Voss's attention slid back to Rose again and again.
Not the way the others looked.
Not hunger.
Instinct.
The wolf in him bristled. Something about her set his nerves on edge, made his hackles rise for reasons he couldn't name. Rose stood loose and relaxed, tail still at her side.
Too still.
Predators noticed restraint like that.
One of the men shifted. Another scratched at his neck, ears flattening.
"She doesn't smell right," someone muttered.
Voss's mouth tightened. Rose carried no fear scent. No submission. Just something sharp beneath it all, like steel wrapped in velvet.
"You're not prey," he said, studying her.
Rose met his gaze and smiled faintly. "Neither are you."
A ripple passed through Snow Team. Unease. A laugh that came too fast. One man stepped back without realizing he'd moved.
"That one wouldn't last in a cage," Rhys muttered.
"No," Voss agreed quietly. "She'd burn the place down first."
That was what unsettled them most.
"She doesn't smell right," someone repeated, softer this time.
Rose heard it.
She didn't bristle. Didn't bare her teeth. Didn't look offended.
She glanced down at her hands instead, flexing her fingers once as if checking something only she could feel. Her tail remained still at her side, deliberate calm prickling along Snow Team's nerves.
"Good," she said.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't meant for them.
But it landed.
Voss frowned. The wolf in him shifted, uneasy. Predators understood fear. Submission. Even defiance.
They didn't understand indifference.
Rose lifted her gaze then, meeting his eyes. There was no challenge there. No threat.
Just certainty.
"I don't smell like prey," she said. "Or like you."
A beat passed.
Metal creaked behind her. A man swallowed. Another shifted his weight.
Rose's mouth curved, not quite a smile. Something private.
"And I don't need you to understand me."
She turned away, attention already elsewhere, as if Snow Team had ceased to exist.
That was what unsettled them most.
Not that she could be dangerous.
That she didn't care if they believed it.
Voss turned back to Victor, expression no longer amused, but deliberate.
"You said she's yours," he said. "Not just someone to protect. Yours."
Victor didn't hesitate.
"She's my wife."
The word hit like a dropped weight.
Snow Team straightened. Shoulders squared. Eyes refocused. This was no longer casual.
Hierarchy.
Voss nodded slowly. "First husband, then."
Victor inclined his head once. Smooth. Practiced.
"That carries weight," Voss continued. "You speak for her in disputes. You answer for her safety. Any man who courts her does so knowing he answers to you first."
Victor met his gaze, jaw set.
He could do that. Fight for her. Bleed for her. Stand between her and danger until he had nothing left.
That was easy.
Possession was not.
Order was.
"And," Rhys added, glancing at Felicity with new respect, "it means challenges."
Voss's eyes sharpened. "Some will honor the bond. Some will test it. Others will try to break you to see if the marriage holds."
Felicity felt it like a door closing behind her.
Not a cage.
An anchor.
"She'll take other husbands," Voss said calmly. "That's how it works now."
Victor's breath caught for a heartbeat, unseen by anyone. A dark surge flared. Another man's hands. Another voice in her ear.
He crushed it down.
"I know," he said, the words tasting like iron.
"But every man who comes after," Voss went on, "will measure himself against you. Your strength. Your control. Your ability to keep her alive."
Victor shifted subtly, placing himself between Felicity and the others. Not to hide her.
To declare position.
"If you fall," Voss said, "the order collapses. And order is the only thing keeping women like her alive."
Victor's voice didn't waver. "Then I won't fall."
Silence followed.
Not tension.
Acceptance.
Felicity exhaled slowly. Victor's presence at her back felt solid. Familiar. Earned.
She wasn't unclaimed.
She was established.
And Victor stood there knowing that loving her meant not just protecting her from the world, but surviving what sharing her would do to him.
Her tail flicked with embarrassed warmth. Pride followed close behind.
She mattered.
"Only the strongest males will have the privilege of standing beside her," Victor said, voice low and dangerous. "And even then, I decide who stays."
Felicity blinked. "Standing beside?"
The word hung there.
Victor turned slightly, gentler now. "Little Fel," he said quietly. "I wish I could keep you safe alone. But this world…" He shook his head. "It's too dangerous for just one shield."
He rested a hand on her head, grounding.
Rose stepped in immediately, one hand on her hip. "I'm here too. And if any of you so much as look at her sideways, I'll cut out your tongue."
Voss barked a laugh and clapped Victor's shoulder. "This one's a spitfire."
"That's why she's with us," Victor said, returning the clap hard enough to stagger him.
Finch watched from a distance, chest swelling. Though the bond wasn't sealed, his scent marked Rose clearly enough.
Snow Team noticed.
And adjusted.