LOGINAnnastasia pov I barely slept.The night stretched on forever. I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling, watching the moonlight shift across the walls. My body was exhausted. My bones ached. My eyes burned with tiredness. But my mind would not stop. It raced from thought to thought, plan to plan, fear to fear.I need evidence. I need proof that Bella still has her wolf. But how? She is leaving tonight. By morning, she will be gone.I thought about everything I knew. The gold flash in Bella's eyes when she attacked me in the basement. The way her body had trembled as she fought to suppress something inside her. The medical records in Red River that never quite added up. Yes, I had also seen her medical records. Back in Red River, before I left. I had been in my father's study, looking for something else, and I had found a file with Bella's name on it. The doctor's notes had been vague. Inconclusive. There were gaps in the timeline. Tests that had been ordered but never completed. Resul
Hector's POVI left Anna's room and returned to my suite and I was alone. I sat in the chair by the fireplace, staring at the flames. They danced and flickered, casting long shadows across the walls. The room was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that made a man think about things he would rather forget.Bella.The name tasted like poison in my mouth. I had known women like her before. Manipulators. Schemers. People who used sweetness and tears to hide the rot underneath. But Bella was worse than most. She had spent years destroying Anna. Years. And she had done it with a smile on her face.I had wanted to kill her. When I saw how Bella had poisoned Dorian just to frame Anna, my wolf had nearly broken free. I had imagined my claws around her throat. I had imagined the fear in her eyes when she realized her games were over.But I held back. Not because she deserved mercy. Because Anna deserved justice.If I killed Bella now, in a fit of rage, Anna would never get the satisfaction of
Annastasia POVHector led me through the hallways of the pack house. His hand was warm against my lower back, steady and grounding. We did not speak. We did not need to. The silence between us was comfortable now, not cold and distant like before.When we reached my room, Hector opened the door and guided me inside. Lena was already there, waiting. She rushed to me immediately."My Luna! Are you all right? I heard what happened. I was so worried that I had to rush back from hometown.""I am fine, Lena. Just tired.""I will prepare a bath for you. And food. You need to eat something.""That can wait," Hector said. "Leave us for a moment."Lena bowed quickly and slipped out of the room. The door clicked shut behind her. We were alone.Hector turned to me. His dark eyes swept over my face. His thumb brushed gently across my bruised cheek where Lady Mariana had slapped me. "You are hurt.""It is nothing. Just a slap. I have had worse.""You should not have to endure any of it." His voice
Annastasia For a moment, no one answered. The servants looked at each other nervously. The guards shifted on their feet. The maid had vanished the moment her accusation was made. She had slipped away into the chaos, and no one had thought to stop her."She is gone," Felix said quietly. "She disappeared right after she pointed her finger at Anna.""Of course she did," Grayson muttered. "She was paid to lie, and now she is hiding."Bella stood near the edge of the crowd. Her face was still pale from the earlier confrontation, but I saw something flicker in her eyes. Relief. She looked relieved hearing the maid was gone. Why? "Then we search the pack house," Grayson said relentlessly. "We search every room. Every corner. We find her, and we make her talk.""That could take hours," Felix said. "And we do not even know if she is still here.""She is here," a voice said.Everyone froze. The voice was deep and cold and powerful. It cut through the noise like a blade through silk. I knew t
Annastasia POVThe courtyard was still thick with tension. Lady Mariana stood before me, her chest heaving with rage, her guards ready to attack at her command. Grayson was still positioned between us, his body a shield. Felix stood at my side, his hand hovering near my elbow as if ready to pull me away at any moment.But it was Bella who broke the silence."Where is Alpha Hector?"Her voice was soft. Innocent. The voice of a concerned sister. But I knew better. I knew that tone. It was the tone she used when she was about to sink her claws into something.Everyone turned to look at her. She was standing near the entrance of the pack house, her hands clasped in front of her, her expression one of gentle worry."I have been here for almost two days now," she continued. "And I have not seen the Alpha once. Not at breakfast. Not at dinner. Not when his own friend was poisoned. Where is he?"The question hung in the air like a blade.I felt my heart begin to pound. She had noticed. Of cou
Annastasia POVThe hospital corridor was cold and silent.I sat on a hard plastic chair outside the operating room, my hands folded in my lap, my eyes fixed on the closed doors. Somewhere behind those doors, Dorian was fighting for his life. Doctors were working to save him. Machines were beeping. Blood was being pumped into his veins. And it was all my fault.Not because I had poisoned him. I had not. I knew that with every fiber of my being. But because I had not seen this coming. I had not protected him. I had let Bella into my home. I had let her walk freely through my pack house. I had known she was dangerous, and I had done nothing to stop her.Now Dorian was paying the price.Why did I not see this coming? Why did I not stop her?The thoughts circled in my head like vultures. Over and over. Relentless. Cruel. I had been so focused on the cure, on the gala, on Hector's curse, that I had let my guard down. I had let Bella get too close. And now an innocent man was lying on an ope
HECTORThe rain was drumming a relentless, irritating beat against the bulletproof windows of the SUV."I still don't get it, Alpha," my Beta, Ethan, muttered from the passenger seat, staring out into the dark pines bordering the Red River territory. "Why are we wasting our time going to a minor pa
ANASTASIA.The entire room fell into a suffocating, dead silence. The music seemed to fade into a dull hum as hundreds of eyes turned to focus entirely on us. Out on the floor, Bella and Andrei actually stumbled, nearly losing their balance mid-step as they stared at Hector standing in my shadowed
Anastasia pov. As if she knew I was there, Bella’s eyes opened. Over Andrei’s sweating shoulder, she looked directly through the crack of the door. She looked straight at me. And while my boyfriend poured himself into her, Bella smiled. A slow, cruel, victorious smirk. I stood frozen in the do
ANASTASIA. The pack mansion has been awake since before dawn. Loud footsteps echoed through the halls, dishes clattering, servants rushing in every direction, voices overlapping like a storm that refused to settle. I groaned softly and pulled my blanket over my head.Today was Bella’s twentieth bi







