Gavyn POV
My convoy of blacked-out SUVs cut a jagged scar down the highway, racing toward the Silver Moon border.
I sat in the back of the lead car, my knee bouncing with a rhythm of pure, uncontrollable anxiety.
She is awake.
The words played on a loop in my head, a taunting mantra I couldn't escape.
Suddenly, my Mind-Link snapped open, shattering my concentration. It wasn't Alex. It was Elara.
Gavyn! You fool! What have you done? Her voice exploded in my head, loud enough to make me wince physically.
Elara, tell me where she is, I demanded, shoving my Alpha authority back down the bond.
You drove her into the arms of another! You broke the bond! Do you know what that does to a wolf? Do you know the agony she suffered while you were playing house with that viper?
Watch your tongue, Elder, I growled, my wolf pacing angrily beneath my skin. Iliana is my Chosen Mate.
Iliana is a monster! Elara shrieked, her mental voice cracking with desperation. And you are blind!
I severed the link, slamming the mental door shut and ripping the tactical earpiece from my ear.
My head was pounding. Why was everyone against me? I did what was best for the pack. An Omega Luna makes us look weak. I needed a strong Luna. Iliana came from a powerful Alpha bloodline. It was politics. It was survival.
But the ache in my chest... that wasn't politics. That was loss.
I needed to clear my head. I keyed the comms and signaled the convoy to stop at a rest area near the border. I needed air.
The gravel crunched beneath my boots as I walked toward the edge of the woods, trying to soothe the restless beast inside me.
That's when I heard them.
Voices. Small, familiar voices.
They were drifting from the open window of the SUV behind me, where the nanny was keeping the twins. I had brought them because I thought... I thought maybe seeing them would bring Alex back to me.
I moved closer, staying out of sight, using the shadows.
"I miss Mommy," Kennith's voice floated out. Small and broken.
"Me too," Kaelynn whispered. "My tummy hurts, Kenny."
"Is it the special juice Auntie Iliana gave us?"
I froze. My breath hitched in my throat.
"Yeah," Kaelynn whimpered. "She said it's 'strong wolf medicine'. But it tastes like fire. She said if we tell Daddy, the monsters will come back."
"She's mean," Kennith said, his voice trembling. "She pinched me when I spilled it. She said Mommy Alex is dead and we are 'baggage'."
The world seemed to dissolve beneath my feet.
Special juice. Tastes like fire. Baggage.
My knees hit the gravel hard.
Before I could process the horror, a frantic Mind-Link pierced my consciousness. It was the Pack Healer back home.
Alpha! Emergency!
What now? I gasped, clutching the cold metal side of the car to keep from collapsing.
I... I found the logs, Alpha. I was afraid to show you before because Iliana threatened my mate, but... with you gone... with you far enough away...
Send it! I roared internally.
An image flashed into my mind. A toxicology report. Dated three weeks ago.
Subject: Kennith & Kaelynn Dunlap.
Substance Found: Wolfsbane (Trace Amounts), Arsenic.
Source: Dietary Supplement administered by Luna Iliana.
I stared at the digital paper in my mind's eye, paralyzed.
Wolfsbane. She was feeding my children Wolfsbane. It stunts growth. It causes excruciating pain. In high doses, it kills.
Acid clawed up my throat. I doubled over and vomited onto the asphalt.
The realization hit me like a freight train. Every time the twins cried. Every time they said they were sick. Every time Alex tried to warn me, and I dismissed her as jealous.
"She's just an Omega, Gavyn. She doesn't understand medicine." That's what Iliana had said.
And I believed her.
I stood up, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. The sadness was gone. The confusion was gone.
In its place was a cold, dark void of pure murderous intent.
I stalked to the SUV where the twins were. I ripped open the door. They flinched, terror in their eyes. They were afraid of me. Their own father.
"Daddy?" Kaelynn whispered, trembling.
I reached out, my hand shaking, and gently touched her cheek. It was fever-warm.
"Healer!" I bellowed, my voice shattering the silence of the rest stop. "Get over here! Now!"
The pack warriors scrambled, eyes wide with confusion.
"Treat them," I ordered, my voice devoid of humanity. "Flush their systems. If they die, you all die."
I turned to Marcus, my Beta.
"Turn the car around," I said softly.
"Alpha? But... the Silver Moon..."
"Turn. The. Car. Around." I looked at him, my eyes bleeding into a deep, demonic red.
"We are going home. I have a 'Chosen Mate' to execute."
I looked down at my hands. They were trembling.
I had destroyed the only woman who ever truly loved me. I had handed my children to a killer.
Alex, I thought, a single tear cutting through the grime on my face. I broke everything.
But first, I had to clean up the mess.
And it was going to be bloody.
