All Chapters of Violet CLAW: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The moon was rising by the time I finally pulled on my white coat, the fabric still smelling faintly of the sterilization units at Pacific Heights Medical Center. I’d spent the last hour in the emergency bay with Erik, stabilizing a Beta who’d suffered a massive cerebral infarction.Sally had trotted down from the andrology wing, clutching a stack of lab results and a look of pure mischief."Ivy," she whispered, leaning in way too close. "It looks like the Alpha’s right hand did a thorough job of escorting you home last night.""What?" I asked, though my heart did a traitorous little skip.Sally didn't answer; she just reached out and snagged my collar, tugging it aside to inspect the skin of my shoulder."Stop that!" I hissed, jerking away and smoothing the lapels of my coat.Someone had indeed done a thorough job this morning, though it hadn't been Noah Pierce. Just the memory of Cole’s hands on me made my face flush a deep, tell-tale crimson."The way you're blushing tells me every

I sat on my bed for a long time, the silence of the room amplifying the ghosts in my head. I kept seeing my father’s empty chair, my mother pale and hooked to machines at Pacific Heights, and the cold click of the handcuffs on my brother’s wrists. The weight of the Mercer fall felt like a physical pressure on my lungs.I was finally drifting into an exhausted stupor when the mattress dipped. A sudden draft hit my skin as the quilt was lifted, and a large, heavy hand clamped onto my waist from behind.I bolted upright, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I scrambled to the edge of the bed, reaching for my phone to trigger the silent alarm. "Who’s there?"Before I could dial, a shadow lunged. A hand caught my ankle, jerking me back across the silk sheets and into a hard, muscular chest. I fought like a feral thing, kicking and clawing until I managed to sink my teeth into the man’s shoulder, biting down with all the desperation of a cornered animal."It’s me," a fami

"What do you want, Cole?" I asked, my voice as flat and cold as the river stones beneath the ferry.I didn't answer his question. I didn't want to explain why a Mercer was drinking alone at the site of her family’s ruin. My coldness seemed to catch him off guard; I could see the subtle shift in his expression even through the phone screen.He frowned, his golden eyes narrowing. "I need a reason to find you?""Yes," I bit out. Liquid courage was finally flowing through my veins, making me say the things I usually kept locked behind my teeth. "We aren't mated. We aren't even a 'couple.' We’re a transaction—purely physical. Don't just show up whenever the urge hits you. I don't want the pack thinking there’s more to this than there is."I had no idea that at that very moment, Cole was sitting at the head of a massive conference table at Ryder Global. Every executive in the room—men who held the strings of the city's economy—had just heard the "Ice King" get told he was nothing more than

“So what? You lack any concrete evidence to prove I’m not carrying a pup. You can’t topple me, and I certainly won’t be helping you with the board. In fact, I’ll make sure your life becomes a living nightmare if you dare breathe a single word of this to anyone.”In Talia’s mind, I was just a quiet scholar. I was the girl who buried her nose in medical scrolls and never bothered with pack politics or things that didn't concern her. She assumed my suspension had made me desperate enough to crawl back to her for mercy.But as Talia finished her little tirade, I let out a low, melodic chuckle.The sound seemed to unnerve her. My smile was sharp, my eyes turning from soft hazel to a cold, icy amber. Talia didn't bother to hide her discomfort."What's so funny, Ivy?""I'm laughing at how incredibly dim-witted you are."I let the smile drop. My gaze was steady, piercing through her facade."Who are you calling dim? Did you already forget the lesson the elders gave you yesterday? Aren't you t

I only held onto one hazy memory from the night before: I had promised Sally that I would take the lead and finally claim my Alpha’s heart.The following dawn, Sally and I reached the emergency wing just as the shifts rotated."Try to keep your claws retracted from now on," Erik muttered. Seeing me back in my white coat, the healer looked visibly relieved."Thank you, Mr. Gray." I knew he had fought to keep my place in the pack's medical circle, even if his influence was limited."No time for sentiment. Get to the cardiac wing, Bed Four. Sally, get up to the andrology ward; they’re short-handed." He didn't linger, shifting back into the frantic pace of the clinic.I tracked the patient to the surgical floor and ran straight into Jane Yoris. She was the Lead Healer for Bed Four. When she saw me, her expression faltered for a heartbeat before she gave a stiff, professional nod. While the other nurses whispered "Dr. Yoris" with reverence, I only offered a silent, cold acknowledgment."Ar