Elena POV:

I will arrange everything, Hamilton's voice echoed in my mind through the Mind-Link. Just say the word.

Soon, I replied.

The front door slammed open. Jackson walked in.

The scent hit me first. Rotten peaches and cloying sugar. Candida's scent. It was suffocating the fresh pine smell that used to be Jackson.

He saw me in the hallway. For a second, his eyes flashed with confusion, as if trying to remember who I was, but then a dark film slid over his irises.

"Elena," he said, void of warmth. "Good. You are here."

Behind him, Candida stepped in, holding the hand of a boy who looked about five. Joey.

"This is Candida," Jackson announced, as if he hadn't been sleeping with her for three years. "And this is Joey. I found him... on the battlefield. An orphan."

Liar. The lie was so blatant it felt practiced.

"And since you cannot provide the pack with an heir," Jackson continued, eyes drilling into my stomach, "I have decided to adopt him. He will be the future Alpha."

"Hello, Mama," Joey said. He looked like an angel, but when he tilted his head up, his eyes were dead flat. Grey smoke with no light behind them.

"I am not your mother," I said quietly.

"Elena!" Jackson growled. "Be kind to the boy."

"I am feeling unwell," I said, clutching my side. Being near Candida made my skin prickle, like standing next to a high-voltage wire. "I need to go to my room."

An hour later, there was a knock. Joey entered, holding a bowl of steaming meat soup.

"Daddy said you were sick," the boy said, voice sickeningly sweet. "I brought you soup."

He walked over. My inner wolf growled. Danger.

"Put it on the table."

"Here, take it," Joey insisted. He thrust the bowl toward me.

I reached out. The moment my fingers brushed the ceramic, Joey let go. He shoved it downward.

The hot liquid splashed over my hands.

"Ah!" I gasped.

The pain was immediate and excruciating. It sizzled. Smoke rose from my skin. Wolfsbane.

"Help! Daddy! Help!" Joey screamed, throwing himself onto the floor, wailing. "She burned me! She tried to throw it at me!"

My hands were blistering, skin peeling away in red strips.

The door burst open. Jackson and Candida rushed in. Jackson saw the boy on the floor, then looked at me. His irises flooded with a glowing, angry red.

"You monster," Jackson snarled.

"Jackson, look at my hands," I pleaded, holding them up. The flesh was bubbling. "It has poison in it."

"Don't lie to me!" Jackson roared. "You are jealous because you are broken!"

Candida stood behind him. She looked at my ruined hands, and the corner of her mouth twitched upward.

Elena POV:

My hands were on fire. The Wolfsbane was working its way into my bloodstream, sending spikes of agony up my arms.

Jackson was cradling Joey, checking for injuries that didn't exist. "Jackson, please," I whispered.

He stood up, towering over me. The air in the room grew heavy, dense with his power.

"Silence!" he bellowed. "Submit!"

The command slammed into me like a physical blow. My knees hit the floor hard. My inner wolf whimpered and forced my head down, exposing my neck. I had no control.

"You will apologize to him," Jackson commanded. His voice was robotic, as if the words were being fed to him.

"I... didn't..." I tried to fight the command. Sweat broke out on my forehead.

"Apologize!"

The word vibrated through my bones.

"I'm sorry," I choked out.

"She tried to hurt the future Alpha," Candida said smoothly. "Maybe she has gone Rogue in her mind."

Jackson looked at her, and his expression softened instantly. It was terrifying-one moment a beast, the next a puppet.

"You are right," he muttered. He looked back at me with pure disdain. "Clean this mess up. Then stay in your room."

"But Jackson, the boy is scared," Candida said. "We cannot stay in the guest wing. It is too far from you."

"Take the guest room next to mine," Jackson said. "I will protect you."

He scooped Joey up and left. He didn't look back at his mate, kneeling on the floor with chemically burned hands.

I dragged myself to the bathroom. I had to bite a towel to keep from screaming as I washed the Wolfsbane off. The water felt like acid. I wrapped the raw meat in gauze, shaking uncontrollably.

I curled up on the tiles. I tried to reach for the bond. It was black. Withered.

Then, the sounds started.

The guest room shared a wall with my bedroom.

I heard the bed creak. I heard Candida giggle. "Oh, Alpha... you are so strong."

I heard Jackson groan.

My mate was mating with another woman twenty feet away.

"Candida..." he moaned. "My Luna."

The name tore through me sharper than the silver dagger.

My inner wolf stopped whimpering. She went completely silent. It was the silence of a heart stopping.

Jackson, I thought, but the Mind-Link was blocked by a wall.

I lay there, staring at the ceiling. The bond didn't just break. It dissolved.

I felt lighter, in a terrible, empty way. The love I had held for five years drained out, leaving nothing but cold resolve.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I would execute the plan.

Elena POV:

The morning sun felt like a mockery. I moved like a ghost, bandaged hands hidden in my hoodie.

"We are going out," Jackson announced. "A family outing. To the mall."

"And you are coming," he added. "We need to show the pack we are united."

United. The word tasted like ash.

We drove to the city. I sat in the back. Candida sat in the front passenger seat-the Luna's seat.

At the mall, we went into a high-end jewelry store.

"Something for the lady?" the clerk asked.

"Yes," Jackson said. "Something blue. To match her eyes."

He picked out a sapphire necklace. I could sense the hum of magic coming from it. A Protection Spell. Why would an Alpha buy a spell-bound necklace? Unless he wasn't the one choosing it.

"And for... her?" the clerk pointed at me.

Jackson glanced at me dismissively. "Just give her that diamond stud. The small one."

Jackson fastened the sapphire around Candida's neck. "Perfect," he whispered.

"I will wait outside," I said, suffocating.

I walked onto the sidewalk. Jackson and Candida came out a moment later.

"Elena, wait!" Jackson called out, annoyed.

I turned.

Suddenly, tires screeched. A delivery truck had lost control, careening sideways, heading straight for us.

"Jackson!" I screamed.

He looked up. He had super-speed. He could save someone.

He lunged.

But not for me.

He threw his body over Candida, pushing her clear.

The bumper hit me.

The impact was like a wrecking ball. I heard the snap of my ribs. I was thrown backward, slamming into the brick wall.

I slid down. My vision swam. My chest was caved in.

Through the haze, I saw Jackson. He had taken a glancing blow to his leg. He was crawling. Dragging his broken leg.

Toward Candida.

She was standing there, completely unharmed, clutching her sapphire necklace.

"Candida! Are you hurt?" Jackson screamed, panic in his voice. He didn't even look at me.

He wrapped his arms around her legs, sobbing. "Thank the Goddess."

I lay against the cold brick. A piece of metal was embedded in my thigh.

He chose her. In the face of death, instinct doesn't lie.

Something inside me clicked. The final thread snapped.

I didn't call for help. I used the wall to push myself up. Every movement was agony. My ribs ground together like gravel.

I turned my back on them.

I limped away into the crowd, leaving a trail of blood. He wouldn't follow. He wouldn't even notice I was gone until he needed a scapegoat.