ANMELDENVivienneMy whole body was screaming in pain as I tried to sit up but that kick had done real damage, the kind that didn’t just bruise flesh but shook bone and rattled organs loose inside you. Every breath felt wrong, shallow and sharp like my ribs had turned into knives pointing inward, and for a terrifying moment I genuinely wondered if one of them had cracked deep enough to puncture something important. Healing wasn’t coming. There was no comforting hum of a wolf trying to knit torn tissue together, no surge of warmth under the skin to promise survival. Just cold, raw agony spreading slowly through my limbs while the world tilted slightly sideways like my brain was still trying to understand how fast the situation had spiraled.Fine.If I couldn’t fight, then I would think.The men would have my location by now. They had to. I had sent the footage, the coordinates would be embedded, the timestamp precise. They would come. They always came when things got ugly, even now, even aft
VivienneEscaping my room had taken more effort than I was willing to ever admit out loud. Not because the guards were incompetent, far from it but because they were trained by the very new intelligence network I built. They knew how I thought, how I moved, how I created distractions, so slipping past them felt like playing chess against a version of myself that had already predicted my next five moves. I had to fake sleep first, regulate my heartbeat until even wolf hearing would register me as deeply unconscious, then trigger a timed blackout in the hallway cameras through a backdoor code I’d buried months ago for “emergencies.” While the lights flickered and one of the guards stepped away to check the fuse panel, I slid through the balcony drainage shaft like a criminal breaking out of her own prison, landing silently on the cold grass below with my knees screaming in protest.I didn’t stop to appreciate the irony.My eyes were already glued to the blinking red signal on my watc
Vivienne“Another dead end.”The words came out through clenched teeth as I stared at the screen like it had personally betrayed me. The urge to smash the laptop against the wall was so strong my fingers actually tightened around the edge, knuckles whitening, breath going sharp and hot in my throat.Three days.Three fucking days of digging, tracing, cross-checking, hacking into whatever scraps of access I still had left… and every trail led to nothingb or worse led to another body.I shut the laptop slowly before I did something stupid and stood up from the chair, boots scraping softly against the floor as I moved toward the window. It was dead of the night, the pack grounds below drowned in silver moonlight and long shadows that looked like they were hiding secrets just to spite me.Someone had tried to frame me.Not just frame me but kill me tooBecause that trial wasn’t about justice. It was about an execution dressed up in a ceremony and people had died for it.Witnesses. Guards.
Vivienne“Vivienne Moreau, how can you stand there and plead not guilty,” one of the councilwomen snapped, rising from her carved seat like she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment, “when our Alphas themselves handed you authority over security protocols, war intelligence routing, and internal surveillance grids?”Her voice carried sharp and shrill across the hall.Another woman leaned forward, eyes blazing with righteous fury. “You were trusted with access to restricted patrol rotations, elite unit weaknesses, strategic reserve locations, covert messenger routes. Information that only ranking war commanders and intelligence heads should ever see.”“And now,” a third cut in, “those same classified channels have been compromised. Rival packs are predicting our movements. Supply lines are being intercepted. Our spies are disappearing. You expect us to believe this is coincidence?”The accusations started flying like poisoned darts.“You built your reputation in criminal syndic
VivienneI stared at the elder who had just finished reciting my supposed crimes like he was announcing the price of grain at market, and he stared right back at me patiently with a smug, waiting for the moment I would crumble, tears up with panic and drop to my knees and beg like a guilty woman caught with blood on her hands.All I wanted to do was laugh.Not a polite chuckle or a nervous little giggle. No. I wanted to throw my head back and laugh like a lunatic because this whole spectacle was ridiculous. It was too elaborate, dramatic and expensive. Whoever planned this had invested time, resources, and serious political capital just to drag my name through mud in public. That alone told me something important.This wasn’t impulsive but strategic.“Wait…” I said finally, and the word came out with a soft chuckle that rippled through the hall. I looked slowly around the chamber, letting my gaze pass over every elder, every councilwoman, every whispering pack member in the back row
VivienneFor a few seconds I just stood there staring at Abigail like she had grown two extra heads and decided to ruin my day for sport, because there was absolutely no way I had heard her right. Arrested? Me? In Shadowcrest? The same pack that couldn’t function for two days straight without calling my name every five minutes like I was some overworked goddess of damage control?I let out a short, sharp and disbelieving laugh, wiping the last wetness off my cheeks with the back of my hand as if that alone could erase the mess Zach had just left behind inside me. My heart was still pounding hard from the struggle, from the anger, from the humiliation, from the ugly truth that the one person I had trusted blindly had just crossed a line I could never uncross. And now this.“Abigail,” I said slowly, voice steady even though something cold had already started pooling low in my gut, “if this is some kind of joke, it’s not funny.”She didn’t smile, not even a little.The warriors behind
VIVIENNE povThe first thing that hit me was the smell of herbs, bitter, sharp, and layered with something metallic underneath. The kind of scent that meant healing had happened whether I wanted it or not. My eyes snapped open as memory surged back in ugly flashes, cold electricity ripping throug
VIVIENNE POV“Bestie.”The word stabbed straight through my skull like a poorly aimed throwing knife.I groaned, rolled onto my stomach, and dragged the pillow over my head, muttering a string of curses in three languages that would’ve gotten me executed in at least two countries. Sleep was right
VIVIENNE povThe SUV screeched to a halt in the compound courtyard and the doors flew open before the engine died. Cold night air rushed in, sharp with pine and incoming snow.Dante stepped out first. Ryker followed, body coiled tight, ready to snap. Kane and Asher came next, silent but radiating v
VIVIENNE pov.I caught their scent before I heard engines, cologne, gun oil, rage, and pack madness. The twins were still clinging to my arms like I was a shield and not the reason they were shaking like leaves. Their fingers bit into my skin, but I didn’t shake them off. Not yet.Truth, I didn’t r







