Ava POV:
The air inside the glass box tasted like acetone and death. My head spun.
Through the glass, I saw Liam comforting a fake-sobbing Chloe.
Then, a spark.
Chloe had overloaded the server rack. The cooling fans died. Heat spiked.
'BOOM.'
A transformer blew, showering sparks onto the chemical leaks on the floor.
Blue and orange flames whooshed up the walls.
"Fire!" I shouted.
Liam spun around. He saw the flames. He saw me trapped.
He took a step toward me. For a heartbeat, I thought he would save me.
Then Chloe screamed. "Liam! My ankle! I can't run!"
She was by the exit. Safe. But she collapsed, clutching her leg.
Liam looked at me. I pressed my hand against the glass. Smoke was pouring into my sealed room.
He looked at me. Then at Chloe.
"I'm sorry," he mouthed.
He scooped Chloe up and ran out.
He left me to burn.
The fire reached the silver nitrate canister inside my room.
The explosion blew me backward.
White-hot agony. Silver dust shrapnel embedded in my skin like a thousand hornet stings.
I hit the back wall. Clothes on fire. Skin blistering. Darkness swallowed me.
'Thump... thump... thump...'
And then, a voice spoke. Not my weak inner wolf. A voice like glaciers cracking.
"NOT YET."
My eyes snapped open. Not brown. White. Glowing white.
Power exploded from my core. The White Wolf—the rarest bloodline, dormant for years—woke up.
I felt my skin knitting together. The silver shrapnel was pushed out by regenerating muscle. The pain vanished.
I stood up in the inferno. The flames felt like warm water.
But the transformation drained me. My knees gave out just as the sprinklers kicked on.
I collapsed, the ancient power flickering out, leaving me empty.
'
I woke up in the pack hospital. My wrists and ankles were bound with heavy silver cuffs. The burn was constant, keeping my new power suppressed.
"She's awake," a nurse whispered.
Liam stood there. He looked annoyed.
"You survived," he said. "Lucky."
"You left me," I rasped.
"I saved the future Luna," Liam said hard. "And you caused the explosion. Investigators found faulty wiring in 'your' lab."
"Chloe..."
"Stop blaming her!" Liam shouted. He grabbed my jaw. "The Council is asking questions about how you survived that blast. You're dangerous, Ava. That's why the cuffs stay on."
"Get up," he ordered. "Chloe is in the next room. She inhaled smoke. You are going to go in there, get on your knees, and apologize."
"No."
Liam tightened his grip on the silver cuff. Agony shot up my arm.
"You have no choice. You're a Rogue in custody. Apologize, or I hand you over to the Council for arson."
I looked at the man I had worshipped. The love was dead.
"Okay," I said softly.
'I'll play your game. For now.'
