IVYI watched as Aunt Marissa and Zeus stepped outside the room with their voices fading behind the heavy oak door. My mind was spinning, curiosity biting hard at my thoughts. Something about the urgency in Zeus’s voice, the look on Aunt Marissa’s face sharp with shock, pale with recognition made my stomach twist. I wanted to lie to myself, to brush it off, but I couldn’t ignore it. I needed to know who had arrived at the pack and what made them both look like the ground had been ripped out from under their feet.I exhaled slowly and turned my gaze to the small bottle of poison I had placed on the nightstand. The clear liquid shimmered faintly in the light, mocking me with its stillness. I had dropped it there just moments ago, torn by the weight of the choice I had made. My eyes moved to my sleeping sister, her breaths shallow, her body still recovering.“I just need to get more herbs,” I muttered to myself, standing up and taking a shaky step toward the door but I didn’t get far
MARRISAI watched the Hazel twin step into the room, her presence calm yet laced with something too delicate to trust. She had tried to convince us that she wasn’t supporting her sister, but I knew better. There was something too still in her eyes, too careful in her voice.”Watch her,” I told Zeus silently, my eyes never leaving where she stood a few seconds ago. I need to see for myself if she’s looking at the right twin… or the wrong one.I noticed the shift in his face, how the clench in his jaw betrayed the quiet storm building within him.I was about to move farther when Zeus stepped forward and stopped me with an arm across my path.“Remember our plan. Don’t you dare hurt Hazel,” he said, his voice low and sharp. “I don’t know what I might do to you if I find out you did.”I smiled, slow and sly, tilting my head in mock innocence. “That threat was the only way I ever got you to obey me, darling.”He stared hard at me, his chest rising and falling with barely restrained control
IVY“What is going on here?” I asked, needing to confirm I wasn’t imagining things.Then Zeus smirked, with his arms folded. “Well, aren’t you and Maverick close these days, or should I explain that too?”I was more than speechless. I understood the fact that I wanted to poison Maddox and that is because I needed to save my sister. What exactly is Zeus going to call himself? Alphas are supposed to trust their beta with everything in them and the beta is also not supposed to betray the alpha.Aunt Marrissa scoffed before continuing. “Are we just going to trust her? She’s Hazel’s twin. That girl’s got enough tricks hidden under her wrist to choke a bear.”I folded my arms. “You think she’s that dangerous?” Zeus asked again.“She is the kind that can betray the one person who defended her most, so don’t play dumb.. she’s got betrayal stitched into her sleeves.”I narrowed my gaze and leaned in slightly, her voice dropping. “It’s funny… the Alpha trusts you with his life, and yet you are
IVYI sat beside my sister, my thoughts lost in the middle of everything Maverick had said. The words wouldn’t stop echoing. No matter how tightly I clasped my hands together or how hard I focused on my pale, sleeping sister beside me, the weight in my chest only deepened.(What choice do I have, Skyler? What am I supposed to do to save her?)But Skyler offered no reply, her silence thick with guilt. She had judged Hazel just like I did. We both thought she had abandoned us, we forgot the pain we had caused her still she never hated me and we just judged her from a single word from an outsider.(You are back now,) I muttered under my breath.(You should be helping. You are smart, just like her. Why can’t you find a solution?) But she just sighed in frustration. If we were like her, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess. Maybe we would have seen this coming. Maybe Hazel wouldn’t be lying here on the edge of death, her body fighting poison, her heart still clinging to a mate who doesn’t d
IVYI walked deeper into the woods, the moonlight barely touching the earth beneath my feet. My hands trembled slightly as I bent low, brushing through the tall grass in search of any herbs that could help reduce pain or even better, slow down the effects of poison. I didn’t know what exactly had infected Hazel, nor did I understand the nature of the wound, but I had to try. I had to do something. I couldn’t just sit and watch her hurt.We knew nothing about this poison. Nothing about who created it. If I had acted earlier, maybe I could have saved her before it got this far.I regretted everything, regretted ever thinking my sister hated me. Regretted almost reaching for peace only to end up holding hands with pain. My sister was hurting because of me. She had taken every blow meant for me. She had lost a child, lost her wolf, lost her pride, and now… she was losing her life.“Please,” I whispered to the night, kneeling beside a patch of moon-colored flowers. “Please, reduce her pa
IVY“My whole body is on fire.” Hazel's words cut me off from my lost daze after the news the doctor broke to me.I touched her and noticed the heat wasn’t from within me but from Maddox. “I am scared Ivy…It scared me more than anything else, I have never seen him so weak. The memory of his smile haunts me, Ivy..” She kept crying out, not bothering about herself.“He is going to be okay… He is a strong Alpha… but you need to think about yourself first before him.” I advise. Like this reminds her of something she started my way.“I killed the one behind the death of our parents,” she whispered in a broken voice. I pulled her into a tight embrace, but the ache inside me didn’t ease. My heart throbbed with pain. The thought of seeing my sister hurting and still being unable to do anything as unable to stop her suffering made it worse.The more she cried, the weirder memories returned. My head pounded like something was trying to break through. I held on tightly to Hazel, unwilling to