Chapter: Chapter 82: RealityBella's fever breaks at hour eleven.104.3 down to 103.1. Then 102.4. Then 101.8.By eight PM, she's at 100.2. Almost normal.Tyler hasn't left her bedside once. I brought him food he didn't touch. Coffee he didn't drink. He just sits there, holding Bella's hand, watching the monitors like he can will them to show better numbers.When her fever finally normalizes at 99.4, he drops his head into his hands and breathes.Just breathes."She's okay," I say. Sitting beside him. Hand on his back. "She's going to be okay.""This time," he says. Voice muffled."This time counts."
Last Updated: 2026-01-24
Chapter: Chapter 81: Bella's CrashWe don't go on a honeymoon.Tyler wanted to take me somewhere private. Away from the pack. Away from the pressure and politics and constant scrutiny.He suggested Santorini. A private villa overlooking the Aegean Sea. White buildings and blue water and two weeks of pretending the world didn't exist.But three days after I find out about his heart condition, three days after we confess we love each other, three days after we decide to fight together. Bella crashes.Dr. Reeves calls at six in the morning. The phone cuts through sleep like a knife. Tyler answers before the second ring, already sitting up, already alert."Reeves."I watch his face go from sleepy to rigid with fear in
Last Updated: 2026-01-23
Chapter: Chapter 80: Ten YearsI find Tyler in his office late that afternoon. He's at his desk, staring at his computer screen. Not typing. Not reading. Just staring.He looks up when I enter. His face is carefully neutral. Guarded."April.""We need to talk.""I assumed as much." He gestures to the chair across from his desk. "Sit."I close the door behind me. But I don't sit. Instead, I walk around his desk. Stand beside his chair."Bella told me about the mutation," I say.Tyler's eyes flash. "She had no right—""She had every right. Someone needed to tell me the full truth."
Last Updated: 2026-01-22
Chapter: Chapter 79: The ConfessionI find Bella in the sunroom the next morning. She's out of her wheelchair today, curled up on the window seat with a book and a mug of tea.She looks up when I enter. Takes one look at my face."You found out," she says quietly.I sink down beside her. The window seat is warm from the sun. "You knew. This whole time, you knew.""Tyler made me promise not to tell you." Bella sets down her book, something about werewolf mythology. "He said it wasn't your burden to carry. That you were just the contract wife.""I'm his actual wife now.""I know. But Tyler's brain doesn't work that way. He still sees you as the girl from the club. Not the woman who's become part of our family." Bella
Last Updated: 2026-01-21
Chapter: Chapter 78: The Truth"We could find specialists," I say. Desperate now. Grasping for solutions. "Better doctors. Experimental treatments. There has to be something—""Dr. Reeves is the best cardiac specialist in the pack medical community. She's consulted with human cardiologists at Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic. She's sent my scans and bloodwork to researchers studying genetic cardiac conditions." Tyler's voice is flat. Final. "This is as good as it gets.""There has to be—""There isn't." He cuts me off. "I've spent two years searching for alternatives. For cures. For experimental treatments. There's nothing, April. The mutation is genetic. It's progressive. And it's terminal."The word "terminal" hangs in the air like a death sentence.
Last Updated: 2026-01-20
Chapter: Chapter 77: The MedsThree weeks into being Luna, I find the pills.I'm not snooping. I'm looking for Tyler's cufflinks because he asked me to grab them from his dresser while he finishes a call with a supplier in Shanghai. The dinner tonight is important. Council members and their mates, all judging whether the new Luna can handle formal pack events.But when I open the top drawer, I find a pharmacy instead.Prescription bottles. At least six of them. Hidden beneath socks and watches and the cufflinks I came looking for.I pick one up. Read the label.**METOPROLOL SUCCINATE 100MG** **RAVEN, TYLER R.** **TAKE ONE TABLET DAILY** **DR. NINA REEVES**My hands are shaking.I pick up another bottle.**CARVEDILOL 25MG** **RAVEN, TYLER R.** **TAKE TWICE DAILY WITH FOOD** **DR. NINA REEVES**Another.**WARFARIN 5MG** **RAVEN, TYLER R.** **TAKE AS DIRECTED - BLOOD THINNER** **WARNING: REGULAR BLOOD TESTS REQUIRED**I know these names. I took a health class in college. Did a whole unit on cardiova
Last Updated: 2026-01-19
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