Bella stood like a wound, raw and seething, just beyond the door. Her eyes narrowed into slits, lips curled in disdain, but her body didn't lie. Her breath hitched, her stance faltered.
Michael didn't say a word. He just turned from the window, arms folded, but not without shooting a glance at Krishna. Almost cautious. Almost… curious.
Krishna didn't rise from the chair. She tilted her face slightly, letting the moonlight crawl across her cheekbone. Calm. Cold. Watching.
Bella's voice cracked through the silence.
"You're not supposed to have a scent."
That made Krishna blink once. Slowly.
Michael raised a brow. "She does," he said simply. "This morning. When she-" he caught the memory mid-sentence and cleared his throat, glancing away. "It was faint. But... different."
Bella took a step closer, eyes never leaving Krishna's. "You don't understand what that means, do you?"
Krishna shook her head once, still poised like a queen on a crumbling throne. "No. But you do. So talk."
Bella sneered. "You shouldn't exist."
That stirred something in Krishna. Not fear. Not pride either. Just a shift. A spark. She leaned back, arms crossing. "And yet here I am."
Michael's gaze flicked between them. He didn't interrupt.
Bella pressed on, lower now, almost to herself. "No scent, no rut, no pheromonal triggers. That's what a Beta is. Safe. Invisible. But you-"
She stopped, as if the words themselves tasted wrong.
"Your scent isn't like an Alpha's. Or an Omega's. It's-" her throat bobbed. "Isolated. Singular. It doesn't bind... it haunts."
Michael tilted his head. "Then why are you trembling?"
Bella snapped toward him, furious. "Because I know what happens when people weaponize anomalies. I studied scent. I used it. I manipulated entire boardrooms into deals they never wanted." Her voice cracked. "But this, whatever she is, it's not stable."
Krishna rose slowly, her body fluid but strained. She wasn't taller than Bella. Wasn't stronger. But her eyes... they made the room smaller.
"I never asked for this," Krishna said. "But if I have it... I'm going to use it."
Bella flinched.
"I don't want your loyalty," Krishna continued. "I want your fire. And I'm going to earn it. Not buy it. Not break it."
Michael's mouth twitched, the ghost of a smirk. There she is.
But Bella... didn't retreat.
"You think I'll follow you just because you smell like sin wrapped in mystery?" she spat. "I've survived being an Omega in a system that eats us alive. I don't follow. I fight."
Krishna's smile was quiet. "Then we fight first. Talk later."
The tension cracked like lightning between them. Not dominance. Not submission. Just two forces colliding in a war neither of them expected.
Bella's jaw clenched. Her fingers twitched at her side like she was holding back the urge to strike, or shake. Not from fear. From frustration. From something older, deeper. Like history gnawed at her bones.
She didn't move. But her breath, shallow and fast, betrayed her.
"I don't play second," Bella said. "Especially not to someone who doesn't know the rules of the game."
Krishna took a step forward. Not threatening, measured. Her heels didn't even click. "Then teach me."
Bella scoffed. "That easy?"
"No," Krishna said. "But necessary."
Michael shifted against the windowsill, his voice calm but unreadable. "You both want the same thing, don't you? Control. Change. Power that doesn't smell like a man's cologne and boardroom sweat."
Neither of them looked at him.
Bella tilted her head, examining Krishna. "You want me to work for you?"
"No." Krishna's voice dropped. "I want you to work with me. Secretly. You'll keep your image. You'll stay exactly where you are. But when I move, I want to know I'm not walking into a minefield you planted."
Bella folded her arms. "And the price?"
Krishna's eyes narrowed, not cruel, but precise. "You'll step down. You'll support Aaron as heir."
Silence.
It filled the room like smoke.
Bella didn't blink. "No."
"I'm not asking."
"I'm not bending," Bella snapped. "He's weak. That whole bleeding heart prince act? He can't even manage his own instincts. You think I'll hand over everything just because you've got a scent that makes people stop breathing?"
Krishna's stare didn't waver. "You want to study me. Understand it. You want access to what I am, to break it down and bottle it up before someone else does. So let's make it clear, Bella."
Her voice didn't rise. It sank, low, slow, dangerous.
"You'll work with me because you want to. Because you're smart enough to know that you won't get another chance to touch something like this. I'm not a weapon. I'm not leverage. I'm an anomaly that could rewrite the entire structure of scent hierarchy. You know it. I know it. So don't waste time pretending you don't want in."
Bella's mouth opened, then shut.
Krishna stepped closer.
"But Triton Holdings? That's personal. That's not about scent. That's blood. That's history. That's Aaron. And I will put him back where he belongs. With or without your support. But if you fight me there..." she leaned in, voice cold as blade steel, "...I won't use scent. I'll use ruin."
Michael didn't say a word. But there was something like pride in his eyes.
Bella's stare hardened, but her throat moved again, a swallow, thick and slow. She wasn't just calculating. She was surviving. Making fast mental shifts no one else would see.
Then she spoke.
"You'll have to earn my silence."
Krishna smirked. "I already did. You're still standing here."
And for the first time, Bella's mask cracked, just enough to show the barest smile. Not surrender. Not defeat.
A truce.
Fragile. Barbed. Beautiful.
Then she turned toward the door, pausing at the threshold. "This doesn't mean I like you."
Krishna exhaled through her nose. "Good. I don't need friends."
Bella opened the door, hesitated, and glanced back.
"But if you betray me," she whispered, "I'll make your scent the last thing anyone ever smells."
The door clicked shut behind her.
Michael gave Krishna a long look. "That... could've gone worse."
Krishna didn't move. Her voice was soft. "It's just beginning."