The tension in the room only escalates as soon as Adina's name has been mentioned. Lyall becomes stiff, which is really rare, while Athena spreads her gaze to the entire room. When she catches my eyes, it is clear that she thinks the assembly hall is not a safe space for us to talk about Adina.

I look around the room as well. Besides Grey, I am not familiar with any of the lycan warriors. For all I know, all of them could be in favor of Adina. It doesn't help that from the corner of my eyes, I can see Nari, standing near the door with one side of her mouth quirked up.

Yes. The assembly hall is not a safe space.

"Now that it is concluded that I am safe here," my voice sounds firmer than I thought it would be, which surprises everyone and me a bit, "Let's give these guests rooms to refresh themselves." I put emphasis on the word 'guests' so Lyall would understand that it's time to see them as allies against Adina.

"I'd like to have a private conversation with my previous mentor." I'm proud that my voice does not waver. Everyone in the room looks at me with what I consider awe. They thought a werewolf girl out of nowhere would not stand this tall and have a solid voice.

I didn't think I could be that person too until I just become... her.

For a fraction of a second, I see Lyall's eyes shimmer when he looks at me, talking with authority. I wish that glimmer would last longer, but of course, it doesn't. There is a larger grey cloud looming over us.

As soon as Lyall nods, dozens of servants come into the room to take the rogues and faes to their respective rooms. I hold Jen's hand and walk with her to her room.

Lyall knows he can't stop me from going, even if he doesn't want me near the rogues.

'I'll be fine,' I assure him through the bond.

'You're heavily pregnant. You don't have warrior training. And you can't easily transform now.' He is right. With my pregnancy, I can't transform as easily. Werewolf pregnancy draws magical energy from the mother, causing the temporary inability to transform–which Sasha finds fortunate because she doesn't have to experience the physical aches of being pregnant.

'And yet I can summon my magic.'

Lyall covers his mouth to scoff. 'Healing magic and the ability to summon petals won't exactly help you.'

I roll my eyes at his degrading tone. My previous self would have agreed with him immediately, believing without a doubt that I am powerless. But my current self answers with confidence, 'Let me surprise you then.'

There is silence for a while. But when I look back at Lyall, I see him smiling, which makes me smile back.

In my old pack, I would have been shut down for talking back to the males. It's just so refreshing that Lyall likes this empowered side of me. And I wish Jen would see it too, eventually.

'Grey will still follow you though,' Lyall then says, 'I'm sorry I can't come with you. I need to speak to Argamon first.'

I give a nod through our bond, telling him to go do what he needs to do and reassure him once again that I will be fine. As Jen and I walk to the hallway, Lyall pleads, 'Don't go running off from me now.' It makes me chuckle. It's so cute!

I only stop chuckling when we have reached the hallway to the guest rooms. The servants deliver half of the rogues to one large room while the faes are taken to the left wing. Jen and the rest of the rogues get into the last room in the corridor.

When I look at Jen as soon as we enter the room, I notice then that she has been watching me intently.

"What?"

Jen's face softens. "You never smiled like that before."

I didn't realize that I have been smiling for a long time.

While the other rogues look around the room, Jen and I stay in the living room. Later, I realize that they are giving Jen and me space to talk. I ask the servant to bring us tea and snacks, then ask Grey to wait outside of the room.

Once we are alone, Jen puts her hands on my belly, then closes her eyes. A small, sweet smile blooms on her face. "It's a girl." Suddenly, I feel a movement inside me. It's an incredible sensation that warms my heart.

"Oh! She is a fighter!" Jen laughs heartily. She opens her eyes and smiles at me. "She is wonderful, Mars."

I put my hand on top of Jen's hand. "She will be," I confirm her words for my child, "She will have everything that I didn't. She will be able to be anything. I will make sure of it."

Jen moves her palm to brush my face gently. "Oh, Mars. You can be anything you want, too."

"It's a little complicated when you're already grown, don't you think?" I give her a small smile. One corner of her eyes twitch. I know she understands how I feel. Our choices become more restricted as we age. And when children enter our lives, more likely than not, they become our priorities. So our choices will shift.

She sees my eyes and understands the depth of the situation. She nods. "It doesn't mean we run out of choices," she says, "Look at us. We both got out of that horrible place." That makes the both of us giggle. She leads me to a sofa to sit on.

"That place was truly horrible, wasn't it?"

Jen nods her head at my question. "And they told us to be grateful because other packs treat their females worse." She rolls her eyes hard, then imitates a gag response. "Those males brainwashed us. And they brainwashed themselves into thinking they are superior to us."

I couldn't agree more.

"So tell me, Mars," she holds my hand tighter, "How did you get out of the pack?"

I tell her everything. My grievance about Ed, when I discovered my pregnancy, how I met Lyall. I also tell her about everything I have done and experienced in this kingdom. It makes me so excited to be able to talk to her about all the new knowledge I have gathered here. I also tell her about Sky, a shadow boy who just needed a little love, and that I worry about him because I haven't seen him for days. Then I talk about Lyall; all that he has done for me, and how he is different when he is with me.

She listens to me with full intent. Truly, I feel like a kid telling how her days have been to her mother.

"It seems like I had the wrong judgment," Jen says with a light chuckle. "You have to understand that the rumors about him aren't really... appealing. He even sounds worse than Mason."

"I think some people got lucky because none of their victims would talk," I continue, "And others got unlucky because their enemies are loud."

"You are absolutely right." Jen taps on my hands gently, as a mother would do to her child. Her eyes glimmer with tears. "I wish my daughter could see the world as I did. I wish I was stronger for her. But I couldn't help her from being one of those... silent victims."

Her words make me choke with tears, too. Because if I didn't run that day, I would be one of those silent victims as well.

"I'm glad you got out," she says as one tear streams down her face, "But I'm sorry I couldn't get you out myself. I tried. But I–"

I shake my head. "Jen, you're one of the reasons I had the strength to get out of that place. You planted within me from the beginning that we females deserve better though I didn't really think much about it at the time."

"We do." Her voice breaks with tears. I can hear sniffles from the other rooms. The other rogues are listening to our conversation and are touched as well. "And since we got out and survive, we have to be loud. We need to raise our voices to help those who couldn't get out. To help those who don't even know how vast the world is outside of the pack. That it shouldn't be the norm for us females to be secondary."

"Is that what you're trying to accomplish?" I ask, "by gathering the rogues?"

I wipe her tears gently as she nods. "I want to open people's eyes that it isn't right. And I want to make a community that is safe for females, where we can be treated equally to males. The world owes us at least that."

She grabs my hands and puts them on her chest. "But things went awry. Terribly awry when Adina got involved. Everything is a mess now. And females from all species are being kidnapped and hurt..."

Right then, we hear a knock on the door.

If it's the servants, they wouldn't enter without me allowing them. But the person behind the door opens it without cues. As soon as I feel the vibration in our bond, I know exactly who just entered.

Lyall.

Yet, unlike his strong and relentless appearance in the assembly hall, he now appears softer and calmer. He closes the door and approaches us both slowly. His eyes look straight at Jen, who is already glaring at him.

Then, out of the blue, he kneels in front of us and bows his head to Jen. A king shouldn't bow to anyone. "I believe I owe you an apology," he says to Jen, "I was rude to you, even though you are like a mother to my mate."

That certainly takes Jen aback. I can even see the rogues from the other rooms peeping at us with their jaws dropping. However, I am not surprised. It's about time Lyall comes to his senses. If he wants to keep me, he needs to play nice to the person I consider as family.

"This is a surprise," Jen says. I know she tries to maintain a cold voice. "I owe you an apology for my prejudice as well."

Lyall looks up at Jen with a grin. "I guess we're even then." He extends his hand, which Jen accepts. Then he plants a polite kiss on her hand. "I hope we can make a clean slate. I want to prove to you I am a worthy mate for her."

Jen raises one eyebrow. "You? Worthy of her?" She is not used to meeting a male with authority who says he needs to prove his worthiness to be with a female. And obviously, it brings a smile to her face. "Now you're making it hard for me not to like you."

She retracts her hand. "I'm looking forward to it then," she says to Lyall with a cunning smile. And Lyall being Lyall, he smiles back, accepting the challenge.

But he doesn't stand up immediately. Instead, he turns to me, still on his knees. His face changes to a hundred and eighty degrees. His lip line is down, his brows are furrowed.

Something is wrong.

"I just talked with Argamon and the entire council," he starts with a heavy tone, "And um... I told them I wouldn't do it without your consent. So I have come here to ask you."

My heart is racing wildly. My hands start to sweat out of nowhere. Nothing can prepare me for what he is about to ask of me.

"Now that we have confirmed that Adina has escaped... before she can gather more people with her influence... What if... we put a trap to draw Adina out? And hopefully, she reveals her true self to the masses to diminish her influence." Lyall won't look at me. His face is dark, and he appears so distraught. It's obvious that it's torture for him to suggest this.

"What kind of trap would it be?" I ask.

"A wedding." He gulps hard. His voice has become so small, so unlike the Lycan King I have come to know.

A loud and dark storm is brewing inside us.

"Our wedding."

–to be continued–