Annis POV:
The penthouse was cold. It smelled of him-cedar and rain-a scent that used to be home, now just a trigger for nausea.
"Ten minutes," Dominick said. "The cleaners are coming to sanitize the room before Chastity moves in."
I went to the closet. Empty.
"I threw them out," Chastity said from the doorway, filing her nails. "Hideous rags."
"Where is my lockbox?" I demanded. "It was under the floorboard."
"Oh, that?" She pointed to the fireplace.
My blood froze.
A fire crackled in the hearth. In the center, my metal lockbox glowed red hot.
"My passport!" I screamed, lunging.
"Ah-ah," Chastity tutted, kicking a heavy chair in my path. I stumbled.
"Why?" I cried. "I saved your life!"
"Because," she whispered, stepping closer while Dominick was in the other room. "You're a loose end. As long as you're breathing, he might remember what the bond felt like. I can't have that."
She grabbed a heavy brass candle holder from the mantle. Infused with Wolfsbane oil.
"Time to finish this," she hissed.
She swung.
I ducked. The brass hit the wall.
Something inside me snapped.
The blood loss had flushed the suppressants. The White Wolf woke up.
Enough!
Power surged. I grabbed her wrist.
"You took everything," I snarled, my voice layering with the wolf's. "My husband. My dignity. My blood."
I shoved her.
She flew backward, crashing into the table with the lit Wolfsbane candles.
The candles toppled. The oil spilled onto the rug.
Whoosh.
Flames erupted. Thick, purple smoke filled the air.
I coughed, lungs seizing. Wolfsbane smoke is paralyzing to wolves. My legs gave out.
Chastity screamed. "Dom! Help! She's trying to kill me!"
Dominick burst in.
The room was an inferno. I was on the floor, paralyzed. Chastity was near the door, feigning a faint.
Dominick looked at me. Our eyes met.
"Dom..." I reached out. "Please..."
He looked at the fire. He looked at me. Then he looked at Chastity's stomach.
"My heir," he muttered.
He turned his back on me.
He scooped Chastity up and ran.
He left me to burn.
The betrayal hurt more than the fire. It seared my soul. The bond, the thin thread that still connected us, turned to ash.
Get up, my wolf commanded. We do not die for him.
With a scream of rage, I forced my paralyzed body to move. I crawled. The heat blistered my skin.
I reached the service elevator. I smashed the button.
As the doors closed, blocking out the flames, I made a vow.
Annis the weakling died in that fire. The White Wolf was born.
