Riley’s POV

    My heart clenched so hard it felt like it might tear apart.

    +10 Free Coins

    “Lucien, are you alright? Don’t—don’t waste your strength on me! I’m nothing but a cripple. I’m not worth this!”

    But he didn’t answer, or maybe he couldn’t. He only held me tighter, his body pressed against mine, shielding me from the crushing storm of stone and mud.

    In that suffocating darkness, every breath was ragged, every heartbeat sharp in my ears. I could feel his heart against me-strong at first, steady as an Alpha’s—but then weaker… slower.

    “No…” Tears blurred my eyes. Guilt crashed over me harder than thendslide. If not for me, Lucien would never have been dragged into this. He’d never have been broken beneath this mountain.

    “Lucien Duskgrave, you can’t die! You promised me-you said you’d stay by my side!” My voice cracked, swallowed by thunder and the grinding avnche.

    His lips brushed my ear. A whisper, so faint I almost imagined it.

    “Don’t… be afraid…”

    Then nothing. His body went still against mine.

    Terror flooded me. The kind that ws and tears, that drowns the soul. I screamed for help, the sound raw and frantic, but no one answered. Only the storm, only the weight, only silence.

    The mud pressed tighter. The air thinned. My lungs burned, my head spun, and the world around me began to fade. Myst thought before ckness took me was his face-his eyes, his strength, his vow to protect me.

    And then there was nothing.

    I woke to the sting of antiseptic.

    Before my eyes even opened, I knew the scent: hospitals. The sharp, sterile tang of

    8:28 pm ED

    +10 Free Coins

    death fought back with human tools. My chest seized, memory mming back- thendslide, Lucien’s body over mine, the weight of stone, his heartbeat weakening.

    I snapped my eyes open. White ceiling. White walls. Machines chirping steadily like false heartbeats.

    I was alive.

    But Lucien-where was he?

    I tried to sit up, tried to throw myself out of the bed, but my body betrayed me. Nothing moved. My limbs were heavy, numb, lifeless. Panic wed at me. Was I paralyzed?

    “No…” I whispered, voice breaking. Then louder, desperate: “Nurse! Nurse!”

    A woman appeared, pushing a wheelchair. Her body was rounder, her face hidden behind a mask. She moved without urgency, without warmth.

    “Lucien,” I gasped. “Lucien Duskgrave-where is he? Tell me, is he alright?”

    Her voice was t, almost cold. “He’s fine. If you wish to see him, I can take you.”

    Something about her tone scratched at me. Familiar. Wrong. But my chest was filled with only Lucien. My mind burned with the need to see him, to know he still breathed.

    “Yes-take me. Please, now.”

    She leaned closer, lifted me from the bed with surprising strength, and settled me into the chair. My body sagged, useless, my nerves still poisoned with whatever they’d given me. She wheeled me into the hall, down to the elevator.

    I sagged against the chair, impatient, my wolf snarling inside me to run, to find him, to feel his heartbeat again.

    But then-I saw the button she pressed.

    Bl.

    My heart lurched. “The basement? But… the patient wards aren’t—”

    8:28 pm ED

    She didn’t answer. Silence smothered us, thick and heavy.

    +10 Free Coins

    A prickle of fear crawled over my skin. Slowly, I turned my head toward her. And met eyes that burned with hate.

    “You’re not a nurse,” I whispered. My chest tightened. My wolf bristled, restless, warning me. “Who are you?”

    The mask came off.

    I froze. Recognition mmed into me. “Selene Ashford…”

    I’d only seen her once-at Carmen’s birthday gathering in the Silverfang Den. But her face was burned into memory. The bitterness in her smile, the venom in her gaze. She’d changed-softer, rounder, but those eyes… I would never forget them.

    Her lips curled into a smile that reeked of poison. “Surprised, Riley?”

    I swallowed, my hands gripping the useless arms of the chair. “What are you doing here? Where’s Lucien?”

    Herugh was sharp, cutting. “You’re still thinking of him? Even when you’re at my mercy? Gods, you really are a whore, aren’t you?”

    I tried to rise, tried to summon strength-but my body refused me. My limbs were dead weight, the anesthesia still thick in my veins.

    She saw my struggle, smirked. “Don’t waste your strength. The drugs haven’t worn off yet. You’re not going anywhere.”

    My blood ran cold. “Drugs…? You-you drugged me?”

    Selene leaned close, her breath acrid, her words dripping with venom. “Not me. The doctors. You needed anesthesia for the surgery.”

    “Surgery?” My voice cracked. My wolf snarled inside me, restless, afraid. “What surgery?”

    Her grin widened. “The one where they cut you open. Where they gave back your kidney,”

    The words hit me like a de to the chest.

    8:28 pm ED

    +10 Free Coins

    My kidneys are back and I’m aplete wolf now, but Sia, my wolf still weak in my body, it must be that damn wolfsbane.

    Selene’s eyes glittered with triumph, with spite. “You didn’t know? Oh, Riley. All this time you thought Lucien was your shield, your Alpha. Do you know what he endured while you slept? His legs were shattered by the mountain, crushed beyond recognition. And yet… he sat outside that operating room for a full day and night. Broken. Bleeding. Just to make sure your surgery seeded.”

    Herughter cut me open. “And for what? You, lying here, helpless. Worthless. Still clinging to him like a leech.”

    I wanted to scream. To fight. To rip her throat out with my own teeth. But my body was stone, my limbs dead.

    Inside me, my wolf raged, battering against the cage of anesthesia, howling for Lucien, howling for blood.

    And in that moment, I swore-I would not stay weak. Not for her. Not for fate. Not for anyone.

    Selene seemed to see the rage in my heart. She just sneered, “Don’t even think about shifting. I know you have a white wolf, and now you have got your kidney back. I’ve been nning for a long time to find this perfect time. Now that you’re at your weakest, it’s time to make you pay the price.”

    8:28 pm