LOGINDanielle’s POVThe ride back to the pack feels longer than the hours I spent unconscious, back in the pack hospital.The car wheels crunch against the gravel path, steady and unyielding, and I sit stiffly inside, my hands folded in my lap as though holding myself together requires constant pressure. Every movement still aches for some reason, not enough to keep me bedridden, but enough to remind me how close I came to something worse.Rhett walks behind me when we arrive at the mansion as always. Always behind. Always watching.I can feel him even when I don’t look back, the weight of his presence like a shadow stitched to my spine. Guards flank us, respectful, quiet, their gazes never lingering too long. And right now, I hate how it is that the pack has learned how to look at me now. Carefully. Like glass that’s already cracked once.Taking another step forward, I see her. ElaraShe stands at the front of the mansion steps, bathed in afternoon
Rhett’s POVDevon is talking right now. I know this because his mouth is moving. What I don’t know, what unsettles me is that I haven’t heard a single word he’s said in the last minute.“…Alpha?” The word snaps me back and I look directly into his eyes.I blink, my gaze shifting from the far wall of the council room to where my beta sits across the long oak table, brows drawn together.“Yes,” I say quickly. Too quickly. “Go on.”Devon doesn’t.He leans back in his chair instead, arms crossing over his chest, dark green eyes studying me with a familiarity that only comes from years of fighting beside someone.“You didn’t hear me,” he says flatly, staring back at me.“I did,” I reply.“Then repeat it.”Silence stretches between us. The lights along the stone walls crackle softly, their brightness bending in the draft. The scent of old wood and ink hangs heavy in the room, familiar as always. Normally, this place sharpens me. But t
Danielle’s POVLady Seraphine doesn’t say another word immediately, instead, she stays silent watching me—with the kind of patience that makes my skin prickle. Her hand is still resting over mine, warm and firm, as if she’s anchoring me to the bed.I force myself to breathe as I part my lips to finally respond.“I don’t think everything is okay,” I finally admit. My voice sounds smaller than I want it to. “I think something is very wrong.”She nods once. “I thought as much.”That alone almost undoes me.“You believe me?” I ask, searching her face. Seraphine’s lips curve into something that isn’t quite a smile. “I believe that women rarely imagine poison.”A sharp, bitter laugh escapes me before I can stop it.“She smiled,” I say quietly. “When Rhett wasn’t looking. Not the kind kind. The relieved kind.”Seraphine exhales slowly in front of me as she looks away for a brief second before looking back at me. “Elara has always been good
Danielle’s POV As expected a couple of seconds later, the door slams shut behind Elara. The sound echoes louder than it should, rattling something deep in my chest. For a moment, I just lie there, staring at the place where she stood—where her lies had curled around the room like smoke. And Rhett? He doesn’t move. He just stands near the door, shoulders rigid, jaw locked so tightly I can almost hear his teeth grind. His presence fills the ward, heavy and suffocating, like a storm refusing to break. “She poisoned me,” I say again, quieter this time. He exhales sharply through his nose and finally turns to face me this time. “You’re weak right now,” he says cutting me off. “You’ve been through something traumatic.” The words hit harder than I expected. Weak and traumatic all in one sentence. And annoyingly, he’s not wrong. Not lying. But I didn't believe either. “I know what I felt,” I insist, pushing myself up on the pillows despite the ache screaming through my body. “The tas
Danielle’s POVI wake slowly to the sudden ache in my head. Not gently but slowly, like my body is dragging itself back from somewhere dark and heavy. My limbs right now feel wrong and distant. My throat burns, dry as ash, and when I swallow, pain scrapes down my chest like I’m swallowing broken glass.The first thing I register in the air once again after another long hour of sleep is the scent. Herbs. Medicine. And underneath it all—something faintly bitter on my lips.Poison.The word doesn’t frighten me anymore. It settles into my bones with a strange calm, like a truth I’ve already accepted.The ceiling above me is unfamiliar at first white linen drapes instead of the usual POP above, sunlight bleeding in through tall windows. The guest chambers are near the infirmary. That means I was unconscious for hours. Long enough for panic to ripple through the pack. Long enough for Rhett to tear the world apart looking for answers.I try to move but pain blo
Rhett’s POVTruth for some reason always has a way of bleeding slowly into one's veins. It never rushes. Never announces itself cleanly.It seeps. I learned that within the hours of today.The healers of my pack stand before me hours later in a tight line, eyes downcast, hands clasped like they’re praying I won’t tear the room apart. The air smells of crushed herbs and ash—antidotes still burning in bowls around the ward.While Danielle sleeps behind me. Alive and breathing. That is the only reason anyone in this room is still standing.“The poison,” I say, my voice level but coiled as I stare at them. “You said it was slipped into her food.”The lead herbalist nods. “Yes, Alpha.”“And?” I prompt as I watch her hesitate for a couple of minutes. I feel Zane stir inside me, impatience clawing at my spine.“And we’ve identified it,” she continues. “Moonshade derivative. Rare. Difficult to obtain.”My fists clench. “Only a handful of people in this pack could access it.”“Yes,” she agrees







