Chapter 3

Nora opened the bedroom door and walked toward the bed.

The woman beneath the covers had her back to the room. She wore my nightdress, and her long hair spread across my pillow. The scent-masking spray and gardenia perfume covered her natural scent.

“Clara?”

Nora called my name softly, but the woman in the bed did not answer.

She waited until she was certain the figure was asleep, then tightened both hands around the silver blade and drove it into the place where she believed my heart was.

Blood quickly soaked through the nightdress and the sheets. The woman’s body jerked, and a muffled cry escaped her throat.

Nora pulled out the blade and stabbed her again, leaving the weapon buried in her chest.

“Why won’t you just disappear?”

“If you die, Dad, Mom, and Ethan will all belong to me.”

The woman struggled desperately and knocked the bedside lamp onto the floor. The crash woke the entire Alpha House, and hurried footsteps soon filled the hallway.

“What happened?”

Ethan was the first to force open the door.

In the light from the hallway, he saw Nora standing beside the bed with the bloody blade in her hand. The woman beneath the covers wore my nightdress, and her face was hidden by her hair.

“Nora, put down the knife!”

Ethan rushed forward and dragged Nora away from the bed. Father entered behind him and hurried to the injured woman.

“Clara!”

The silver had suppressed the woman’s wolf, slowed her healing, and blocked her mental connections. Blood covered her face, and she was beginning to lose consciousness. No one took the time to confirm who was actually lying in the bed.

When the housekeeper saw how much blood she had lost, he immediately pulled out his phone.

“I’m calling the pack’s emergency healers.”

“No.”

Ethan grabbed his wrist.

The housekeeper stared at him. “If we don’t get her treated immediately, she could die.”

“The emergency healers are required to report every silver-blade attack to the Pack Council.” Ethan turned toward Nora, who had curled up in the corner. “Council investigators will come here and take her away.”

Both of Nora’s hands were covered in blood. She looked down at them as her body began to shake.

“Did I lose control again?”

Tears ran down her face when she looked up.

“I woke up with the knife in my hand. I don’t remember anything, and I never wanted to hurt Clara.”

She caught Ethan’s sleeve.

“Please don’t let the Council take me. I don’t want to be locked inside a secure Council treatment facility.”

The anger in Ethan’s eyes quickly changed into concern. He stepped in front of Nora and lowered his voice.

“Don’t be afraid. You were sick, and none of this was your intention.”

The woman suddenly moved on the bed.

She raised one hand with great difficulty and reached for the phone on the bedside table. Father assumed she wanted to call the emergency healers and took it before she could reach it.

“Clara, don’t contact anyone yet.”

She gripped his sleeve and tried to make him look at her face. The silver blade had struck her chest twice, leaving her unable to form a complete sentence. Only broken sounds of pain came from her throat.

Father forced her fingers from his sleeve.

“Nora’s wolf is unstable. If the Council learns about this, her entire life will be ruined. Endure it a little longer. The private healer is already on the way.”

The woman struggled even harder. Ethan thought she was trying to take back the phone, so he forced her against the mattress. Pressure on the wounds caused more blood to pour from her chest.

The housekeeper turned pale.

“Alpha, her breathing is failing. The silver is spreading through her body, and we cannot keep waiting.”

“I said we are waiting for the healer.”

Father ordered the guards to lock every exit from the Alpha House and cut the estate’s public mind link.

“No one speaks about what happened tonight. No one leaves without my permission.”

I kept the emergency healers on the line as I watched through the hidden camera. When Father ordered the guards to lock every entrance and cut the estate’s public mind-link, I immediately told the dispatcher.

The emergency vehicle had already reached the estate, but Father’s guards were refusing to open the gates. Julian and the Council officers were still several minutes away.

In my previous life, no one outside the Alpha House had known that I was dying. This time, help was already here, and every order Father gave was being recorded.

On the screen, Mother was still struggling to breathe.

She used her remaining strength to grab Ethan, trying to make him recognize her, but he avoided her blood-covered hand.

“Clara, stop forcing us to choose. Nora is already terrified. Even if you won’t think about her, you should think about the pack.”

He glanced at the wounds before adding, “It was only two strikes. Werewolves don’t die that easily.”

Nora visibly relaxed. She moved behind Ethan and carefully took hold of his sleeve.

“Will Clara hate me when she wakes up?”

“No,” Ethan assured her. “She is your sister, and she knows you cannot control your wolf.”

Nora turned to Father.

“What about tomorrow’s bonding ceremony?”

Father remained silent for a moment before answering.

“We’ll say Clara changed her mind and became ill. The ceremony will be postponed. Once she wakes up, she can explain everything to Julian and Ashford Pack herself.”

No one asked whether the woman in the bed agreed. They did not care whether she would survive until morning. They had already forgiven Nora on the victim’s behalf and started planning how to hide the attack.

The housekeeper brought a medical kit and tried to slow the bleeding. Ethan continued holding the woman’s arms against the mattress, while the fear gradually disappeared from Nora’s face.

She looked over Ethan’s shoulder at the woman in the bed, and a faint smile touched her lips.

“Don’t worry, Clara. If you can’t make it to tomorrow’s bonding ceremony, I can take your place.”

I closed the security feed, turned on my phone’s camera, and walked to the bedroom door.

“I don’t think she can endure much longer.”

The room fell silent as everyone turned toward me.

I stood in the doorway with my phone recording. The color drained from Nora’s face as she stared at me.

“How are you here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“After all, the woman in that bed isn’t me.”

I looked past Nora at the blood-soaked figure on the mattress.

“It’s Mother—your Luna.”