Erica POV:
The clinic was in the shady part of the human district. I couldn't go to the pack hospital; the records would be seen by Anthony.
I paid in cash. The doctor was human, discreet, and didn't ask questions.
When it was over, I felt a hollowness in my womb that echoed the hollowness in my heart. The potential life was gone. I had saved it from a lifetime of shame and danger, but the grief was a heavy stone in my chest.
I walked back to the pack lands, moving slowly. My body ached. I was bleeding. But strangely, the pain was duller than it should have been. A faint, humming warmth in my veins seemed to be knitting me back together faster than humanly possible.
I entered the pack house dining hall. It was mandatory attendance for the pre-coronation lunch.
The long table was set with silver and crystal. Anthony sat at the head. Bianca was on his right. Emmanuel was on his left.
I took the seat at the far end, near the kitchen doors.
"Erica," Bianca called out, her voice ringing through the silent hall. "You look terrible. Are you sick?"
"Just tired," I muttered, staring at my soup.
"You should eat," she said, smiling sweetly. "The chef made your favorite. Mushroom stew."
A servant placed a bowl in front of me. It smelled... off.
But I hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours. My body was weak from the surgery. I needed strength to escape tonight.
I took a spoonful.
It tasted metallic. Spicy.
My throat closed up instantly.
I dropped the spoon. It clattered loudly against the china.
I grabbed my throat. Air. I couldn't get air. My tongue swelled, filling my mouth.
Wolfsbane.
It wasn't just an allergy. Wolfsbane was deadly to wolves, even latent ones. It paralyzed the respiratory system.
I fell off my chair, crashing to the floor. I convulsed, my heels drumming against the wood.
"Oh my god!" Bianca shrieked. "She's choking!"
Anthony stood up abruptly. "What is happening?"
"Help..." I wheezed, my vision tunneling. "Poison..."
I pointed a shaking finger at Bianca.
Bianca gasped, clutching her chest. "Oh! My heart! I feel faint! The stress!"
She slumped sideways into Anthony's arms.
"Bianca!" Anthony roared. He looked at me, writhing on the floor, turning blue. Then he looked at Bianca, who was fluttering her eyelashes.
"Medic!" Emmanuel shouted, but he didn't move to help me. He was looking at Bianca.
"The antidote!" Anthony barked at a guard. "Get the epi-pen from the emergency kit!"
The guard ran back with a single syringe.
I reached out my hand. Please. I'm dying.
Anthony grabbed the syringe. He looked at me. Our eyes locked. I saw hesitation.
"Ant, I can't breathe!" Bianca whimpered.
Anthony made his choice.
He turned away from me and jammed the needle into Bianca's thigh.
"There," he soothed her. "You're okay. You're okay."
I watched them. The darkness was creeping in from the edges of my vision.
Emmanuel walked over to me. He nudged my convulsing body with the toe of his expensive Italian shoe.
"Stop acting, Erica," he sneered. "You're just trying to ruin the lunch. It's pathetic."
He turned his back on me.
"Let's get Bianca to fresh air," Anthony ordered.
They picked her up. They walked out of the dining hall.
They left me there. On the floor. Dying.
My heart stuttered. One beat. Two beats. Silence.
This is it, I thought. This is the end.
"Miss!"
A pair of hands grabbed me. It was a waiter. A young, nervous Beta boy.
"Stay with me!"
He reached into his own pocket and pulled out a crinkled, cheap epinephrine pen—something all low-level wolves carried because they couldn't afford pack healthcare.
He stabbed it into my leg.
Adrenaline surged through my system. My lungs spasmed, sucking in a harsh, whistling breath.
I coughed violently, expelling the poison and bile.
I lay there, gasping, tears streaming down my face. The burning in my veins subsided too quickly. That strange warmth was back, fighting the poison, metabolizing it with impossible speed.
The waiter held my hand, his face pale. "They left you," he whispered, shocked. "The Alpha... he just left you."
"Yes," I rasped, my voice sounding like broken glass.
I looked at the empty door where the Holden brothers had carried their precious, fake Luna.
The last thread of attachment snapped. The Erica who loved them was dead. The Erica who wanted their approval was dead.
I wiped the vomit from my mouth.
"Thank you," I told the waiter.
I forced myself to stand up, my legs shaking uncontrollably.
I wasn't going to the Mining District. I wasn't going to just disappear.
I was going to survive. And then, I was going to make them pay in blood.
