Chapter 6: Nothing Happened

Davian's POV

"What did you do?"

My voice came out sharper than I meant it to, and Kyra flinched like I'd struck her.

"I don't-" she stammered. "I don't understand what you're asking me."

"Don't play games with me." I took another step closer, close enough now that I could see her pulse hammering visibly at her throat, close enough to hate how badly I wanted to close the space between us. "“Scenting herbs. Spells. Whatever cheap omega trick Westwood taught you. Answer me.”

“I didn’t use anything." She said. "don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

"Stop lying to me," my voice rose slightly."Scenting oils are common enough among omegas trying to catch an Alpha's eye. Is that what this is? Did someone in Westwood teach you how to..."

"No." She said it fast. "I've spent three years scrubbing floors and hiding from the only Alpha who's ever looked twice at me. Whatever you think just happened, I promise you I did nothing to cause it."

My wolf wouldn't let up. It kept clawing at the inside of my chest, kept howling the same word over and over, drowning out whatever careful sentence I was trying to build.

Mate. Mate. She's not lying. Mate.

"Say something else," she said quietly, when I didn't speak. "You're scaring me more with the silence than you were with the shouting."

I dragged a hand down my face, forced my breathing to slow, forced the wolf back down into whatever cage I could manage on short notice. It didn't want to go. It fought me the entire way, and I felt the strain of it in my jaw, in the tight set of my shoulders.

"Then what is happening right now?" I asked finally.

"I don't know," She said said slowly. "All I did was sign the control, showed up and did exactly what the physicians told me to do. That’s all.”

The certainty in her voice scraped against the chaos in my chest. My wolf snarled louder, furious that I was questioning her. I ignored it.

“You’re carrying my child,” I said. “That alone makes you dangerous enough. If you thought you could force a bond or some other desperate play for rank-”

“I didn’t.” Her tone stayed even. “I came here for one reason. Money. Enough to get my sister away from our pack. Nothing else.”

My wolf pushed harder. Claim. Protect. Mine.

I crushed the instinct until my hands shook.

“You expect me to believe that?” My voice came out rough.

“I don’t expect you to believe anything.” She folded her arms loosely across her chest. “But it’s the truth. I’ve never met you and I didn’t ask for this meeting. I didn’t even know your face until five minutes ago.”

I dragged a hand through my hair and turned away for a second, trying to get my breathing under control. The room still smelled like her. Every inhale made my wolf pace faster. Years of numbness, of deliberate distance from anything that felt too real, and this, this omega I had never wanted to meet, had just shattered it in the space of a single breath.

“Listen carefully." I turned to face her. "Whatever just happened, whatever my wolf thinks it sensed, does not leave this room. Do you understand me?”

"I understand you're angry," She studied my face. “I don’t understand why.”

“Because I already have a Luna.” The words came out fast. “Natalia is the recognized mate of the Alpha King. You are a surrogate. A temporary arrangement to secure an heir before the Council and my cousin tear the pack apart. That is the only reason you exist in this estate. Nothing more.”

Her expression didn’t change, but something in her eyes cooled. “I never claimed otherwise.”

“Then make sure to keep it that way.” I stepped closer again, and she had to tip her head back slightly to hold my stare. “You will not speak of this conversation. Not to the physicians. Not to the staff. Not to anyone. If I hear even a whisper that you tried to use this moment for leverage, the contract ends. Payment is void. You go back to Westwood with nothing.”

"I'm not interested in using this as leverage," She didn’t look away. “Or rank. Or whatever you think I’m after.”

“Then prove it by forgetting today ever happened.”I said flatly.

"I understand," she gave a short, sharp nod.

The single word should have been enough, but it wasn’t. My wolf was still clawing at the inside of my ribs, furious that I was walking away from her. Furious that I was treating her like a problem instead of what it insisted she was.

I forced myself to take a step back, then another.

“This was just a formality,” I said. “Nothing else. From this point forward you deal with Dr. Alyssa and the medical staff only. I will not be in the same room with you again unless protocol demands it.”

She watched me go with an unimpressed focus that made my skin feel too tight. I reached the door. My hand closed around the handle.Behind me her voice came quiet but clear.

“I only came to save my sister.”

I didn’t turn around.

I heard the soft rustle of fabric, and against every ounce of better judgement, I glanced back and she had placed a shaking hand over her lower stomach, like she was reminding herself why she was still standing in this room at all.

The sight hit harder than it should have.

I wrenched the door open and stepped into the corridor. The cooler air outside did nothing to clear her scent from my lungs. The guards straightened as I passed and I ignored them. My boots struck the stone too hard. Every step felt like I was dragging my wolf behind me on a chain it was determined to break.

Mate.

The word kept looping, relentless over and over again in my head.

It had to be a mistake, a glitch.. It was the stress from the Council, from Dorian’s persistent plans to take the throne, from years of forced distance finally cracking under pressure. The girl was nothing. A Westwood omega with a debt and a sister and the sheer ball to walk into Crestwood’s most dangerous contract without blinking. I despised the way her scent still clung to the back of my throat.

I couldn't afford to be alone with the surrogate again. My wolf laughed low, and completely unconvinced.