Derek stopped pacing the narrow corridor outside the holding cells and pinched the bridge of his nose.

What do you mean the Queen ordered Sasha’s release?

His mental voice came through the mind-link sharp enough that Connor felt the edge of it.

She intervened in the corridor, Your Grace. Sasha’s son is in critical condition and was asking for her. The doctor said the boy would not survive if she could not calm him down. The Queen ordered her release until the boy is stable.

Did you tell her what Sasha did?

Yes, Your Grace. Word for word. She listened. Then she still gave the order.

Derek sighed and rubbed his fingers against his temple, the kind of pressure that did absolutely nothing for the headache he had been carrying since yesterday.

He stood outside Ruby’s small cell watching as the gammas chained Ruby.

What kind of woman was his wife.

He had been turning this question over for weeks now and had still not arrived at a satisfying answer.

She extended grace to people who had given her every possible reason not to. Everyone who has ever hurt her gets a second chance. She hands out mercy like it costs her nothing, even when the knife is still warm in her back.

Even now, recovering from a fall that nearly killed her, with her left leg in a cast and her face still bruised, she had looked at Sasha being dragged away in handcuffs and decided that the child in the next room mattered more than her own justice.

He did not know what to do with a woman like that.

He turned slowly toward the corner of the cell where Ruby sat cowered against the wall, knees drawn up, red hair tangled and sticking to her tear-streaked cheeks. She peeked up at him through wet lashes, the picture of broken innocence.

It didn’t move him.

Derek stalked closer, boots ringing against the stone.

"You should thank her," he said, when he was standing over her. His voice was quiet and cold.

"Luck was on your side today. My Queen gave the order to release Sasha until her child is stable, so your story is still standing for the moment. Consider it a temporary reprieve."

Ruby’s shoulders sagged with relief, a tiny sob escaping her. But Derek was not finished. He crouched in front of her, close enough that she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes.

"Your torture, however, cannot wait any longer. You will start telling the truth, all of it, or I will make sure the next few hours feel like years."

He had promised himself he would torture both of them after Ruby’s frantic confessions about Sasha — the herbs slipped to Ishita, the deliberate attempts to end Kira’s pregnancy, the twisted plan to get back at him for killing her soul-bond.

He did not believe every word Ruby had spat out in her panic, but there were atoms of truth buried in the poison, and he intended to dig them out.

He still remembered the werewolf he had caught sneaking across the borders years ago, back when his rage burned white-hot. The man had not lasted long. Derek could be creative when he wanted to be.

He still remembered the sounds. He had not been a man worth knowing in that period of his life.

He looked at Ruby now and felt his hands itch with the urge to wrap his hands around Ruby’s throat and squeeze until life left her.

He hated betrayers. Being betrayed brought back memories to him, and those memories always brought out this other side of him that even him hated.

He could end it right now. But death would be too easy, too quick. She needed to suffer first, the same way she had made evryone suffer.

Ruby was crying again, properly, her shoulders shaking. She had never seen Derek like this with her.

Not in twenty something years. Not once. His ruthlessness had always been directed at other people, never her. She had been the exception. She had been the soft spot.

That was gone now. She could see it in his face.

He had not believed her. Not really. He had heard her out and not believed a single word of what she had said about Sasha, and now everything she had carefully arranged was beginning to slide.

Every escape route she had mapped in her head over the past day was closing one by one.

Her one saving grace, the only thing keeping her structure upright, was that Sasha did not yet know what Ruby had said about her.

Once she did, it would be over. Sasha had her own secrets, but she also knew Ruby’s, and the moment those two pieces of information were in the same room, Ruby would have nothing left.

"Please," Ruby whispered. "Derek, please, I have told you everything I—"

Derek straightened, turned on his heel, and called out loud enough for the gammas waiting in the corridor to hear. "In here. Now."

Two gammas stepped inside at once, silver chains already in their hands. They moved with brisk efficiency.

"Use enough silver on her. Make sure she doesn’t shift before her trial tomorrow," he said without looking back. "You know she is beta blood, and is stronger than she looks."

"Yes, Your Grace," they answered in unison, already moving toward Ruby.

Ruby scrambled back against the wall, fresh tears spilling.

"Derek, please! I deserve better than this after everything I have done for the pack. I have given you my loyalty, my time, my everything."

Derek said nothing. He simply watched as the gammas hauled her to her feet and wrapped the silver around her torso. Then, turned away.

Ruby’s sobs grew louder as she struggled.

"My brother died for you. He died, Derek. He gave his life so that you could stand here today, and this is how you repay him? By dragging his sister to the dungeons in chains? Is this what Jasper would have wanted?"

Derek did not turn around.

He did not say a word.

***

Back at the medical centre, Kira stood just outside Jerry’s room, one hand resting lightly on her crutch.

Through the narrow observation window she could see Sasha sitting beside her son’s bed. The little boy was fast asleep, small chest rising and falling under the thin blanket.

Sasha herself looked crumpled, shoulders hunched, eyes red and puffy. She seemed smaller somehow, nothing like the confident gym instructor who had once snapped at Kira that there were no queen privileges in her class.

Kira had told the gammas waiting at the end of the hall to hold off a little longer before taking Sasha away. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

She honestly did not want to waste any more energy on Ruby or her circle of minions, but something about the way Sasha sat there, defeated and hollowed out had made her pause.

Extending a little grace did not mean she was soft. It just meant she was not going to kick someone when they were already on the floor.

Kai and Jessica had gone off to fetch lunch and had very pointedly told her to stay put and out of trouble.

Connor of course, had already filled her in on everything Ruby had claimed Sasha had done. Kira had listened carefully. Where Ruby was involved, though, she trusted exactly none of it.

She had slipped into Ishita’s room earlier. The old cook had been fast asleep, breathing steady, none the wiser. Kira was grateful that the woman was conscious at least.

Now Kira stood here, watching Sasha through the glass, crutch steady under her palm. Today, she supposed, she had enough queen privileges to do a little confronting of her own.

Against Connor’s very clear warnings that she should not approach Sasha alone ringing in her ears, Kira lifted her free hand and knocked softly on the door. She pushed it open and stepped inside.

Sasha looked up.

Kira was caught off guard by how much grief had stripped the woman bare. The usual sharp edges were gone. All that remained was raw exhaustion and something that looked a lot like fear.

"Hello, Sasha."