Slowly, I turned back to her, anger flashing through me like wildfire. I wasn’t a meek, timid girl they thought they could bully. Night Creek was far from the royal territory so they might not have known that before I became the Beta's wife, I was a top-ranking warrior in the King’s court.
Without thinking, I raised my hand and slapped her back, hard. The force sent her tumbling to the floor.
The room fell into stunned silence. I stood there, breathing heavily, my hand still raised. My heart hammered in my chest, but I refused to show weakness.
Tyler’s mother scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide with disbelief and fury. “You—” she started, but she didn’t finish. The shock of what I’d done was written across the faces of everyone in the room.
“I don’t care what you think of me,” I said, my voice low and steady. “But you will not lay a hand on me again. I am the wife of the King’s Beta, and if any of you touch me, you’ll have to answer to him.”
The tension in the room was suffocating, but I held my ground. I wasn’t Liana. And I wasn’t going to let them confuse me for her any longer.