The pack meeting was well underway when Emma's scream cut through the air like a knife. I turned just in time to see her body crumple to the floor, limbs twitching uncontrollably as her face contorted in pain.
"Emma!" Sam's voice thundered across the room as he leapt from his Alpha chair, crossing the distance between them in seconds.
I rose from my Luna seat, my instincts telling me something wasn't right. "Sam, wait—"
But he wasn't listening. He never did when it came to Emma.
The pack doctor rushed forward, his hands hovering over Emma's convulsing form. The room fell silent as he examined her, his expression growing graver by the second.
"What's happening to her?" Sam demanded, his Alpha aura pulsing with barely contained panic.
The doctor's hands trembled slightly as he checked Emma's pulse. "Alpha, she's exhibiting symptoms of acute wolfsbane poisoning, but... there's something else. Something I've never seen before."
Emma's eyes rolled back, showing only whites as another spasm wracked her body. "Help me," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Please, Sam..."
I stepped closer, my Luna instincts screaming caution. "We should investigate the cause before—"
"We need to treat her now!" The doctor interrupted, his voice urgent. "Alpha, she needs immediate intervention. A specialized treatment that will cost..."
He hesitated, glancing around at the gathered pack members before meeting Sam's eyes. "Ten million dollars."
A collective gasp rippled through the room. Ten million dollars was nearly the entirety of our pack's emergency reserve fund—money meant for the entire pack's welfare.
"Where would we even get that kind of money?" Beta Marcus asked, his brow furrowed with concern.
I touched my mate mark instinctively, feeling the bond that had connected Sam and me for ten years. "Sam, perhaps we should discuss this privately first. The pack's resources—"
"There's nothing to discuss," Sam snapped, his eyes never leaving Emma's pale face. "We'll use the emergency fund."
The room fell silent. I felt every eye turn toward me, waiting for my reaction. As Luna, I should have been consulted on such a monumental decision.
"Alpha," Diana, our pack healer and my closest friend, stepped forward. "Luna Julia is right. We should investigate the cause first. I've never seen symptoms like these, and my records show Emma was perfectly healthy at her last check-up."
Sam's jaw tightened as he looked up at me, something like challenge in his eyes. "Emma needs help now, not investigations."
I met his gaze steadily, drawing on my Luna authority. "And what about the pack's welfare? Ten million dollars is—"
"Are you suggesting I let her die?" Sam's voice dropped dangerously low, his Alpha tone beginning to emerge.
"No, I'm suggesting we—"
"I've made my decision," he cut me off, turning back to Emma who now lay still, her breathing shallow. "Marcus, transfer the funds immediately."
I watched as my mate chose another woman over our pack's future, over my counsel, over our bond. The mate mark on my neck burned slightly, a physical manifestation of the fracture forming between us.
"Sam," I said quietly, one last attempt to reach him. "Please reconsider."
He didn't even look at me as he gathered Emma in his arms. "The matter is decided, Luna."
The formal title stung more than if he'd slapped me. In that moment, I wasn't his mate of ten years—I was just his Luna, a position that could be filled by anyone.
The room began to spin around me, colors blurring together as a strange sensation washed over my body. I reached out to steady myself against the table, but my fingers seemed to pass through it.
"Julia?" Diana's concerned voice sounded distant, as if coming from underwater.
I tried to respond, but my mouth wouldn't form words. The last thing I saw was Sam carrying Emma toward the door, not once looking back at me as my world dissolved around me.
When reality solidified again, I was standing in what appeared to be a futuristic laboratory. Screens lined the walls, displaying data streams and surveillance footage of people in various stages of distress.
"Welcome to Project Luna," a mechanical voice announced. "Game initialization complete."
Horror dawned as I recognized the interface—my interface. The game I'd designed in secret, my magnum opus that Emma had supposedly "accidentally" deleted years ago.
"Player Julia Armstrong," the voice continued. "You are now trapped in a deadly virtual reality game world where other players are already dying around you."
My blood ran cold as understanding crashed over me. Sam hadn't just chosen Emma over me—he'd spent the money to save her instead of finding a way to rescue me from this digital prison.
I watched in growing horror as the screens showed players being eliminated one by one, their avatars dissolving into pixels as they met their virtual deaths.
And somewhere in the real world, my mate had made his choice.
