I smelled her before she even knocked.
The cloying scent of sweet magnolia and cheap vanilla seeped through the thin cracks of my front door. It was a heavy, artificial smell that made the back of my throat burn. Inside my mind, Sera let out a low, warning growl. Her hackles raised.
I was sitting at the kitchen table, helping Daisy color a picture of a butterfly. I put my crayon down.
"Daisy, sweetie," I said softly. My voice was perfectly calm. "Why don't you take your crayons into your bedroom? I need to talk to someone for a few minutes."
Daisy blinked her big, innocent eyes at me. "Okay, Mommy." She gathered her papers and trotted down the short hallway. I waited until I heard the soft click of her bedroom door closing.
Then, I stood up. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I opened the voice memo app, hit the red record button, and slid the phone under a stack of Daisy's drawing papers on the kitchen table.
Three heavy knocks echoed through the small cottage.
I walked over and pulled the door open.
Camila stood on my porch. She wore a tight, emerald-green dress that was entirely inappropriate for a chilly Tuesday afternoon. Her hair was styled in perfect, bouncy curls. She looked me up and down, her eyes lingering on my faded jeans and plain gray sweater. A smug, victorious smile played on her lips.
"Hello, Madelyn," she said. Her voice dripped with fake sweetness.
"What do you want, Camila?" I asked. I kept my tone tight and defensive. I needed her to feel like she was intruding, like she had the upper hand.
She sighed, letting her shoulders drop in a show of deep sympathy. "I didn't want to come here. Truly, I didn't. But Scott... well, you know how he is. He is just too kind-hearted to do this himself. He doesn't want to hurt you any more than he already has."
She reached into her designer leather purse. She pulled out a folded piece of official pack stationery and held it out to me.
I didn't take it. "What is that?"
"It's a healer's report," Camila said softly. She stepped closer, invading my space. The vanilla scent was suffocating. "I'm pregnant, Madelyn. I am carrying Scott's pup."
I stared at the paper. It was time to work.
I let my hands start to shake. It wasn't hard to do. I just channeled the real anger I felt and pushed it into my fingertips. I reached out and took the paper. I forced my breathing to go shallow and fast. I read the words on the page. It had the official Ironvale clinic letterhead. It had Healer Nora Voss's signature at the bottom.
"No," I whispered. I let my voice crack right in the middle of the word. "No, that's impossible."
"It changes everything," Camila said. She stepped past me, walking right into my kitchen without an invitation. Her heels clicked loudly on the scuffed linoleum. "An Alpha's heir changes the rules of succession. You know the pack laws, Madelyn. A Luna who leaves her mate is one thing. But an Alpha needs his heir raised in the pack house. By his true Luna."
I turned to face her. I let my shoulders slump. I looked like a woman who had just had her last lifeline cut.
"What are you saying?" I asked, my voice trembling.
Camila stopped right next to the kitchen table. Right next to the stack of drawing papers.
"I am saying you need to initiate a formal rejection," she demanded. The fake sympathy was starting to peel away. The raw, greedy ambition underneath was shining through. "You need to sever the bond completely. If you do it quietly, without making a scene, Scott might even let you keep this sad little house. But I need the Luna title. The pack needs me to have it."
I leaned back against the counter. I let a single tear slip down my cheek. I wiped it away with the back of my shaking hand.
"Is it real?" I whispered, staring at the floor. I sounded broken. I sounded completely defeated. "Are you really carrying his pup? Do you even love him, Camila?"
Camila stared at me for a long moment. She looked at my tears, my trembling hands, and my cheap sweater. She felt completely superior. She was drunk on her own victory. And just like I knew she would, she couldn't resist the urge to brag.
She rolled her eyes and let out a harsh, cruel laugh.
"Love him?" she scoffed. The sweet act vanished entirely. Her face hardened into something ugly and sharp. "Please. Scott is an absolute fool. He believes whatever I tell him as long as I stroke his ego and tell him how big and strong he is."
"But the pup..." I stammered, looking up at her with wide, devastated eyes.
"There is no pup, you idiot," Camila snapped. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking around my tiny kitchen with pure disgust. "You think I want to ruin my body right now? You think I want to be fat and miserable? Please."
"The healer's report..." I pointed a shaking finger at the paper in my hand. "Nora signed this."
Camila laughed again. It was a loud, grating sound. "Nora Voss didn't sign anything. I paid a rogue in the neutral zone fifty bucks to forge her signature and print it on stolen clinic paper. Scott didn't even look closely at it. He was too busy panicking."
She took a step toward me, her eyes flashing with dark, hungry triumph.
"I don't care about Scott," she sneered, her voice echoing clearly in the quiet kitchen. "I want the Luna title. I want the wealth. I want the dresses, and the respect, and the power that you threw away because you were too weak to handle an Alpha. I earned that spot. And you are going to give it to me."
I stared at her. I stopped shaking. I took a slow, deep breath, and the tears in my eyes vanished instantly.
I tapped two fingers against my wrist. *Tap. Tap.*
"I see," I said. My voice was no longer trembling. It was smooth, flat, and ice-cold.
Camila frowned. She noticed the sudden shift in my posture. The broken, devastated wife was gone. I stood up straight. I looked her dead in the eye.
"You have until the Pack Banquet this weekend to write out the rejection agreement," Camila said. Her voice wavered slightly, losing some of its confident bite. She pointed a manicured finger at me. "Have it ready. Or Scott will take Daisy away from you. He promised me he would."
She turned on her heel and marched out the front door. She didn't look back.
I walked over to the door and pushed it shut. I turned the deadbolt until it clicked.
The cottage was quiet again. The smell of cheap vanilla was already fading. I walked over to the kitchen table and lifted the stack of Daisy's drawings.
My phone screen was still glowing. The timer on the voice memo app read four minutes and twelve seconds.
I hit stop.
I pressed play. Camila's voice filled the kitchen, crisp and perfectly clear. *'There is no pup, you idiot... I paid a rogue in the neutral zone fifty bucks to forge her signature... I want the Luna title. I want the wealth.'*
I smiled. It was a small, dangerous smile. I saved the audio file and dropped it into the encrypted folder on my laptop.
*Have your dress ready for the banquet, Camila,* I thought, looking out the window toward the distant pack house. *It's going to be a night you will never forget.*
