Being invisible was a skill Selene had mastered.
She walked quietly. Ate sparingly. Kept her eyes lowered and her posture slouched, even though every instinct in her body screamed to straighten her spine and scan for weaknesses. She wasn't Selene, the sharpest spy in Shadow Fang's ranks. She was "the stray"; fragile, frightened, forgettable.
Or she was supposed to be.
But Alpha Kael kept looking at her.
He never said much. Never lingered too long. But she felt his gaze whenever he passed; like heat on the back of her neck. Like a warning growl under her skin.
The other pack members didn't trust her either. They murmured when she entered a room. Scrutinized every word she said. Only the younger ones; the low-ranking omegas and adolescent pups, spoke to her without edge.
One pup, a wiry boy with dirt-smudged cheeks, had offered her half a honey cake yesterday.
It made her stomach ache more than hunger ever could. She didn't deserve kindness.
Especially not here.
Selene's room was on the farthest end of the south wing, near the storage chambers. It was cold at night, but she welcomed the discomfort. It kept her sharp.
She started "helping" around the lodge as soon as her wound had scabbed over.
Washing linens. Cleaning common rooms. Fetching herbs for the healer. Menial tasks; but they allowed her to map the territory. See who went where. Who held power. Who whispered what.
Each day, she sent a mental log back to her Alpha through the faint mental link they'd kept alive across distance. Short, encrypted thoughts. Just enough to keep her handlers calm.
BloodMoon security is tight. Kael is cautious. He does not trust anyone.
That part, at least, was true.
She saw it in the way he held himself; always alert, shoulders tense, eyes shadowed. He was a man used to betrayal. A wolf waiting for the next attack.
Good. He'd be expecting it.
But what he wasn't expecting, what she hadn't expected; was how easily her body responded to him.
A glance. A word. The scent of him after training, rich with sweat and cedar and alpha power.
Her wolf rolled at the edge of her consciousness, ears perked.
Selene bit down on the reaction every time. Shoved it into a mental cage.
She wasn't here to feel. She was here to finish the mission.
Still… Kael made it difficult.
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It was a cold morning when Kael finally spoke to her again.
Selene was scrubbing down the hall outside the war room, her hands red and raw with soap, when his shadow fell over her.
"You're healing well."
Selene didn't look up right away. Just nodded and murmured, "Yes, Alpha."