Audrey POV:

The shame was still drying on my skin an hour later when the reinforcements arrived.

Jake’s parents. Susan and Robert Foster.

They swept in like a bad weather front. Susan took one look at me and curled her lip.

"Still here?" she asked. "I thought Jake would have evicted you by now."

"My name is on the deed, Susan," I said, reaching for a towel.

"The Pack owns everything. You're just a squatter," she snapped. Her gaze zeroed in on my throat.

The Moonstone. A milky, iridescent pendant on a silver chain. It was the only thing keeping my scent—and the overwhelming power of the White Wolf—from flooding the building.

"Tacky," Susan said. She moved with predator speed.

"No—"

She ripped it off before I could flinch. The clasp snapped with a sickening *ping*.

"Give that back!" I lunged, panic clawing at my throat.

"Jada needs something blue," Susan said, tossing the heirloom in her purse like it was a candy wrapper. She marched toward the elevator.

I staggered back against the wall. Without the stone, the seal began to fracture. My skin felt too tight. A scent like ozone and impending snow began to leak from my pores.

"God, you smell like sour milk," Susan called over her shoulder. "Go scrub yourself."

I had to move. I had to get to my office safe and re-apply the herbal blockers before I nuked the clinic's sensory grid.

I bolted for the rear exit.

"Hey! Monster!"

I skidded to a halt. Jada’s twin boys stood by the dumpsters. Seven years old, yellow eyes, teeth already too sharp.

They were holding modified Super Soakers. The tanks weren't filled with water; the liquid inside was thick and oily.

"We're playing Exterminator!" one yelled.

"Mommy gave us the special juice!" the other screamed.

My stomach dropped. Jada.

"Boys, put those down," I warned, backing up.

"Fire!"

They pulled the triggers.

I didn't get wet. I sizzled.

The liquid hit my face and chest, and the world turned white.

"Ahhhh!"

Smoke curled off my skin. The liquid ate through my silk blouse instantly, burrowing into the meat of my cheek. It felt like holding a soldering iron to my face.

*Concentrated Wolfsbane extract.* Mixed with something caustic.

"Got her!" The boys shrieked with laughter. "Look at her melt!"

I collapsed, clutching my face. The smell of burning skin filled the alley. The pain was blinding, a neurological storm that scrambled my thoughts.

I couldn't shift. Shifting now would pump the poison straight to my heart.

"Help..." I choked out.

The boys just pumped the pressure handles again.

I scrambled up, vision blurring in one eye, and ran. I didn't run like a Luna. I ran like prey.

Jake POV:

My head felt like it was in a vice. Being near Audrey always triggered these migraines, like a warning bell I couldn't find.

I was in the suite with Jada when the smell hit.

Not Jada’s perfume. Something acrid. Chemical burns. And beneath it... ozone.

"What is that?" I stood up.

"Audrey probably burned dinner. She's useless in the kitchen," Jada said, scrolling through her feed. She was wearing a moonstone necklace I didn't recognize.

"I'm checking."

I followed the scent to the private residence. The door was locked. I kicked it in.

The bathroom door was ajar. Steam and smoke billowed out.

Audrey was hunched over the sink, frantically scrubbing her face and chest. The water in the basin was turning pink and grey. Her skin was angry, red, and blistering.

On the floor, a pile of towels was smoldering, the chemical reaction eating through the fabric.

"What the hell are you doing?" I roared.

Audrey spun around. Half her face was a ruin.

"Jake," she gasped. "The boys... the water guns... it was acid..."

"Liar!" I shouted, the accusation hitting a nerve. "My boys are seven! They were playing! You're burning... what is this? Voodoo? Are you casting spells in here?"

I looked at the smoldering towels. In the mess, I saw the corner of a photograph. Us. Italy. She was destroying the evidence of the past? Or using it for a hex?

"No, please, it burns," she sobbed, reaching for the water.

"Stop acting!" I grabbed her arm. Her skin was fever-hot. "You're hurting yourself to frame my children. That is sick, Audrey."

I dragged her out. She stumbled, dead weight.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Cooling off period."

I hauled her to the basement containment unit. The Silver Cage.

I threw her in. She hit the metal floor and screamed.

"No! Jake! The silver! It stops the healing!" She scrambled away from the bars, clutching her melting face.

"That's the point," I said coldly. "You don't get to heal until you tell the truth. Who put you up to this? Who are you working for?"

"No one!" she wailed.

I hit the button. The cage walls began to contract.

"Confess!"

She curled into a ball, shaking violently. The Wolfsbane was still active, fighting the silver's suppression, tearing her apart at a cellular level.

Then, a whisper. Not spoken, but projected. A Mind-Link.

*Elliot... please...*

The name hit me like a shovel to the chest.

*Elliot.*

A flash of memory. A beach. A man with eyes like a winter storm handing me a drink. *She's the jewel, Jake. Don't drop her.*

"Stop," I whispered.

I slammed the emergency stop.

Audrey was unconscious.

Why did that name make my blood run cold? And why did hearing her call for another man hurt more than the migraine?

Audrey POV:

Pain wasn't a sensation anymore; it was the atmosphere.

I woke up to the cage door groaning open.

"Up," Jake said. His voice was dead.

He dragged me by my hair up the stairs, into the clinic lobby. It was a circus. Staff, patients, and Jada.

Jada held one of the twins. The boy had a small, theatrical bandage on his finger.

"She did it!" Jada shrieked, pointing at me. "She used blood magic! My baby just started bleeding! It's a curse!"

"I didn't..." My voice was a croak.

"Silence!" Jake’s Alpha Command clamped my jaw shut.

"The Pack Law is clear," Jake addressed the room. "Witchcraft against a pup is a capital offense."

"The doctor found hex bags in her office!" Jada lied, burying her face in the boy's neck.

"Since you use your mouth to lie and curse," Jake said, turning to me. He motioned to the head of security.

The guard handed him a device. A silver muzzle. It looked like a medieval torture instrument—a heavy, intricate clamp with internal spikes.

My eyes went wide. "No," I whimpered. "Jake, it's Audrey. Look at me."

He didn't see Audrey. He saw a threat.

Two guards forced me to my knees.

"Hold her."

He stepped closer. I smelled him—rain and pine—corrupted by the lie he was living.

He brought the muzzle to my face.

"This will teach you silence," he whispered.

He clamped it shut.

*Sizzle.*

The silver spikes bit into my cheeks and lips. The metal fused to the skin instantly. I tried to scream, but the sound died in my throat, trapped behind the burning metal.

Tears blurred my vision. The smell of searing flesh filled the lobby.

Jake stepped back, wiping his hands as if he’d touched something filthy.

"Hang her up," he ordered. "Let the Pack see what happens to witches."

The guards grabbed a rope. They tied my ankles.

The world flipped. I was hoisted toward the chandelier.

Blood rushed to my head, throbbing against the burns. I swung there, inverted, a display piece of cruelty.

I looked down at Jake. He was staring up, chest heaving.

*I reject you,* I thought. *I reject this life.*

Deep inside, the White Wolf opened her eyes. She didn't growl. She didn't howl. She detonated.