LOGINWren's POV"Miss Sinclair! Is it true you're using your sick daughter to steal another woman's fiancé?"For one terrible second, I couldn't move. The reporter's voice carried across the hospital entrance, loud enough for the people waiting near the doors to turn and stare. I had come here because Nora needed me. Somehow, even that had become something strangers believed they had the right to question. A camera swung toward my face. Another followed when I stepped sideways, blocking my path to the entrance."Miss Sinclair, did Alpha Dante cancel your contracts after discovering your relationship?" a woman called, pushing her microphone between two shoulders. "And what does his fiancée have to say about all this?"I tightened my grip on my bag. "My company's contractual matters are being handled through the appropriate channels. My private life is not available for your entertainment. Move aside."Nobody moved. They seemed encouraged by the fact that I had answered at all. A man near th
Wren's POVI knew something was wrong before Maya reached me. The receptionist stopped speaking when I stepped through Thornbridge's doors, and two employees standing beside the lift abruptly turned away. Instead, Maya hurried toward me with her phone clutched in one hand. Her face was pale. “Ivy, please come into your office before you look at anything,” she said, lowering her voice as a few heads turned in our direction.“Is it the hospital?” I asked. She shook her head, but the relief lasted only until she added, “It's about you and Alpha Dante.”I followed her into my office and shut the door. Maya placed her phone in front of me. A headline filled the screen, calling me the woman who had tried to steal an engaged Alpha through a night in his bedroom. Below it was a photograph of me leaving Thornbridge, taken on a day I hadn't even noticed anyone watching. The article described the cancelled cooperation agreements as punishment for an alleged attempt to secure business advantages
Seraphina’s POV“Don't tell me you're planning to ask my fiancé for his blood.” The words came out sharper than I intended, but I made no effort to soften them.Ivy stood outside her daughter's ward with a hospital leaflet in one hand and her phone in the other. She looked exhausted. Yet when she saw me, she straightened as though she could summon strength simply by refusing to show weakness. I hated that about her. I hated even more that Dante always seemed to notice when she was struggling.I had come to the hospital for a scheduled discussion about the charity's upcoming patient-support program. Instead, I had barely reached the private wards before finding Ivy exactly where I least wanted her. After the disgrace at the packhouse, I had expected her to disappear from Dante's life. He had accused her himself. He had cancelled her company's agreements. Somehow, she was still here, and he was still asking after her child.I nodded toward the leaflet. “What is that? Has something hap
Wren's POVBy morning, I had learned to hate the sound of doctors lowering their voices. Every time one of them approached Nora's room, my stomach tightened before they spoke. I stood in the consultation room with a list of possible Alpha donors in my hands, reading names I had never heard before and trying to imagine which one might save my daughter."We can begin contacting these candidates," the doctor explained, indicating the first page. "But I need you to understand that willingness to donate is only the beginning. We must test for compatibility with Nora’s wolf nature. A powerful Alpha is not necessarily a suitable donor." He looked at me carefully, as though he knew I was searching his face for a promise he could not make."Then test as many as you need," I said, gripping the pages until they bent. "I can arrange the costs. If there are people we need to bring here, tell me where they are. Please don’t wait because you think I need time to decide."Adrian leaned forward in the
Wren's POVThe question Nora had asked Dante was still hanging between us. She lay against her pillows, watching him with the complete faith only a child could give someone. But I had already made too many promises I couldn't keep.Dante lowered himself beside her bed until their faces were level. He rested his hand on the mattress, close enough for Nora to reach if she wanted.“Being a strong Alpha doesn't mean I can fix everything, sweetheart,” he told her gently. “I wish it did. But your doctors are working very hard, and we're going to listen to what they say. All right?”Nora studied him with a seriousness that made my chest ache. “But my wolf is sleeping,” she whispered. “I keep telling her to get up. She doesn't listen.” Her fingers moved uncertainly across the blanket covering her legs. “Maybe she doesn't like me anymore.”I stepped forward before I could stop myself. “No, baby. Your wolf isn't angry with you.” I brushed the damp hair from her forehead, careful to keep my voic
Dante's POVIvy hadn't even looked back. She had stood beside the entrance to her house, holding it open, while Adrian remained at her dining table. I could still hear her final words. I wasn't asking Adrian to leave, Dante. She hadn't shouted. Somehow, that made it worse.I knew I deserved to be sent away. That knowledge did nothing to improve the picture lodged in my head: Adrian sitting among her half-finished dishes, close enough to notice when she needed water, welcome enough that she asked him to stay. I had made my apology and still managed to turn the evening into a question about another man. I should have listened instead of making her defend her own choice.Sleep came in fragments. Each time I woke, I remembered how tired she had looked when she mentioned Nora. She had spoken of the hospital as though it were another place she needed to be before the night was over, not somewhere a mother should have to return after a full day of fighting for her business. I had asked if No







