**Elena**What do you mean I can’t come along, my king? The words burst out of me, louder than I intended. My chair scraped against the polished floor as I shot to my feet. My voice echoed across the dining hall.Xavier’s head snapped up. His eyes fixed on me like I’d crossed a line. I watched as his fist came down on the table with a loud thud, making the plates rattle.“You’ll obey me. And you will not talk back to me,” he said.His glare could have killed me in seconds.But damn it, I wasn’t going to sit there and take it.“Oh, don’t think you can scare me,” My hands balled into fists at my sides. My voice shook “I’ll come with you to the event. I’m your wife…for fuck’s sake!”A bitter laugh escaped his lips. “My wife in the eyes of the pack, Helena. Get that into your head. And like I said, it says family invites only.”Family invites? My blood boiled. My eyes darted across the hall, landing on Trisha. She sat there, acting all sweet and innocent, but I saw that smug little
**Elena**“He’s gonna come for me,” I whispered, pacing back and forth. My hands felt cold even though my face was burning.“He’s gonna come for me,” I repeated, heart pounding.“My queen, please,” Ivana’s voice broke in. “You’ve got to calm down. You have to think this through.”Calm down?I spun on her so fast my hair whipped across my face.“How do you expect me to do that, huh?” I snapped, my hands trembling. “When everything’s spun out of control?”Her lips parted as if to say something, then she closed them again.What could she say?Nothing could make this easier. Nothing could erase the knot of fear in my gut.“You don’t understand, Ivana,” I choked out. My eyes were already wet. “I’m scared I might not be able to save Lauren before it’s too late.”The words tasted bitter.That thought had been circling my mind since the incident.I glanced at the clock.8:45 PM.Time was slipping away.My hands moved before I could even think, gesturing at Ivana. “Put Nick on a call,” I told
**Elena**“Xavier!” I screamed as I watched his fist slam into Adolfo’s face.My heart jolted up into my throat.“What about his temper” ? The memory flickered in when Lauren had spoken about his temper..And here it was, exactly what she’d feared.I flew down the staircase, my hands gripping the railing so tightly my knuckles ached.Would Xavier lose himself completely?“Stop!” I called, my voice cracking as I rushed across the marble floor.The guards hovered nearby, tense but hesitant..they knew better than to jump in when Xavier was like this.Adolfo was smirking up at him, blood already trailing from the corner of his mouth, and that smug, innocent look on his face made my stomach twist.He wasn’t scared at all.And that scared me.“Please, stop,” I whispered as I grabbed Xavier’s arm, tugging him back.Before I could do more, a sharp voice cut through the air..“What’s going on here?”Aunt Lena.She appeared at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes flashing between Xavier and Adolf
**Elena**“What do you mean by a picture of me?” I asked to be sure I heard her correctly.But she didn't answer, just went on.“It was marked,” she said, fingers drawing shapes in the air like she could still see it. “Several red lines all over it. Maybe a pen, maybe a knife. It looked like someone stabbed it over and over.”My skin went cold.“You’ll have to run away,” she said, grabbing my hands as if to pull me somewhere, anywhere.“Look,” she whispered then, trembling as she showed me her eye.As though reminding me of the swelling, the blood clots in it. I already saw it.“I don't want something like this to happen to you”. She said as she grabbed my arm.And my chest felt tight “When did this happen?” I breathed.Her face crumpled.“Not long after I came back from the cemetery,” she sobbed.And then the rest came tumbling out.“I was drenched from the rain. I was just trying to get changed,” she said, her words quick and raw. “But then…it fell out of the closet. The picture.
**Elena**“Since when did you get to start asking me questions, Helena?” she snapped, her gaze filled with hatred.That long, hard stare dug into me like she already suspected something was off. My hands felt clammy, and my heart thudded against my ribs.I swallowed.I knew this would come eventually.“Don’t think I’ll forget our grudge just because you’re married to the Alpha now,” she said, turning her back.I felt my stomach knot up. Of course Lauren wouldn’t let that go so easily.But that limp.I just couldn't overlook it.Not at this point.“I was just curious about your limping,” I blurted, my voice a bit too fast.She spun back around and shot me a death stare. “Learn to mind your business, Helena.” She pointed a finger at me before turning away again.That was it.No.I couldn’t just let her walk away like this.Acting on impulse, I grabbed her by the arm before my nerves could catch up. My grip was tight, more desperate than I expected.“We need to talk,” I said, pulling he
**Elena**That name.Not the first, the second name.My heart skipped a beat, my mouth went dry.No.No, it can’t be.The room felt like it was closing in.Ivana’s voice broke the silence.“My queen? What is it?”I couldn’t answer.Not yet.I just stared at the page, my hands gripping the file so tightly my knuckles ached.A hospital name stared back at me in bold letters at the top of the page.Rosewood Psychiatric Hospital.My pulse tightened, a painful thud.A psychiatric hospital?Why would Trisha hide this?I scanned the file even more, my hands trembling as I read.Recipient: TRISHA ORTIZ.And then…XAVIER THAN.My breath caught in my throat.Why?Why was Xavier’s name here too?I stared at the page, hardly able to believe what I was seeing.I flipped to the next few pages, more hospital visits, more records.And some of the papers were torn. Jagged edges like someone had ripped pieces off.Someone is trying to hide something.My hands felt cold.The dates… they stretched back f