"Get your own medicine," I told Sienna, turning away from the refrigerator.

She stood beneath the kitchen archway in Carter's old gray T-shirt, one hand curled around the edge of the counter as if staying upright required effort. "I only need the blackthorn drops, Lena. They're on the top shelf."

"You walked down two flights of stairs to get here. You can manage a cabinet."

Her mouth tightened before the helpless expression returned. "My hands are shaking. Please. Just this once."

I looked at the brown bottle behind the glass door. Blackthorn concentrate was common in Pack homes for digestive cramps, but every healer warned against taking more than a few drops. I opened the cabinet, removed the sealed bottle, and set it on the marble island between us.

"There."

Sienna held up both hands. Her fingers trembled visibly. "Could you carry the tea tray to the living room? I don't want to spill it."

"I'll carry the tray. You handle your own medicine."

I lifted the wooden tray with her mug and a plate of crackers. The blackthorn bottle stayed on the kitchen island, cap untouched.

Carter was in the living room reviewing council documents. Eli lay on the rug with his tablet, one sock half off his heel. I set the tray on the side table beside Sienna's chair and went upstairs without waiting for thanks.

Less than twenty minutes later, a raw gasp tore through the house.

I ran downstairs.

Sienna was crumpled beside the sofa, clawing at her throat. Her face had gone gray around the lips. Tea soaked the rug beneath the overturned mug.

"Sienna!" Carter dropped to his knees and caught her shoulders. "Look at me."

I stayed beside the doorway while Dr. Aris worked. No one asked whether I had been alone with the cup, whether Sienna had touched the bottle after I left, or whether anyone else had entered the kitchen. The room had already chosen the easiest story before the evidence arrived.

"Can't... breathe," she rasped.

Eli stood frozen near the coffee table, his tablet forgotten at his feet.

"Call Dr. Aris," Carter barked.

I already had my phone out.

The Pack healer arrived within minutes with two guards behind her. She injected Sienna, fitted an oxygen mask over her face, then lifted the half-empty mug and smelled the liquid.

"Blackthorn concentrate," Dr. Aris said. "Far too much. Enough to trigger severe airway swelling."

Carter's head turned toward me.

The accusation in his eyes arrived before the question.

"Don't," I warned.

"You brought her the tea."

"I brought the tray. The medicine stayed in the kitchen."

Eli's small voice cut between us. "Mom was holding the bottle."

I looked at him. "I took it out of the cabinet because she asked me to. Did you see me pour anything into the cup?"

He hesitated.

Sienna coughed behind the oxygen mask. Carter immediately looked back at her.

"I saw Mom with it in the kitchen," Eli said more quietly. "Then Sienna got sick."

"That is not the same thing," I said.

One of the guards returned from the kitchen carrying the brown bottle in a clear evidence sleeve. "It was on the island, Alpha."

"Was it open?" I asked.

The guard glanced at Carter before answering. "The cap was loose."

My stomach dropped.

"I left it sealed."

Carter stood. "Dorian, lock the kitchen footage and pull the access logs. Nobody deletes anything."

"Good," I said. "Then we'll see exactly what happened."

Sienna lifted a weak hand from beneath the blanket Dr. Aris had tucked around her. "Carter, don't turn this into a fight. Maybe I took too much by accident."

"Did you?" I asked.

Her eyes met mine for one brief second. There was nothing weak in them.

Then her lashes lowered. "I don't remember. I was dizzy. Lena was helping me."

"I did not put medicine in your tea."

Carter moved between us. "Enough."

"No. Not enough." I pointed at the evidence bag. "Test the dropper. Test the cup. Pull fingerprints. Check who entered the kitchen after I left."

Dorian came in from the hallway with a tablet already in his hand. "The kitchen camera has a partial archive. It shows Luna Lena entering at ten-oh-seven and leaving at ten-ten. There's a forty-second gap several minutes later."

"A gap?" Carter demanded.

"The feed resumes before Dr. Aris arrives. I need the main server to determine whether it was a system fault or a manual deletion."

I let out a humorless breath. "So the only footage missing is the part after I left. Convenient."

Carter's jaw hardened. "Until we know what happened, no one touches the kitchen system."

"And no one calls me guilty," I said.

He didn't answer.

That silence told me exactly where he already stood.

Dr. Aris finished checking Sienna's lungs. "She'll recover, but I want observation overnight. Someone deliberately or accidentally administered at least ten times the normal dose."

Sienna reached for Carter's hand. He gave it to her without thinking.

Eli moved to her other side.

I stood alone across the room.

Dorian's tablet chimed. He read the new message, then looked at Carter. "The council elders heard there may have been an attempted poisoning inside the Alpha House. They want a formal inquiry at nine tomorrow morning."

"There was no attempted poisoning," I said. "There was an overdose. Those are not the same thing."

Carter finally met my eyes. "Then the inquiry will clear you."

"You don't sound like a husband who believes that."

His expression did not change. "I sound like an Alpha whose guest stopped breathing in his home."

The words landed with brutal precision. Alpha first. Husband somewhere after that, if there was room.

A guard approached Eli gently. "Young man, I need to record what you saw before everyone goes upstairs."

I expected my son to look at me.

He looked at Sienna instead.

"I saw Mom take the blackthorn bottle," he told the guard. "And Mom was really mad at her tonight."

"Eli," I said.

His lower lip trembled, but he kept going. "I think you should make sure Sienna is safe."

Carter put a protective hand on his shoulder.

No one put one on mine.

"Record the facts separately," I told the lead council elder, gripping the edge of the wooden witness stand. "Taking a glass bottle from a cabinet is not pouring poison into a cup."

Sienna sat two feet away, pressing a white handkerchief to her mouth. She leaned closer to Carter, her shoulders trembling. "I never wanted to tear this family apart. I should have just stayed in the guest room."

"You asked me to hand you the medicine," I said, staring directly at her. "I placed the sealed bottle on the counter and walked away."

"I was too weak to open it," Sienna whispered, lowering the handkerchief. "I thought you were helping me. I didn't know you hated me that much."

Carter placed his hand over hers. He stood up, addressing the five elders seated across the circular room. "As Alpha, pack safety comes first. Until we clear this up, we must treat the threat as real."

"You are treating it as a conviction," I shot back. "You are telling the council I am guilty before the hearing even begins."

Carter did not look at me. "I am protecting my pack. If anyone else was accused of poisoning a guest, you would demand the same precaution."

"Call the boy," the lead elder instructed, banging his wooden gavel against the table.

The heavy oak doors creaked open. Eli walked into the center of the room. He kept his head down, his small sneakers scuffing against the stone floor. He fixed his eyes on Sienna first, offering her a tiny, reassuring nod, before climbing into the wooden chair.

"Tell us what you saw in the kitchen, Eli," the elder asked, his tone softening.

"I saw Mom take the blackthorn bottle," my son said, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. "Then Sienna got sick."

"Did you see your mother put the medicine into the tea?" the elder pressed, leaning over his parchment notes.

Eli hesitated. He picked at the hem of his school uniform shirt. "No."

"Then why did you tell the guards your mother did it?"

"Because Mom hates Sienna," Eli answered quickly. "She yells about the pictures. She gets mad about dinner. I didn't want her to hurt Sienna again."

"Eli," I said, keeping my tone perfectly steady. "Do you really believe I would intentionally poison a guest in our home?"

Tears spilled down his cheeks. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "I don't know!"

"Look at me, Eli. Look at your mother."

He finally met my gaze. "You are always angry now. If you are going to be mad all the time, I just want Sienna to be safe."

A cold numbness spread through my chest, freezing the blood in my veins. "Would you rather have her as your mother?"

"She doesn't make me feel like liking someone else is a betrayal," my son answered.

"That is enough," Carter snapped, stepping forward and blocking my view of Eli. "Do not interrogate him. He is just a child."

"He is my child," I said, my voice cracking. "And you let him sit there and testify against me based on a feeling."

"The council has heard enough," the lead elder announced, stamping a red seal onto a parchment file. "Luna privileges suspended pending investigation. You will vacate the Alpha House immediately."

"It is a temporary arrangement, Lena," Carter told me, signing his name on the suspension order. "The guest cottage is already prepared for you."

"You are throwing me out of my own home," I said.

"I am securing the perimeter," Carter replied, handing the quill back to the elder. "Pack your bags."

When I walked back into the Alpha House to gather my coats, three cardboard boxes already sat by the front door. The head housekeeper stood in the hallway, folding my winter sweaters into a blue trunk.

"Put the rest in the leather duffel," the housekeeper instructed the maids, not meeting my eyes.

I grabbed the trunk lid and slammed it shut. "I can pack my own clothes."

"The Alpha requested we expedite the process, Luna," she replied, her voice clipped. "The guest cottage is waiting."

I ignored her and opened my wallet to check for my identification card. The white prenatal appointment slip stared back at me from behind the plastic window.

A sharp, sudden cramp ripped through my lower abdomen. I doubled over, catching myself against the hallway console table. The pain twisted like a rusted knife turning in my stomach.

I had planned to tell them tonight, right after Eli received his science medal. I pulled out my phone and dialed Carter's number.

The first call rang until it disconnected.

The third call went straight to voicemail.

By the seventh call, the line simply clicked dead.

I dialed for the twelfth time, leaning heavily against the wall as another wave of pain hit me. The screen lit up with an incoming text from Eli.

Mom, please stop. Sienna is about to give me my medal.

A notification from the academy portal popped up right below his message. Live Stream Started. I tapped the link.

The video loaded, showing the school auditorium stage. Sienna stood center stage, wearing a tailored navy blazer. The principal handed her a gold medal. The banner above them read Family Representative.

She leaned down and placed the ribbon around Eli's neck. Carter stood right behind them, clapping loudly, a proud smile stretching across his face.

I locked my phone screen. I did not walk out to the guest cottage.

I went into Carter's study and placed my Luna access seal on the center of his mahogany desk. I slid the diamond wedding band off my finger and set it next to the metal badge. I dropped my house keys beside the ring.

I only took my driver's license, cash, a faded photograph of my mother, and a crayon drawing Eli made when he was four, depicting just the three of us.

I opened the pack security app. I submitted a temporary departure permit and turned off all my location-sharing settings.

The walk to the Northstar boundary took forty minutes. The wind bit through my thin sweater, but I kept my pace steady, ignoring the dull ache radiating through my pelvis.

I stopped in front of the stone marker dividing Ashborne territory from Northstar lands. I pulled out my phone and pressed Eli's contact name one last time.

The line connected. A roar of applause and cheering blasted through the speaker.

"Eli," I whispered.

The call ended.

A new text from Eli appeared on my screen. Can we not do this tonight?

I shoved the phone into my pocket and stepped over the boundary line.

The second my boot hit Northstar soil, another massive cramp tore through my stomach, forcing me to my knees in the dirt.

Warm blood rushed down my legs, pooling dark and heavy against the dry earth, while the mate bond in my chest remained entirely silent.