Gianna’s POV

I stared at the crumpled paper in my hand, the ink smudged by the tears I hadn’t realized were falling. My grip on it tightened until the edges cut into my palm, but I didn’t care.

The Alpha’s guard, the one who had taken me to him, sat in the front seat beside the driver like a stone wall. His name was Karl. Stoic. Gruff. Barely said a word unless it was to bark an order. Every few seconds, I caught him watching me through the rearview mirror. His dark eyes flicked toward me like clockwork, monitoring me like a bomb that might go off at any moment.

He wasn’t wrong.

I had no idea what I’d do if I let myself unravel.

The crumpled note. The stupid letter. I pressed it against my chest like it might vanish otherwise. But I already knew the words by heart. I could see them burned into my eyelids every time I blinked.

Alpha Rapha may be responsible. Poisoned dart. Your father’s death wasn’t natural. Keep your eyes open.

I felt sick.

“I’m going to kill him,” I whispered under my breath. Not to Karl. Not to anyone. Just to myself. Like a vow. A promise.

But first, I had to play along.

I looked out the window, pretending to be interested in the trees speeding past us, but my mind wouldn’t stop replaying what Callum had said.

“Believe me, kiddo, it’s not something I like either. But Alpha Rapha benefited from your father’s betrayal, and if we want to move forward with peace, I need to offer him something… personal.”

Like I was a fruit basket.

“You’ll be going as an attendant. Someone to serve him, care for his needs. Get close enough to earn his trust.”

I almost laughed in his face then. The idea was absurd, sending me of all people to serve the Alpha. And yet…

“Because you offered to,” Callum had said, smug. “Or have you forgotten what you told me? That you’d do anything to make things right, anything for your sister?”

I hadn’t forgotten. I’d meant it.

Louisa.

I clenched my eyes shut at the thought of her. Her smile, her small hands always clutching mine when we were kids. The way she used to hum under her breath when she was nervous.

And the way she’d looked at me earlier, like a part of her had come back to life.

If I had to play the servant for a few days, I’d do it. But if Alpha Rapha really killed my father… then I’d carve that truth out of him. One way or another.

My head tilted back against the window as I remembered how it all started.

⸻

“You can’t be serious,” I’d said, stunned.

Callum didn’t flinch. He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands together like he was discussing logistics, not people’s lives.

“You’re giving me to Alpha Rapha? As a gift?”

He actually had the audacity to sigh. “Don’t make it sound like that. It’s just diplomacy. Politics.”

I scoffed. “Politics? You want me to live under the same roof as the man who might’ve killed my father?”

“It’s not ideal,” he admitted, and then his voice shifted, got quieter, more calculating. “But it’s necessary.”

He sat down with a deliberate calm, like this was all some game he had already won.

“Alpha Rapha’s victory over the lesser Packs was… accelerated,” he continued. “Your father’s intel helped him. Whether intentionally or not. If Rapha was involved in what happened to your dad, you’ll be the first to know. That’s why you’re perfect for this.”

My stomach twisted.

“And if he wasn’t?” I asked bitterly. “What then? I keep fetching his meals and folding his socks until you decide I’ve served my time?”

“You’ll be close enough to gather intel,” he said smoothly. “He won’t suspect you. A grieving daughter in need of redemption? That’s a story even he will believe.”

I looked at him, eyes narrowed. “Then why do I feel like the pawn in this story?”

His smirk was cold. “Because you are.”

⸻

The car jolted over a bump, snapping me back to the present. I stared at the paper again. The edges were torn now from how tightly I’d been gripping it.

I thought I’d feel ready. That once I had a name—a suspect—I’d feel fire in my veins, like I could march into that Pack house and avenge my father with one swing.

But instead… I just felt hollow. And angry. And afraid.

Afraid I was walking into something far bigger than I could understand.

“We’re almost there,” Karl said, breaking the silence for the first time in half an hour. His voice was gruff, almost disinterested.

I nodded, wiping my face with the back of my sleeve before he could see the new tears forming.

“So,” I said, voice low. “Do I get to meet the infamous Alpha Rapha right away?”

Karl snorted. “Easy there, tiger. First we get past the boundary. Then you wait until he summons you. That’s how it works.”

I turned toward him, suddenly needing to look him in the eye. “And what if I don’t want to wait?”

He glanced at me through the mirror, eyebrows raised. “Then you’ll end up dead, and I’ll have wasted a perfectly good uniform.”

My lips tightened into a thin line.

Right. Smile. Pretend. Behave.

Then kill him.

⸻

We arrived at the gates of Callum’s Pack House just as dusk began to creep across the sky. It wasn’t dark yet, but the air already felt heavier, thicker.

I stood at the threshold with a single bag in hand, one that didn’t even belong to me.

Louisa had hugged me like her life depended on it earlier. She cried into my shoulder and whispered that she didn’t understand why I had to go, that everything had been so perfect since she met Callum, and couldn’t we just be happy?

I didn’t have the heart to tell her what he was planning. Or what he’d done.

I’d just held her tightly, trying to memorize everything. Her voice. Her warmth. Her scent.

Because for all I knew, I wasn’t coming back.

I took a deep breath as Karl approached from the rear, holding a clipboard with a list of the “gifts” being sent with me—furs, wine, rare blades, all of it meant to sweeten the deal between two Alphas playing war disguised as peace.

And me?

Just another item on the list.

“You ready?” Karl asked.

I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I looked up at the sky.

A single star had started to shine through the deepening blue.

I wondered if Dad was up there somewhere. Watching.

If he was… I hoped he knew I was doing this for him.

“Yeah,” I said finally, lifting my chin. “I’m ready.”

Karl gave a short grunt. “Then let’s move.”

And with that, we loaded up and left Callum’s territory behind.

I didn’t look back.