"So the healer actually touched her?" Nikki asked at last, her eyes still locked on Rhea. "I suppose they didn't hate her as much as they should have."
Seraphine swallowed before answering. "Maybe they're just too scared to go against the Alpha," she said carefully. Then, with a curl of her lip, she added, "That's why this bitch starts acting all high and mighty, running her mouth, thinking she's gotten the Alpha's attention."
Rhea rolled her eyes, slow and deliberate. What the hell is she on about now?
Nikki caught it instantly, her gaze sharpening. "Oh really?" she asked, her eyes never leaving Rhea's face.
"Yes, my lady," Lena rushed to add, eager to fuel the fire. "She's been talking back. Not like her at all."
Nikki rose slowly, a smirk curving her lips. "Interesting," she murmured. With unhurried steps, her voice dripped with mockery as she closed the space between them. "Do you actually believe you've captured the Alpha's heart just because he took pity on you once? That's hilarious."
Rhea strained against Seraphine and Lena's hold, forcing her chin higher to meet Nikki's eyes. Their grips only clamped down harder.
"Stay still, you crazy Omega," Lena hissed, jerking her arm tight.
Nikki tilted her head, her taunt soft but razor-edged. "Mad now, are we? Do you truly think someone like you could ever have a place in the Alpha's heart? Soon, I'll be his mate. And you? You'll be exactly where you belong… six feet under, just like your parents."
"Enough!"
Rhea's voice cracked through the room like a whip, startling them all. For one startled heartbeat, the hands on her shoulders loosened. She seized it, shoving herself upright. Her knees popped as she stood, straightening her spine until she towered as much as her frame allowed.
Every eye followed her, shock tightening the air.
She rubbed her knees briefly, then crossed her arms. "This is becoming too annoying. I can hear you perfectly fine while standing. Why must I kneel and strain my neck just to listen to your nonsense?"
Nikki's lips twitched in a sharp, brittle way, the smirk draining as though Rhea's words had driven a splinter straight beneath her skin. "Kneel down, Omega," she said through clenched teeth.
"Nope," Rhea replied, her arms folded stubbornly across her chest.
The muscle in Nikki's jaw twitched. Her chest rose with a deep inhale, her anger simmering hot beneath her skin. She exhaled slowly, voice silky with disdain. "Well, aren't you suddenly brave. Did the healers slip you something that made you forget what you are?"
"No," Rhea shot back instantly. "What about you? Did you hit your head at birth? Because you don't seem sane to me."
The room seemed to constrict, the air taut and heavy. Lyra's grip on the brush tightened until her knuckles whitened, before she caught herself and set it carefully down on the vanity. Lena's fingers flexed restlessly at her sides, twitching with the urge to seize Rhea again. Seraphine's jaw ground tight, her eyes darting between Nikki and Rhea, waiting for her cue.
But the same question pulsed through their minds: what the hell had come over the Omega, and how in the world would Nikki respond?
Nikki's eyes narrowed, boring into Rhea's face, glittering with venom.
"You really don't know your place anymore, do you?" she said, her voice low and sweet as poisoned honey.
Her hand lashed out in a blur, cracking across Rhea's cheek with vicious force.
The sound rang through the room, sharp and unforgiving.
Rhea's head snapped sideways, fire spreading across her face, her skin searing under the blow. A metallic tang bloomed at the corner of her lips. She sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. Twice. Twice I have been slapped in this godforsaken fantasy world.
"On your knees this instant," Nikki hissed, lips curling with cruel satisfaction. "Or I'll drag you back down there myself if I hav... "
Her words cut off with a sharp gasp as Rhea's palm cracked across her cheek. The sound was louder than Nikki's had been, the force snapping her head to the side.
Seraphine's eyes went wide, her mouth parting in disbelief. Lena staggered a step back, her hand flying to her lips. Lyra froze, her body stiff as though lightning had struck her.
Nikki turned her head slowly back toward Rhea, shock etched into her features. "Did you just..."
Another slap landed. Then a second. Then a third. Each one sharp, ringing, deliberate. Nikki's face reddened under the strikes, her breath catching, her balance faltering.
"Yes," Rhea said, her voice steady, burning with defiance. "I slapped you. And I'll do it again and again if you don't learn to keep that hand to yourself."
The room reeled with disbelief. None of them could process what had just unfolded. Had the Omega gone mad? Possessed? To strike Nikki, the daughter of the former Beta, the pack's darling, was no different than signing her own death sentence.
Nikki's lips trembled with fury, her cheek flaming from the stings of Rhea's hand. Pain pulsed across her skin as her fists curled tight at her sides, nails biting into her palms until the pressure steadied her. She lowered her hands slowly, every inch of her trembling with controlled rage.
"Go get it for me," she ordered, her voice raw.
Lyra didn't ask what. She knew. She spun toward the wardrobe, flinging it open and rummaging with quick, practiced movements. Her smile widened when her hand closed around it.
When she turned back, her grin was pure malice. In her hands gleamed a pink leather whip.
"We're in for a show," she whispered to herself.
She hurried to Nikki's side, her steps quick and eager, both hands extended as she offered the whip like it was some sacred relic. The pink leather gleamed under the soft light, coiled neatly, its handle studded with silver.
Nikki accepted it without breaking her gaze from Rhea, her fingers curling possessively around the handle. The room seemed to hold its breath.
Rhea raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "A whip?" she asked, her tone dry, laced with mocking disbelief. "Really? What are you planning to do with that, decorate your Barbie dream house? Because there's no way that's for me, right?"
Nikki's smirk snapped back into place, sharp and cold. "Oh, it's for you, filth . I'll carve your place into that skin of yours until you never forget who stands above you."
Without another word, she snapped her arm, the whip slicing through the air with a vicious crack that split the silence.
But before it could land, Rhea's hand shot up. Her fingers closed around the strip of leather mid-swing, the force stung her palm, but her grip held firm. Gasps echoed around the room as she yanked hard, the whip ripping free from Nikki's stunned grasp.
The pink leather coiled in Rhea's fist, her knuckles white from the strain. Nikki stumbled a half-step forward, her face frozen in disbelief.
Rhea tilted her head, a slow, dangerous smile curving her lips. She lifted the whip, letting the leather dangle loose between her fingers.
"Now," she said, her voice low and menacing, "let me show you how to use a whip."