3

“Luna Sameen!” Dana exclaimed with urgency and I sprang up from my sleep with a foggy vision which cleared after a couple of blinking. “It's Lucy, she's in grave danger.”

Panic set in as I heard she was in danger, but snorted when I remembered how badly she treated me.

“Tell that to her father,” I hissed, laying back on the bed.

After the argument I had with Ken, I decided to take a nap to ease my nerves.

“She had an accident and has been crying that she wants to see her mother, Sameen,” Dana said, and it tugged the strings of my heart.

“Accident?” I echoed, heart skipping a beat. I rose again, asking for where she currently was.

“Follow me.”Dana spun and led the way, while I tailed behind her.

As soon as we got out of the packhouse, Dana began to run, and I mirrored her movements, desperately wanting to help Lucy.

The moment we got into the woods, my brows knitted into a frown of confusion. “What brought Lucy all the way to the woods?”

“Hurry, there's no time. She has refused for anyone that isn't you to touch her and she's bleeding without healing,” Dana revealed and my stomach clenched in anxiety.

I sighted Lucy on the floor, wailing in pain. My heart fluttered with mothering sympathy and the urge to protect her filled my bones.

Hurriedly, I reached where she was lying on the ground, crouching beside her body. Leaning down to pick up her body, she moved swiftly, tossing a liquid against my face.

It burned my skin, making a sizzling sound as it ate my face. I screamed out my lungs, shivering in sheer pain as I staggered back, cradling my face in my palms.

“Since dad doesn't want to get rid of you, I'll do it,” Lucy said in a sinister voice. “Thanks, Dana for the awesome idea.”

“Oh, shut your pathetic mouth,” Dana hissed.

A pair of fingers dug into my hair and gripped the strands tight, pulling back my head. I tried to fight back, but she overpowered me by holding a dagger over my neck.

I thrashed my hands to fight. “What did I ever do to you?”

“You took my place, you bitch! I was meant to get married to Ken and be Lucy's mother, but he chose a filthy omega like you and said it was to compensate him for the debt your miserable grandmother owed him,” Dana revealed with bitterness.

“He doesn't even love me. I don't love him either. I tried to get him to sign the bond termination papers but he refused,” I confessed.

“Meaning he loves you, and if I don't get you out of the way, he'll never love me,” Dana stated in a sinister tone.

“If you let me go, I'll run away and never come back,” I promised her, heart racing in my chest and threatening to break out of my ribcage.

“And have him find you? No way,” she snapped before I felt a sharp prick in my arm. “Goodnight sweetheart.”

Dana shoved me to the ground. I struggled to stand, but the ground spun under my feet. Glancing at my arm, a syringe hung on it.

“What–what is this?” I asked with a blurry slight.

“Wolfsbane,” she said, and cold wracked through me.

I fell to the ground, and pain spiderwebbed my entire body.

“Little devil,” I managed to say before looking back at Dana and growling, “You will pay for this!”

With that, I released my muscles and shut my eyes, letting the throes of darkness snatch me away.

*****

The sound of the steady ticking of the clock and the pungent smell of antiseptic roused me from my sleep with a sneeze.

I snapped my eyes open to a foggy vision of a white ceiling.

“You're finally awake,” a baritone voice said, and I tilted my head in his direction.

“Mate!” My wolf exclaimed when I locked gazes with unfamiliar blue eyes.

I sprang up, cowering against the wall, but winced when I mistakenly hit the IV connected to the back of my palm.

“Relax, I'm not here to hurt you,” he assured me, raising both of his hands in surrender. “I'll call a nurse to fix that.” He referred to my hand as he tapped on a remote to summon a nurse.

“Who are you?” I questioned, trying to be strong amidst the terrible headache and body pains.

“It is me. Alpha Orion of the Obsidian pack,” he introduced himself.

“And our mate,” my wolf added in my head, but I ignored her and the burning sensation on my face. My heart hammered against my chest.

“Where am I? What am I doing here? How did–”

“Hey, take a deep breath. You need to calm down. You had a surgery two months ago and need to relax for it to heal,” he said.

“What surgery? Why two months?” I threw numerous questions at him.

Before he could answer my question, a nurse stepped into the room, shifting our attention. She inspected the syringe in my hand and adjusted it.

“I need to use the restroom,” I said, and she helped me into the bathroom.

Just as I glanced at the mirror, my eyes widened and an ear-splitting scream flew out of my lips.

“Who is that?” I asked, pointing at the unfamiliar face in the mirror.