ภรรยาวิปลาส

"You're late."

Lucia Abbott stood at the edge of the cliff, her silver hair glowing under the moonlight.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked.

"Do you know about the witch's prophecy?" she said.

"What prophecy?"

She stepped closer to the cliff, her heels nearly hanging over open air.

"The prophecy from the Northlands witch. She said..."

She paused, eyes locking onto mine.

"She said the true bloodline is about to awaken. The exiled daughter will take everything back. Dad's love, the pack's authority, and... Caleb."

She said Caleb Wright's name softly, but it cut deep.

"That's nonsense," I said. "I only came back to—"

"To what?" she snapped, her voice suddenly sharp. "To destroy everything I have? I've lived in this family for 15 years. 15 years!"

I took a step back. "Lucia, I never thought—"

"But I did!"

Her smile twisted, tears shining in her eyes.

"I've imagined it so many times. How peaceful things would be if you'd just died. If the werewolves who took you had torn out your throat."

"You knew about me being taken?"

My voice tightened. I refused to let my mind go there.

"Dad mentioned it once when he was drunk."

She tilted her head, resentment burning openly now.

"The enemy used you to lure Mom away from the battlefield. She left to find you and got surrounded and killed. Dad was badly injured searching for both of you. He can never have pups again."

The truths I had avoided for years were suddenly dragged into the light. Guilt crushed the air from my lungs.

"You already destroyed this family once!"

Every word stabbed into my chest like ice.

Silence spread between us.

When she spoke again, her voice was calm.

"Lyla, I don't have a choice."

By the time I realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

She lunged forward, nails digging deep into my skin.

She whispered, "Guess who they'll believe. You or me?"

Then she released me and leaned backward.

"Lucia!"

But it was too late.

Her body dropped over the cliff.

A scream exploded instantly through the pack's mind link. Not from below the cliff, but directly inside every wolf's head.

It was a desperate soul cry, powered by her own life force.

"Lyla joined the enemy! She tried to kill me! Help!"

The terror in her voice felt horrifyingly real.

I stood frozen at the edge, my hand still hanging in the air where she had been.

Footsteps thundered behind me.

"Lucia!"

Caleb's roar came first.

He jumped off the cliff without hesitation, his claws scraping sparks from the rock as he descended.

More pack members rushed in behind him.

"Down there! She's down there!"

"Caleb found her!"

"That's so much blood..."

"Is she still alive?"

Amid the chaos, I couldn't move. My hands and feet felt numb with cold.

Caleb leapt back onto the cliff, Lucia cradled in his arms.

Her white dress was soaked dark with blood.

A brutal claw mark tore across her chest.

"I need a healer!" Caleb's voice shook. "Get a healer now!"

"Lyla!"

My father's furious roar crashed over me, his Alpha pressure forcing me to my knees.

Everything was happening too fast, but I forced myself to speak.

"It wasn't me. She set me up! She said I'd take everything from her, so she—"

"She risked her life just to frame you?" the grand elder, Russ Cooper, cut in.

He looked at me as if I were something filthy stuck to his shoe.

"Lucia is the most gifted werewolf this pack has seen in a century. Why would she risk dying just to accuse you? That's ridiculous!"