The ballroom pulsed with low music, camera flashes, and the sound of money cloaked in designer suits. Michael had just left Krishna's side to officially open the auction, the crowd already knowing who he stood with long before he reached the stage.
Everyone had seen it.
The moment Krishna was escorted by Michael as they entered the ballroom hall.
And that, that, was what drove Bella insane.
Her heels clicked sharply as she stalked toward Krishna, her crimson dress hugging every calculated step. The fury in her eyes was barely masked by the smile on her lips.
"You think it's done?" Bella whispered, tone sharp enough to cut skin. "You think just because he's parading you around like a trophy-"
Krishna didn't even blink. "No. I think it's done because you already lost."
Bella's smile wavered.
Krishna tilted her head, voice a blade behind silk. "You should've left Country M the moment you saw me in that room. But pride's a bitch, isn't it?"
Bella stepped closer, but Krishna didn't move. Not an inch.
"You staked everything, didn't you?" Krishna added. "Triton's entire funding, just to get a seat beside Citadel Prime tonight. And now you're stuck between your pride and the trap I didn't even have to bait."
"You planned this."
"I didn't have to. You walked straight into it, all on your own."
Bella's hands clenched into fists.
"I didn't need a scent," Krishna murmured. "I didn't need to seduce him. I didn't even need to try."
At that moment, Michael's voice rang through the speakers. "Welcome, everyone, to tonight's auction event. We're honored to have you here."
He looked straight at Krishna as he spoke.
And the world looked with him.
Bella stood still, drowning in silence, as Krishna turned away, cool, untouched, and already walking back to where Michael would return.
Krishna paused mid-turn, eyes still calm, bored, almost, as Bella simmered behind her.
Then she leaned in. Close enough that the words could never be overheard, but sharp enough to shatter a woman like Bella from the inside out.
"If you want to get through this night without being publicly humiliated," Krishna murmured, her lips barely moving, "without your dirty little schemes ending up on the front page tomorrow…"
She smiled. It didn't reach her eyes.
"Follow me. Michael's room. After the final gavel."
Bella's breath caught.
"And come alone."
Krishna didn't wait for a reply.
She turned and walked away, smooth, composed, as if the threat she left behind wasn't currently choking Bella's pride in silence.
Behind her, Bella stood frozen. Her mask cracking, fingernails digging into her palm. She should leave. She should have left the moment Krishna showed up.
But she didn't.
Because Krishna was right.
She couldn't afford to lose this night. Not after staking Triton's entire future on it.
And now, the price of saving face was walking into the lioness's den.
On Krishna's terms.
The auction raged on, glasses clinking, bids rising, elegance masking fangs. But in the middle of it all, two figures slipped away unnoticed.
Michael and Krishna, side by side.
No rush. No guilt. No second glance.
They exited the ballroom with the quiet confidence of people who knew the outcome before the game began.
And behind them, Bella stood alone.
Her palms were cold. Her pulse was screaming.
She shouldn't follow.
But she did.
Each step down that gilded hallway chipped away at her pride.
Because she knew the law. She knew the weight of her mistake.
Using her scent to manipulate a deal?
Punishable.
If even a whisper of it slipped out, if Krishna decided to let it spill... it wouldn't just be her dragged through the dirt.
Triton would burn.
Her family. Their empire. Everything she bled for.
And the worst part? Krishna wouldn't even have to raise her voice.
She reached the elevator and hesitated. Just for a second. Long enough to hate herself for it.
But the doors opened anyway.
She stepped in.
She had to.
It didn't matter what Michael decided tonight. If he chose to destroy her or just watch, none of it mattered.
Because the power wasn't in his hands anymore.
It was in Krishna's.
And Bella… walked willingly into the lioness's mouth.
Krishna sat with one leg crossed over the other, draped on the lounge chair like it was her throne. Her posture casual. Her eyes, anything but.
Michael leaned by the window, half in shadow, gazing out like he had no stake in what came next. But his silence was loaded. His presence wasn't passive. He chose his side hours ago.
Bella stepped into the suite, heels hitting the marble with sharp defiance. Her fists were clenched. Her jaw locked tight.
"Why call me here?" she snapped. "To gloat? To play at power you don't deserve?"
Krishna didn't answer.
She just looked up.
And that was all it took.
Bella's breath hitched, so subtle it wouldn't register to anyone else, but inside her, something cracked.
Because Krishna didn't do anything.
She just stared.
Unblinking. Regal. Silent.
Like she already knew how this would end.
And suddenly, Bella's fury felt childish.
She felt childish.
She tried to hold onto the heat, the fire in her chest, but Krishna's eyes swallowed it whole. Moonlight poured in from the window, hitting Krishna's bare collarbone, sliding like silk across her skin, painting her in silver and shadow.
And that's when it hit her.
A scent.
Not strong. Not obvious. Not even consistent.
But there.
Faint. Unique. Utterly unplaceable.
Bella staggered.
Her body responded before her mind caught up. Her lungs dragged it in greedily even as her pride screamed to stop. Her mouth went dry.
She knew scents.
She mastered them.
She spent her life cataloguing, mimicking, modifying them, weaponizing them. Turning them into leverage. Into puppeteering tools.
But this?
This wasn't any Omega's scent.
This didn't exist anywhere else.
It was… unlike anything.
It didn't trigger lust.
It triggered surrender.
And the worst part, Krishna didn't even know.
She just sat there. Unaware. Or maybe too aware.
A Beta. Scentless.
And yet,
Bella stumbled back a step.
Her voice was hoarse now. "You're not supposed to have a scent."
Krishna tilted her head slightly, gaze narrowing, but still didn't speak.
Michael didn't turn around either, but his jaw clenched, just once.
Bella's hands trembled. She tried to grip her wrist behind her back to hide it.
This wasn't seduction. This was domination, laced in nothing but breath and stillness.
She doesn't even know what she is, Bella thought.
And that was the most terrifying part of all.