AVA’S POV
The hospital smelled like antiseptic and quiet despair.
It was already morning, but the halls felt dim, as if the sun refused to enter a place meant to clean up death and pretend it was mercy. My steps echoed softly against the polished floor as I walked toward the morgue wing, the place where they had taken Maribel after they pulled her from the river.
Floating.
That word kept circling my mind like a curse.
I already knew who was behind her death. I had heard their voices. I had heard them laugh. I had heard my husband reduce my nanny’s life into something disposable.
And yet… the foolish part of me, the human part, still hoped I was wrong.
That maybe grief had twisted what I heard.
That maybe the cruelty was exaggerated by pain.
That maybe Maribel had simply slipped, fallen, and the river had taken her like it took so many others.
I needed proof.
The doctor met me with a stiff nod, eyes carefully blank. Respectful, but distant. Everyone in Blackthorn territory knew who held power here. Even inside hospital walls, Alpha Xavier’s shadow stretched long and suffocating.
“She was cleaned and prepared yesterday,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry for your loss, Luna.”
Luna.
The title felt heavy and hollow in my chest.
He handed me a thin folder. The paper felt heavier than it should have, as if it carried the weight of truth I wasn’t ready to face.
I opened it.
And the world shattered.
CAUSE OF DEATH:
Excessive blood loss and blunt force trauma to the head.
I stared at the words, my vision blurring.
Excessive blood loss.
Not drowning.
Not an accident.
Not fate.
She had been drained.
Used.
Discarded.
My knees nearly buckled. I had to grip the edge of the desk to stay upright as a soundless sob tore through my chest. It felt like someone had reached inside me and ripped something vital out, leaving only raw emptiness behind.
Maribel was old. Fragile. Gentle. She deserved a peaceful end, a warm bed, prayers whispered over her, not cold hands taking what little life she had left.
They could have let nature claim her.
But they didn’t.
They chose to sacrifice her.
And worse, they mocked her after.
I remembered Liezel as a child. Always pale. Always coughing. Always surrounded by worried doctors and hushed conversations. The Moonveils had adopted me when I was young, smiling warmly, promising safety and family.
A lie.
Just days after they took me in, they tested my blood.
I was too young then to understand why needles hurt so much or why adults looked relieved when the results came back. I learned later. I had been adopted for one reason only.
I was a match.
A spare.
A resource.
I had accepted that truth long ago. So completely that it barely hurt anymore. I had learned to survive knowing I was never truly wanted, only useful.
But Maribel…
She wasn’t part of that cruelty. She wasn’t strong. She wasn’t a wolf meant to endure such violence. She had protected me when no one else did. Loved me without conditions. Chosen me when everyone else only calculated my worth.
And they took her.
The very last piece holding me together.
I swallowed hard and forced my voice steady. “Is there… any more information?”
The doctor hesitated. Just for a second. Then his gaze flicked away.
“That’s all I’m authorized to release, Luna.”
Of course it was.
Alpha Xavier’s influence poisoned everything it touched. Files disappeared. Truth was buried. Loyalty was enforced with fear.
But I didn’t need more.
I knew.
I closed the folder and handed it back, my hands no longer trembling. Something inside me had gone very still, very cold.
I left the hospital as the sun dipped low, painting the sky in cruel shades of red and gold. By the time I returned to the packhouse, night had fully settled.
Laughter greeted me the moment I stepped inside.
Happy laughter.
It echoed from the dining hall, warm and alive, and it made my stomach twist.
When I entered, I saw them.
Xavier sat at the head of the table, relaxed, powerful, untouched by consequence. Liezel sat beside him, leaning in just enough to look intimate, her smile soft and sweet, perfectly practiced.
And little Alexander sat nearby, giggling as he played with a new toy, an omega servant patiently feeding him bite after bite.
They looked like a family.
A real one.
Whole. Untouched. Normal.
If I hadn’t known the truth, I might have believed the illusion. I might have missed the rot beneath the surface, the blood, the lies, the bodies quietly disposed of to protect their happiness.
Once, this sight would have crushed me.
Tonight, it didn’t.
All I felt was hollow.
Not empty in a weak way, but in a dangerous one. The kind of hollow that leaves room for something sharp to grow.
One day, I would leave Xavier’s cage.
And when I returned, it wouldn’t be as his Luna.
It would be as his reckoning.
Liezel noticed me first. She smiled, sweet and fake, eyes glittering with something cruel beneath the surface.
Xavier didn’t even look at me.
“Where have you been?” he said coldly. “You were supposed to cook. That’s the only thing you’re good at as Luna, and you still fuck it up.”
I inhaled slowly.
“I went to the hospital,” I said quietly. “For Maribel.”
That finally got his attention.
“I just found out she was killed.”
For a brief moment, the room froze.
Liezel’s smile faltered.
Xavier’s hand tightened on the table.
Then he snorted, breaking the silence. “Don’t mess around with that kind of nonsense. It’s done. Your nanny was already dead. You couldn’t do anything about it.”
His words were sharp, dismissive, like Maribel had never mattered.
Then he laughed.
Mocked her.
Her age. Her weakness. Her uselessness.
Each word dug deeper, carving hatred into my bones.
I said nothing.
There was no point. Silence was safer. Silence was power I could save for later.
I turned and walked away, my steps calm, controlled.
Inside my room, the door clicked shut behind me.
Only then did I fall apart.
I slid down against the door, pressing my fist to my mouth as sobs finally escaped. Quiet. Broken. Burning.
Maribel was gone.
But I wasn’t.
And one day, they would understand just how badly they had underestimated the wolf they tried to erase.
