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The Alpha Queen Returns – Episode 06
“Please… save me.” Caroline’s plea drifted across the Russo courtyard, too soft to reach the vehicle disappearing beyond the trees. She listened for the engine to slow or the tires to turn on the gravel. Neither happened. Soon even the dust settled, leaving her alone with the family who no longer needed to pretend.
Melissa released Caroline’s arm and checked the notification glowing on her phone. The authorization from Jessica’s private account filled the screen, followed by a sum so large that she read the digits twice. Then delighted laughter burst from her. “A billion dollars. She approved it without bargaining.”
Rex leaned over her shoulder, his cruel hold on Caroline forgotten for the moment. Reva joined them, and the three stared at the number as if it were a royal treasure vault standing open. Greed made them look more alike than blood ever could.
“No ordinary healer has access to that kind of money,” Rex said. Suspicion sharpened his grin. “Not unless she has a very generous patron.”
Melissa folded her arms and glanced at Caroline. “Yet this girl still expects us to believe Jessica isn’t sleeping with Ambassador Ansel.” She drew out the ambassador’s title with ugly amusement, and Reva laughed beside her.
Caroline’s nails pressed crescents into her palms. Rex had threatened Jessica’s life only minutes earlier, and fear still tightened her throat, but some insults were impossible to endure in silence. Her mother had sacrificed everything to give her a future. Caroline would not let their filth become the only story spoken about her.
“That isn’t true,” she whispered. The laughter died, and three faces turned toward her. Caroline swallowed against the terror climbing her chest. “Please don’t talk about my mom that way. She would never do what you’re saying.”
Melissa’s delight vanished. “What did you say?”
Caroline’s legs wanted to retreat, but she forced herself to remain upright. “My mother isn’t like that.”
Rex crossed the courtyard before she could draw another breath. His hand closed around her throat and drove her against the stone wall. Pain burst through Caroline’s shoulders; her heels scraped uselessly over the ground as his fingers tightened.
“You dare talk back after everything we’ve given you?” His face hovered close to hers, pleasure gleaming beneath the anger. “Perhaps I should rip out your tongue. Then none of us would have to listen to your lies again.”
Caroline clawed weakly at his wrist. Without an awakened wolf, she had no strength to match his. The edges of the courtyard darkened as her lungs burned, and tears slipped soundlessly into her hair.
“Let me teach her,” Reva said eagerly. She raised her hand, already imagining the mark it would leave across Caroline’s cheek.
Rex caught his sister’s wrist before she could strike. “Not the face.” He loosened his grip on Caroline’s throat, allowing her to collapse against the wall, gasping. A slow smile appeared on his mouth. “I have other plans for her.”
Melissa recognized the calculation in her son’s eyes. “The banquet?”
“Ambassador Ansel is welcoming General Sarabeth tonight. Every important Alpha and Council official will be there.” Rex leaned one shoulder against the wall, casual now that Caroline could breathe. “That includes Alpha Hunter.”
Even Melissa fell quiet at the name. Hunter was one of the kingdom’s most powerful Alphas, a warrior whose influence stood second only to General Sarabeth’s. Families competed for the smallest sign of his favor, and a public endorsement from him could lift Rex into the highest levels of the Council.
Rex looked Caroline over as though valuing an object at market. “I’m going to offer her to him as a gift.”
Horror drove Caroline away from the wall. “No. You can’t.” She backed up until Melissa blocked her escape, smiling as if Rex had solved every family problem at once.
“It’s brilliant,” Melissa said. “Hunter gets a pretty, obedient girl, and he remembers who provided her. Just make certain she looks presentable.”
