Gwen Stacy smiled like she was born to, all practiced charm and effortless grace, a bea of perfe uhe bright lights of the Midtown Women’s Charity Brunch. She ughed at a joke made by the mayor’s wife, lightly touched the arm of a local busiy during casual versation, and posed beside her father, Police Chief Gee Stacy, for yet another photo destined for the society pages. The cameras loved her. Everyone did. That was the point.

  No one could ever know what y beh the surface.

  “Such a darling girl,” the mayor’s wife gushed to Gee, not realizing Gwen was listening in with sharpened ears while sipping her e juice. “She’s got such a bright future ahead of her. Beautiful and brilliant—a rare bination.”

  Gee chuckled with paternal pride. “That’s my Gwen. She’s gonna ge the world.”

  Oh, I will, Gwen thought behind her perfect smile. Just not in the way you expect.

  Beh the veneer of sorority queen and honor student, Gwen was something else entirely—a predator ed in silk, with a body t no one would ever suspect. The girl who had beaten Venom into submission until the symbiote trembled at her voice. The woman who could break lives with a single whispered rumor, who had lured and discarded men and women alike just to see how far they would fall for her. Everyone awn, a toy, a thing to be used.

  But Kara Zor-El was different.

  The alien had ignited something primal inside her. Not just desire—though there lenty of that—but a need. A craving. Kara ower, beauty, and raw dominance ed in a form that made Gwen’s heart race with equal parts fear and lust. She had to have her.

  “Queen Gwen…” Venom’s voice slithered through her mind, hushed and reverent, but tinged with ay. “The Kryptonian… she is… not prey… she is a sun… she will burn us…”

  Gwen’s lips barely twitched as she set down her gss. She pressed the side of her tongue against her back teeth in annoyance.

  “Shut up,” she whispered mentally, her tone coated in honey but sharp like gss.

  The symbiote whimpered, shrinking into the ers of her mind like a caged dog that had learned better than to defy its master. Gwen had broken it long ago—torn it from the weak men it had previously bonded with and made it hers through force of will and ruthless cruelty. Venom was her pet now. Her on. But even it reized that Kara was not like the patheti Gwen had crushed beh her heel.

  And that recisely why Gwen wanted her.

  Later that day, she slipped away from the event uhe pretense of needing “air.” Iy, she was already pulling strings. Using her father’s police credentials, she accessed reports detailing Kara’s arrival—the shockwave, the brief S.H.I.E.L.D. scuffle, the taieam’s failure. Photos of the alien woman were attached. Blonde hair like sunlight. Steel-cut abs. That face—like something sculpted by gods, ahose eyes held warmth and humor. Power tempered with kindness. A queen who didn’t know she was a queen.

  Gwen licked her lips.

  She retrieved Kara’s number from a tact list—traced through S.H.I.E.L.D.’s bureaucratic paper trail thanks to some favors her father didn’t even realize he was enabling—and crafted the perfect message.

  “Hey, Kara! It’s Gwen. Got your number from my dad. Hope that’s okay! :)”

  Casual. Friendly. Harmless.

  The response came ten mier. “Oh hey! Yeah, totally okay. Cool to hear from you!”

  Gwen smiled. Hook set.

  Kara rawled on the cou her S.H.I.E.L.D. guest apartment, the TV pying some reality show about housewives screaming at each other, which was surprisingly eaining. Her body was still adjusting to this universe’s surength increasing daily, but what she appreciated more than anything was the peao alien overlords threatening pary extin. No giant space sers. Just pizza, flix, and Natasha h like a hot, deadly babysitter.

  Her phone buzzed again. Aext from Gwen. They exged light baalking about New York’s best coffee spots, Kara admitting she was still getting used to Earth’s caffeine obsession. Gwen’s replies were warm and funny. Kara found herself grinning more than expected.

  When Natasha arrived ter that afternoon, dressed in casual clothes but moving with the ever-present alertness of a predator, she noticed Kara’s good mood immediately.

  “Who’s that?” Natasha asked, not quite casually.

  “Oh, Gwen. The police chief’s daughter. We met at the festival. She’s sweet.”

  Natasha’s smile olite, but her instincts were already fring. Sweet? No one was that sweet. Especially not around Kara. She made a mental o dig into Gwen Stacy’s background that night.

  The day, Gwen invited Kara out for coffee. Kara was delighted. Natasha was less so, though she masked her unease.

  When they arrived at a cozy er café, Gwen was already waiting, dressed in a cream sweater that highlighted her figure without being too obvious—an i girl--door look. Her hair erfect, her eyes warm, her smile dazzling.

  “Kara! Hey!” Gweed her like they’d been friends for years, standing to hug her. Kara returhe hug, appreciating the normal human tact.

  Natasha slid into the seat beside Kara, her gaze like a hawk sizing up prey.

  Coffee orders were pced. versation flowed easily. Gwen erfect—too perfect. Every ugh, every gnce, every self-depreg ent about how clumsy she was at yoga, was engineered for maximum charm.

  Kara pped it up. Natasha silently hated it.

  Gwen’s eyes occasionally flicked toward Natasha, measuring her, reading her. She kly what Natasha was, but that didn’t intimidate her. It excited her. A lesser predator. A guard dog. But Gwen was after the queen.

  “So, what’s it like being an alien?” Gwen asked with the kind of innoly someone dangerously skilled could fake. Kara ughed. Natasha’s fiwitched uhe table.

  When assed the café ter that afternoon, her subtle magical senses had already been monit Kara. She felt the shift. Gwen was there. Her magigled—danger reized danger. Wanda smiled to herself. Let her py her games. Gwen could be useful… or broken ter.

  As Kara and Natasha left the café, Gwen stood by the window, watg them walk off. She waved like the sweet girl she preteo be. Her smile remained long after they turhe er.

  “You see, Venom?” she whispered internally. “She likes me. They all will. Because I’m perfect.”

  Venom trembled in her mind. “Queen… we will die…”

  Gwen’s smile stretched wider. “Then we’ll die with her.”

  That night, Natasha sat in her room, the ptop glowing dimly as she scrolled through Gwen’s pristine records. Too pristine. A cover-up? Her instincts said yes. She didn’t trust that girl. But Kara liked her. And that plicated everything.

  Across the city, Wanda leaned ba a worn armchair, eyes closed, fiwirling with red tendrils of agic. She whispered to herself, imagining Kara’s power under her trol. She sehe future. Pieces falling into pce. Gwen’s presence art of it. A tool… or a liability.

  Kara, lying in bed, stared at her phone, smiling at a goodnight text from Gwen. She felt lucky. Earth was so friendly.

  She had no idea.

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