kael muttered. "Let's check. If she's gone, it solves our problem."
We made our way down the corridor, the tension thick as fog. When we reached the room, Kael didn't knock. He pushed the door open hard enough to rattle the hinges.
She was there.
On the floor.
Unconscious.
The glass cup lay shattered beside her, water soaking into the rug. Her hair sprawled around her like a halo, her face pale and too still.
"You have to be kidding me," Kael scoffed. "She's already causing problems. Day one."
"Typical," I muttered, though my feet were already moving forward.
Damon frowned. "Was she attacked?"
"Or just weak," Kael said, but his voice had lost its bite.
I knelt beside her and touched her neck. A pulse. Faint. But there.
And just as my fingers grazed her wrist, her eyelids fluttered.
She groaned.
Then her eyes opened.
Those same eyes. The ones that had stared up at us on the ballroom floor. She looked up at the three of us, dazed, confused.
"What happened?" she whispered.
Kael turned away, jaw tight.
Damon crouched beside me. "You tell us."
She blinked. "I… drank some water. From the table. Then… everything went dark."
We exchanged glances.
My brows furrowed.
"What cup?" I asked, stepping forward.
She gestured weakly toward the small wooden table near the edge of the bed. The cup still sat there, half-full.
Damon reached for it first, sniffing it. His face twisted slightly.
Kael took it next. "That's not ordinary water," he muttered. "That's one of the enhancer blends, meant for us. For our kind. It enhances our senses. Strengthens the wolf."
I stepped closer, my gaze dropping to the trembling girl on the floor.
"It's not made for humans," I said slowly. "It's laced with nightshade extract in tiny amounts. Harmless to werewolves… but to someone like you?"
"She could have died," Damon finished with a cold smirk.
Kael scoffed. "Tch. And here I thought she was just putting on a show to get attention."
Lisa's lips parted in shock, her already pale face turning paler.
Damon crossed his arms. "You're lucky, little mate. Seems the Goddess doesn't want you dead. Yet."
Kael gave a short, humorless laugh. "Maybe she's tougher than she looks. Or just stupid. Drinking whatever she sees like a hungry pup."
Kael was the first to speak again, his voice sharp, the edge of disgust barely hidden beneath the surface.
"Do you see now?" he said coldly, stepping closer to where she knelt, her arms weak, her face ghost-pale from what she'd just survived. "That water… it was never meant for you. Just like this life…this place…was never meant for you."
Lisa's lips parted slightly, her breath catching, but no words came out.
"Exactly," Damon added, his tone clipped and cold. "You're not worthy, human. The Moon Goddess might have cursed us with your bond, but that doesn't mean we have to pretend you're equal. Because you're not."
I crossed my arms, the truth of it all bitter in my mouth. "If anything, this little incident proved just how out of place you are. The fact that you survived? A fluke. Don't mistake it for strength."
She looked down again, her lashes dark against her skin.
Kael smirked and began circling her, like a wolf sizing up a trapped animal. "Let's make something clear," he said. "You're in this palace because of a bond we didn't ask for. A curse, not a gift. So if you want to stay breathing, if you want to survive this place and what comes next, you will obey our rules."
He stopped in front of her again. "Rule one," he said, voice low and dark, "you will prepare and serve all our meals. Every. Single. Day. No excuses. You'll serve us with your own hands…and you'll do it in silence unless spoken to."
Damon stepped forward, a cruel grin on his lips. "Rule two: You will sleep in the servants' quarters. Not because you belong with them, but because even that is more than you deserve."
Lisa's eyes widened just slightly. I saw it…the way her fingers curled into her skirt.
"But…how can I single-handedly prepare your meals…"
Damon slapped her before she could finish the statement.
"How dare you question me?!"