My blood turned to ice.
Wolfsbane.
The metallic taste flooded my mouth as panic shot through me. Someone had poisoned me.
I needed help but the pack hospital was too far away, but there had to be something in the building's medical supplies.
I pushed back from the staff table, my legs already feeling unsteady. The other assistants barely glanced at me as I stumbled toward the service corridors behind the main hall. My wolf, already so weak, whimpered and retreated deeper inside me as the poison spread through my system.
I needed to find medical supplies before the wolfsbane completely shut down my nervous system.
That's when I heard footsteps behind me.
"Elena? What are you doing back here?"
I turned to see Sophia approaching, still radiant in my silver dress. But something about her expression—the slight curve of her lips, the way her eyes glittered in the dim light made my blood run even colder.
"Sophia," I gasped, my throat already beginning to close. "I think someone put wolfsbane in something. I need help finding medical supplies—"
"Wolfsbane?" Her eyebrows raised in perfect surprise. "How terrible! Are you sure that's what it is?"
The way she said it, the complete lack of genuine concern in her voice, made everything click into place. The abandoned canapés I'd found near the back entrance. The bitter taste I'd ignored because I was so hungry. The convenient placement, as if they'd been left specifically for me to find.
"It was you," I whispered.
Sophia's mask of innocence melted away, replaced by cold satisfaction. "You always were too trusting, Elena. Did you really think I'd let you ruin my perfect evening forever? Tonight was supposed to be about me finally taking my rightful place beside Kai."
I tried to move past her, back toward the main hall where people could help me, but she stepped into my path. The hallway was narrow, and with my weakened state, I couldn't push past her.
" Please help me," I pleaded.
"Help you?" Sophia laughed, the sound echoing off the concrete walls. "Why would I do that? Do you know what Kai said to me tonight? He said he's tired of pretending to care about you. He wants to make me his Luna officially, but he needs you gone first."
I stumbled backward, looking for another way out, but we were in a dead-end corridor. Behind me was only a storage room marked "Medical Supplies - Authorized Personnel Only."
Sophia seemed to read my thoughts. "Go ahead," she said sweetly. "Check the storage room. Maybe you'll find something to help with your... condition."
With no other choice, I fumbled for the door handle. The room was small and dark, filled with cleaning supplies and basic first aid equipment. I searched desperately through the shelves, my hands shaking as I looked for anything that might counteract wolfsbane poisoning.
That's when I heard the door slam shut behind me.
"Sophia!" I spun around and grabbed the handle, but it wouldn't budge. She had locked it from the outside.
"You know what's funny?" Sophia's voice came through the door. "I've been planning this for months and there is no way out for you.”
My legs gave out, and I slid down the door to the floor. Each breath felt like swallowing glass, and my vision began to blur as the poison attacked my nervous system.
"Why?" I managed to ask.
"Because you've had everything that should have been mine!" she snarled through the door. "The Alpha position, the mate bond, the respect of the pack. Do you think I wanted to be the adopted daughter forever?"
"I'm going to do you a favor," Sophia continued, pulling out her phone.
"I'm calling security to report an intruder in the storage room. "No..." I managed to wheeze.
"Yes," she said, dialing. "Hello? Security? I need to report someone suspicious in the storage area behind the main kitchen. Please send someone immediately."
She hung up and smiled—I could hear it in her voice. "They'll think you're some desperate omega who snuck in to steal drugs. By the time they figure out who you really are, you'll be long gone from an 'accidental' overdose."
I tried to crawl toward the shelves, but my body was failing me. The wolfsbane covered every inch of my system, and each breath felt like drowning in reverse.
"Kai will be so relieved," Sophia whispered, crouching down beside the door. "He's been looking for an excuse to get rid of you for years. This way, he doesn't have to feel guilty about it."
Through my swollen eyes, I heard her moving something outside the door—placing a sign, from the sound of scraping metal.
"There," she said with satisfaction. "'Authorized Personnel Only - Investigation in Progress.' No one will think to disturb us now."
My wolf had gone completely silent, leaving me more human and vulnerable than I'd ever been.
When I finally heard voices outside the door, I couldn't even lift my head. Security officers were discussing the report, debating whether to investigate the "suspicious activity."
I tried to call out, but only a weak croak emerged from my damaged throat.
The door finally opened, and harsh light flooded in. A security guard stepped inside, took one look at me, and immediately called for medical assistance.
"Luna Elena?" His voice was shocked. "What happened to you?"
By the time the pack doctor arrived, I was barely conscious. They rushed me to the pack hospital, where I spent the next three days in intensive care, my body slowly recovering from the severe wolfsbane poisoning.
Kai never came to see me.
When I finally returned to the pack house, I found Sophia sitting at the kitchen table, wearing my bathrobe, reading a magazine as if nothing had happened.
"Oh, you're back," she said without looking up. "Kai was worried you'd caused some kind of scandal by disappearing like that. He asked me to tell you that he's reconsidering your living arrangements. The basement room might be too good for someone so... unreliable."
I stared at her, this woman who had literally tried to kill me, and felt something cold and final settle in my chest.
She looked up then, and for just a moment, I saw fear flicker in her eyes.
"Elena?" she said uncertainly.
I walked past her without a word, went down to the basement, and pulled out my phone.
Alpha Damon answered on the first ring.
"I'm ready," I said simply.
