Riley’s POV

    Selene’sughter was sharp, cruel,

    “You’re insane,” Maddox muttered, his voice low with uncase. “Aren’t you afraid of Lucien Duskgrave’s wrath? That devil won’t forgive this.”

    “Wrath?” Selene tilted her head, smiling with venom. “I stopped caring about his vengeance the moment I took Riley Vale. You think I care what the Stormridge prince doesb?/bb” /b

    Her words struck like ws dragging over bone.

    “Originally, I even thought about seducing that arrogant wolf,” she sneered, “getting something out of him. But he shoved cake after cake down my throat like I was a joke, left me bloated, sick, diabetic… Now I have nothing. Nothing. So tell me, why should I fear him? He should fear me. I can’t wait to watch him shatter when he learns Riley has vanished.”

    Her boots echoed on the floor as she came closer. Iy barely conscious, fire burning through my veins. The fever raged so hot it felt like my body was splitting in two. My lips were cracked and dry, my wounds. raw, infection eating into me.

    Maddox’s shadow fell across me, and I felt the tremble in his voice. “She’s burning up, Selene. Please… at least give her medicine.”

    The sharp crack of a p resounded, and Maddox reeled back, cheek swelling red.

    “Pathetic,” Selene spat. “No wonder she never wanted you. Even I wouldn’t look twice at a spineless mutt like you. Riley doesn’t care for you–so why should you care for her?”

    Her words cut deeper than the fever.

    “If I were you,” she hissed, leaning close, “I would have taken her the moment she left the prison. She was a branded wolf, a convict. Who would have believed her if she spoke against you? You could’ve broken her, imed her, forced her to stay. But you were too weak, and now she belongs to another. This is your failure.”

    Maddox’s jaw clenched. For a heartbeat, I smelled bloodlust on him. Hatred–toward Selene, toward me, toward himself.

    And then he broke. His voice was low, hoarse, filled with bitter regret. “If I had taken you then… you’d have been mine, Riley. You’d never have met Lucien. You’d have had no Alpha prince at your back. Just me. Just us.”

    My heart twisted. No.

    But Selene pped him on the shoulder with a serpent’s grin. “That’s more like it. She’s nothing but a whore of fate. Wolves are everywhere–yet you pine for this one? Then take her. Do it now. Before she diesb./bb” /b

    She wrenched open the iron cage I’d been thrown into, seizing my clothes and dragging me out like prey. My body copsed at Maddox’s boots, skin burning, wounds tearing open.

    O

    “Your chance, Maddox,” she whispered, eyes bright with hunger. “She’s your first mate. You’ve bdreamed /bof her. Are you really going to waste this moment? When she’s gone, there’ll be no one left to stop byou/b.

    I saw his hand, shaking, reaching for me. Not in tendernesso, it was hunger sharpened by years bof /bbitterness.

    And then–Selene’s scent changed. Sharp, chemical. She crouched at my side, pulling a syringe from her belt. The silver liquid shimmered in the dim light.

    “Can’t risk that little White Wolf of yours stirring awake,” she purred. “We wouldn’t want the precious bmare /bof Stormridge’s Alpha prince burning me alive, would we?”

    Her nails dug into my arm, and before I could fight, the needle plunged into my vein. Cold fire spread instantly, crushing my wolf back into silence, caging her deeper than iron. I screamed, but the sound was only a rasp, too weak, too broken.\

    “There,” Selene smiled, tossing the empty syringe aside. “No more wolf. Just flesh and blood. Easy prey.”

    Maddox’s hand descended again, and Selene, her eyes fever–bright, pulled out her WolfComm device. The camera lens gleamed as she aimed it at me.

    “Oh, Lucien,” she whispered with glee. “Carmen. Stormridge. You’ll all watch. You’ll see her broken. And bI’ll /bsavor your despair.”

    The fever dragged me under, the world blurring–until a sudden pounding rattled the door. Hard. Urgen

    Maddox froze, his ws twitching back. Selene’s grip tightened around her dagger as she stalked tow the door. “Who’s there?”

    A cool voice answered, muffled through the wood.

    “It’s me. You called us, remember? You said Riley was here.”

    Dean Elira ckthorn.

    Selene exhaled, shoulders loosening. She threw the door open. Elira swept in, Caden and their son Otto Wilson at her back. Their eyes fell immediately on me sprawled on the floor, blood soaking through my side.

    Hatred twisted Elira’s face the instant she saw me. She stormed forward, her eyes glowing with savage light. “Bitch. You murdered my daughter. And now you’ll pay.”

    Her boot mmed into my back. Pain split through me like lightning–right where my kidney wound had barely held. Flesh tore. Warm blood poured out of me, soaking the ground in a widening pool.

    Darkness wed at me, pulling me down, and I wondered dimly if this was how the White Wolf was meant to die.