chapter 43
A/n: Filler chappie!!!!!
Maria insisted—warmly, firmly—that Ferial should see the estate properly. Not the polished corridors meant for dignitaries, but the living, breathing parts of it. The places where people worked. Where wolves trained. Where the illusion of perfection thinned.
Dante walked beside her again, Abdie trailing behind them with his hands clasped behind his head, already bored and observant in that way of his that meant trouble was brewing.
“Rule of this place,” Abdie muttered under his breath. “Everyone walks like they’ve got somewhere important to be. Makes my knees itch.”
Ferial snorted despite herself.
"Bitch better have my money!" He shouted shocking both Ferial and Dante.
"Who are you shouting at Abdie?" Ferial asked in shock. He really didn't have a filter.
"Something Lina played after I stole some money last night." He shrugged off as if it was nothing. Stealing was a death sentence as a human, especially stealing from a wolf.
"Abdie, at this point, it's between you and your mate. What were you going to do with that money?" Dante found this funny. He liked that Abdie terrorized his cousin. Said it made her seem humane.
"My secret stash for when I eventually run away." Nobody entertained him further, and we carried on walking.
They passed gardeners first—humans, mostly. Older men with lined faces, younger women with scarves tied against the sun. One woman looked up as they approached and froze when she noticed Dante. She straightened immediately.
Dante nodded politely. “Morning.”
Her shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Morning, Alpha.”
Ferial stopped.
The woman’s eyes flicked to her—curious, cautious—but not dismissive. Not afraid.
“You work here?” Ferial asked.
The woman hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Grounds rotation.”
Ma’am.
Ferial winced. “You don’t have to—”
“It’s fine,” the woman said quickly, glancing at Dante again. “We like it here. Pays well. Safer than the city edges.”
Safer.
Ferial swallowed. “Do you… live on the estate?”
“No,” the woman said honestly. “We go home at dusk. Transport’s provided.”
Abdie scoffed softly. “Must be nice.”
The woman stiffened, but Dante cut in smoothly. “Abdie.”
“I’m just saying,” Abdie replied, unrepentant. “Back home you’re lucky if transport doesn’t get shot at.”
The woman’s face softened, understanding dawning. “District?”
Abdie nodded. “Born and raised.”
Her gaze flicked back to Ferial, reassessing her with new eyes. “Then… welcome,” she said quietly. “It’s different here. But not all of us forget where we come from.”
Something warm and painful lodged in Ferial’s chest.
They moved on toward the training grounds.
That’s where everything cracked.
The air vibrated with power—wolves shifting mid-motion, muscle and bone snapping seamlessly into fur and fang. Commands barked sharply. The ground bore scars of repeated impact.
Ferial stopped again, staring.
A female wolf—tall, blonde, perfectly composed even in combat gear—stood near the edge, arms crossed as she watched the sparring pairs. Her eyes landed on Ferial and lingered.
Then her lip curled.
“So that’s her,” the woman said, not bothering to lower her voice. “The human.”
Abdie’s head snapped up. “Careful.”
The woman smiled thinly. “Careful of what? I’m just surprised. I expected… smaller.”
Ferial felt heat rush up her spine. “And I expected better manners.”
The woman laughed lightly. “You’ll learn. This place doesn’t bend for outsiders.”
Abdie stepped forward. “Funny. From where we come from, people who talk like that usually get slapped.”
“Abdie,” Dante warned.
The woman’s gaze sharpened. “This isn’t the district.”
“No,” Ferial said sharply, before Dante could intervene. “It’s worse. Because at least in the district, people are honest about their cruelty.”
Silence rippled outward.
The woman’s smile vanished. “Watch your mouth.”
“Or what?” Abdie shot back. “You’ll sic your wolf on us?”
“That wouldn’t be necessary.”
Ferial took another step forward, heart pounding. “You don’t get to talk about me like I’m a thing. I didn’t ask to be here. I didn’t claw my way into your world.”
“You don’t belong here,” the woman snapped.
Something in Ferial broke.
“I belong wherever I stand,” she said, voice shaking but loud. “And I’m tired of wolves acting like power gives them the right to erase people.”
Wolves nearby began to still. Heads turned. Energy coiled dangerously.
Dante moved instantly. “Enough.”
The woman scoffed. “You’re letting them speak to me like this?”
Dante’s eyes went cold. “You’re dismissed.”
“What?”
“Leave the grounds. Now.”
Her face flushed with fury, but she backed away, casting Ferial one last venomous look before stalking off.
Abdie exhaled. “That went well.”
But it wasn’t over.
Ferial’s hands were shaking now, anger flooding out of her in waves. “You saw that, right? This place pretends it’s better, but it’s the same. Same looks. Same hierarchy. Same—”
“Ferial,” Dante said gently, stepping closer.
She rounded on him. “Don’t. Don’t soften it. I won’t be quiet just because these walls are prettier.”
“I know,” he said.
“I won’t disappear.”
“I know.”
Her breath hitched. “Then why does it feel like everyone wants me to?”
Before anyone could answer, another wolf muttered, “Humans forget their place.”
That was it.
Ferial lunged.
Abdie cursed loudly, grabbing at her arm, but Dante was faster.
He caught her around the waist, lifting her clean off the ground as she kicked and struggled, fury pouring out of her in sharp, furious words that echoed the district—raw, unapologetic, angry.
“Put me down!” she shouted. “I’m not finished!”
“Yes, you are,” Dante said calmly, hoisting her higher against his shoulder. “Before this becomes something worse.”
Abdie threw his hands up. “For the record, I support her.”
Dante shot him a look. “I know.”
He carried Ferial away despite her protests, past stunned wolves and frozen trainers, her voice gradually breaking as the adrenaline drained.
Only when they reached a quiet stretch of forest path did he stop.
He set her down gently.
She sagged immediately, breath coming in harsh bursts, eyes burning. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Yes, you did,” Dante said softly. “And you had every right to.”
She stared at him, stunned. “You’re not angry?”
“No,” he said honestly. “I’m worried. And proud. And furious at the same time.”
Abdie caught up, panting. “Next time, I get carried too. For solidarity.”
Ferial let out a broken laugh that turned into a sob she hadn’t expected.
Dante didn’t hesitate. He pulled her into his chest, solid and unyielding, one hand braced at the back of her head.
“You don’t have to be smaller here,” he murmured. “But you don’t have to bleed for it either. Just try staying alive long enough.”
She clutched his shirt, voice muffled. “I don’t know how to exist in a place that isn’t trying to kill me.”
“Then we’ll teach it to stop trying,” he said quietly.
For the first time since arriving, the estate felt less like a cage—and more like a battlefield she was finally allowed to fight on her own terms.
"All I'm saying is that hands were about to be caught. The goddess knows my heart."
"Abdie!" They both shouted, laughing as he walked off to where Lina told her earlier she would be. Neither knew if he actually knew where he was going.