Riley’s POV

My body was trembling uncontrobly now, the drug coursing through my veins like wildfire. Beads of sweat gathered on my forehead, dripping down my temples.

I bit down bhard /bon the tip of my tongue, forcing ba /bjolt of pain to keep myself grounded, then yanked my arm free from Scarlett with all the strength I had left. I didn’t expect the force of it–she stumbled backward and crashed into a side table. knocking over sses of wine and delicate pastries. The sound shattered the hum of conversation around us, and heads turned instantly.

Gasps erupted from the guests, but I didn’t care.

Limping, staggering, I fled toward the exit, bruning /bout the furious voices of Alpha ric and Luna Zara as they barked my name behind me.

I couldn’t stop. I had to get out,

Somewhere in my blurred vision. I caught a flicker of someone watching me. A tall man in a ck suit. For a second, his golden eyes narrowed as if something about me felt familiar to him. But he didn’t move. He didn’t remember. Why would he

I pushed past the banquet doors.

Every step bwas /ba battle. My legs felt like iron weights, and my bnce was gone. I crashed into more flower arrangements, vases shattered in my wake, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I needed somewhere dark, quiet–somewhere to ride bthis /bout. Then suddenly, a figure blocked my path.

“Riley? Did you drink?” Maddox’s voice. Familiar, confused, too close

He stepped forward band /bpressed a hand to my bburning /bforehead.

The moment his bcool /bfingers touched bmy /bskin, something inside me cracked wide open.

The drug surged. My body moved on instinct–mindless, starving for relief from the unbearable heat. My hands rose, clinging to his shoulders, pulling him closer.

My face burned hotter. My vision blurred further. I could barely see his face, but I knew that voice. bThat /bbscent/b. Maddox. His body stiffened under my touch, and I bcould /bfeel the moment hesitation wed at him, He should’ve pulled away. But he

didn’t.

We were close. Too close. I could smell his cologne–sharp, bclean/b, familiar. I could see the soft down on his cheekbones under the goiden light, the way his wolf–dark eyes btraced /bmy face like he was trying to remember every line.

His hand slipped around my waist. I felt the strength in it. The security. The betrayal.

A thousand memories surged forward. Nights spent wrapped in bthat /bbsame /bembrace, Warmth. Love. bPain/b.

And then the knife he’d plunged into my back.

1 gasped, blinking away the heat–induced bhaze/bb, /band his face swam into view–Maddox. The man bwho’d /bonce held my heart. then shattered it.

ury

Deanbreak. I shoved him away with everything I had left. My hand struck his bcheek /bwith a loud, satisfying crack. “bStay /bthe hell away from me,” 1 mapped, my voice raw with loathing

The look on his face was hollow. bAshen/b. He didn’t speak. Couldn’t.

? didn’t give him a chance.

I turned and bolted toward the elevator, stumbling, dragging my legs beneath ine. I barely made it inside before the doors closed, sealing me off from the cluos,

3:40 PM d

+8 Pearls

Leaning against the wall, I panted hard, the fire inside me growing more savage by the second. I was losing the fight.

By the btime /bI reached the lobby, I could hardly hear anything. The sounds of the hotel were muffled, distant, like I was underwater.

I stumbled out the doors.

The bnight /bair didn’t bhelp/b. The world spun violently, and the lights blurred into ghostly streaks. My knees gave out. I bfell /b

forward.

And crashed into something hard. Solid. Warm.

A body.

The impact bounced me back, but before I hit the bground/b, I reached out and bgrabbed /bthe cor of the man in front of me.

He fell with me, pulled down by my weight, and wended in a tangled heap.

I blinked, dazed–and looked up.

Straight into a pair of cold, piercing eyes.

Silver–flecked. Sharp. Regal.

My breath caught.

He was the tall man I’d seen earlier–the one who’d watched me bas /bI stumbled out of the banquet hall.

And the same man I once begged for a cigarette outside the hospital, when my world was falling apart.

I tried to call out to Nyra. My wolf. My anchor. My bst /bdefense.

Please, I pleaded inwardly, wake up–help me

But there was nothing. No answering growl. No protective surge of instinct.

Just silence.

The bond between us felt muted, like someone had thrown a thick, suffocating nket over it.

Panic twisted in my gut. Nyra had never ignored me before. Even in the darkest moments, she was always there–snarling. pacing, wing to protect me.

Now! bShe /bbwas /bgone.

The realization hit me like ice: Scarlett hadn’t just drugged me. She’d bused /ba witch’s brew–something brewed to suppress the

wolf inside.

My blood wasn’t just boiling from heat and humiliation–it was cursed.

And without Nyra. I was defenseless.

Alone

And falling deeper into the fire.

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