LOGIN**ISABELLA**
“Best friends?”
“That’s why they’re so close!”
Gasps instantly filled the room, eyes flickering between Maximilian and me.
Pansy tilted her head slightly, her gaze locking onto min
**ISABELLA**The soft rumble of shopping carts and low chatter surrounded us as Maximilian and I walked side by side through the quiet aisles of the grocery mart. It was almost surreal—me pushing the cart, Maximilian walking beside me with his hands in his pockets, tall, brooding, and breathtakingly calm as if this was just another day in our life. Just… normal. Domestic. Peaceful.But butterflies were rising in my belly. I hadn’t expected him to come with me.The past few days had been extremely peaceful days in my life where I had been spending a lot of time with Maximilian. We shared meals together, went to the campus together, and ended up sleeping together on the sofa sometimes. Even though we did not have sex I loved to be cuddled and held in his arms.It was a
**ISABELLA**Pansy’s face turned white over whatever Maximilian whispered to her. My heart trembled in my chest with curiosity, and dread, at seeing this side of Maximilian. It had even silenced the proud Alphas in the audience and left them alarmed.“How could you…?” Pansy cried, her makeup smeared and her condition even worse than before. “I loved you, Maximilian. I went this far to have you, but you… you…”“Ugh…disgusting,” Maximilian groaned, standing up. “You should’ve done a background check on me when you were doing all that digging,” he said, glancing down at her blankly. “I, Maximilian Vense, hate girls like you.”Pansy looked hea
**ISABELLA**There was… another me.And I realized it only after the nightmare ended, the moment I stood over the stalker who had nearly killed Maximilian.She was the one who had caused the accident… the one who would’ve taken his life if he hadn’t leapt from his car seconds before it plummeted over the edge of the cliff.Now, she lay in a pool of her own blood, barely breathing.Her crimson life seeped across the ground, dripping from my trembling hands—hands I barely recognized.That version of me—the cold, unflinching part—I hadn’t even known she existed.
**MAXIMILIAN**At the age of fourteen, I had my first shift. And it wasn’t the way the others described it.No moonlight blessings. No soft murmurs of comfort from a mother or father. How could they possibly know when one was barely present in my life during my childhood and the other was either busy with the pack or locked in his room with his new Luna.The moment I felt my shift, I ran into the woods without anyone knowing. The first shift was just painful and lonely… until… she came.“Max!” Rushing towards me out of the line of trees, stumbling on the snow on the ground, she was the only one who came looking for me.
**MAXIMILIAN**“Win me,” I whispered, savoring the quickening rhythm of her heartbeat as my hand settled on her waist and my lips brushed against the shell of her flushed ear.My mouth curved into a slow smirk. Her emotions were delectable, every beat of her heart etched my name into her soul. “Tell me, Bella,” I murmured, my voice a low seduction as my index finger traced a teasing line across her lower belly. My wolf’s gaze drifted to Pansy’s now slightly pale face. “You’ll save your Maximilian from evil, won’t you?”Pansy’s eyes widened, shock giving way to fury. Her fists clenched tightly, her stare venomous and sharp, all of it aimed squarely at Bella. But the girl in my arms was unaffected. I didn’t need to see her face
**ISABELLA**“This girl is wolfless.”Everything stopped.The silence. The stares. The gasps.Everything screamed the same truth—My world had shattered again.The darkness I’d fought so hard to escape swallowed me whole. It stabbed at me from all sides, a thousand invisible blades piercing deep, until I could no longer feel my body. I didn’t know if I was breathing. I wasn’t sure if my heart was even beating anymore.I was just… gone.“Wolfless?” Alpha Magnus’ deep voice echoed across the room. It was followed by the faint hum of whisper







