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    The woman’s face twisted into something grotesque as pain ripped through her belly. “You… you dare kill me?” she croaked, her voice broken, trembling with raw

    terror.

    Carmen’s wide, dark eyes blinked innocently, almost doe–like. She looked, for one fleeting second, like a harmless girl ying at rebellion–fragile, harmless, a rabbit trembling in a den of wolves.

    “Yes,” she answered softly, almost sweetly. “Why not? I’ve already killed six. One more makes no difference. And you… you made the mistake of hurting the child of the one I love mostb./b”

    Her voice floated like smoke, deceptively light. But to the woman writhing on the floor, it was the whisper of a demon bending close to her ear.

    Blood seeped between her fingers as she clutched at the wound, her back bent with the weight of agony. “Please,” she rasped, desperation cracking her tone. “Spare me. My son–he’s only a year old. He’s too young to live without his mother.”

    But Carmen’s knife never paused. Her wrist twisted cruelly, the de churning deeper, stirring through organs with sickening precision. The woman’s scream tore the night like a beast in a trap.

    Carmen’s eyes hardened to steel. “Your son is small? And my Riley’s child is anyrger? You ask me for mercy when you showed none? No. The only bnce is blood for blood.”

    The woman thrashed, sobbing, her pleas tumbling into madness. “Don’t kill me! I was wrong, I’ll repent! I’ll never hurt her again–I’ll raise her as my own, I swear it!”

    –

    The words “raise her as my own“-might have meant salvation to someone else. But one slip of the tongue destroyed herst chance.

    “You dare call her that again?” Carmen snarled, eyes zing crimson.

    The words “Bitch–spawn” hung in the air like poison. They touched Carmen’s wolf the way fire touches dry tinder. In a sh of fury, she ripped the de free and shed upward, cutting deep across the woman’s throat.

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    Blood fountained hot and violent. The woman copsed like a toppled wall, body seizing as her breath rattled into a wet gurgle. Her eyes bulged, wild with the primal hunger to live. But no wolf, no spirit, no mother’s instinct could save her from drowning in her own lifeblood.

    She died there, wide–eyed and shuddering, thest of her breath spilling crimson into the dirt.

    Carmen’s dagger dripped a scarlet thread that glimmered in the dying light. She wiped itzily on the corpse’s dress before lifting her gaze to the tiny child cowering in the dust.

    The change in her was instant–where moments before she had been a blood- drenched Alpha’s executioner, now her wolf softened, the predatory air falling away like a discarded pelt. Her eyes warmed, and when she spoke, her voice was gentler than spring wind.

    “Little one,” Carmen whispered, crouching low. “Don’t be afraid. No one will ever hurt you again.”

    The girl’s tear–stained face was pinched and hollow, her body trembling violently from shock. Wide, frightened eyes fixed on Carmen. “A–auntie… who are you?”

    Carmen’s hand, slick with another’s blood, cupped the child’s fragile cheek. The gauntness of her face–those eyes, so hauntinglyrge–stabbed Carmen with memory. She saw Riley’s face after the dungeons, after Ebonw’s cruelty had stripped her to bone and pain.

    Tears welled unbidden in Carmen’s eyes, streaking hot down her cheeks. “I’m your mother’s sisteri,/ii” /ishe whispered hoarsely. “Your little aunt. You must call me Carmen.”

    The girl blinked, confusion flooding her gaze. She pointed at the corpse sprawled in the dirt. “She… she’s not my mother?”

    Carmen shook her head, fury rippling beneath her grief. “No. She was a trafficker. A thief. She stole you from your blood.”

    The girl’s expression transformed in an instant, terror melting into hope. A trembling smile lit her bruised face. “Auntie… can you take me to my real mommy? I don’t want to stay here. Everyone here hates me. They never feed me. I’m always hungry.”

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    The plea shattered Carmen. Her tears broke loose like floodwater. She pulled the frail body into her arms, clutching her tight, as if her embrace alone could shield the child from every cruelty past and future.

    “You’ll never be hungry again,” Carmen swore, her voice raw with vow. “I’ll take you to her. I’ll take you home.”

    Carmen’s sobs burned her throat, her tears falling hot into the child’s tangled hair. “Gods, Riley… how much more will they take from you?”

    Her wolf keened inside her chest, the cry of mourning carrying sharp as steel.

    She rose, child in her arms, determined to carve a path of blood if that was what it took to carry her niece away from this hell.

    But as she stepped toward the doorway, a man’s shadow filled it. His eyes fell on the corpse, then on Carmen, then on the girl she held. His roar was guttural. “You! Did you kill my wife?”

    His gaze fixed on the girl, twisted with hate. “Where are you taking that filthy wretch? That’s mine. She belongs here!”

    He bellowed toward the vige, voice echoing like a drum. “Murderer! She killed my wife! Someone help!”

    The child shuddered in Carmen’s arms, her little body seizing with terror. Carmen’s wolf surged forward, lips curling back over invisible fangs.

    If they tried to take Riley’s daughter now, this vige would drown in blood.

    |||