MEREDITH

The office was really quiet. Like, scary quiet. You know that feeling when the sun goes down and the cleaners haven't started yet, so the whole place feels like it's holding its breath? Yeah. That.

I was leaning against my desk, trying to breathe like a normal person, but my ribs felt like they were being squeezed by a giant, angry hand that really hated me.The adrenaline from roasting Victor earlier was totally gone. Now, I just felt like trash. All I had left was pain and exhaustion and the strong urge to lie face-down on the floor and never move again.

After Victor Langford, this can't be how it ends.

My side was hurting. It wasn't the sharp pain anymore. It was this weird, heavy ache that felt like it was spreading through my blood. I'm a wolf. I'm supposed to heal. Scratches vanished in an hour. Broken bones were annoying but manageable. This stupid wound, though, felt like it was spreading instead of shrinking, acting like I was a normal human.

"Okay, body. What the hell? Get it together."

That was when Elena walked in, She held out a folder like it was the most important thing in the world.

"Ms. Stevens," she said gently, "One last document, then you're officially free."

"Music to my ears."

I reached for my pen-my favorite gold one-and that's when everything went south. My hand started shaking, it shook hard and I couldn't control it.

Oh no. No, no, no.

Stop it. Are you kidding me? Move, hand. Move.

I forced my fingers on the pen.The second I did, I felt pain moving round my body like liquid fire and everything went still for a second.

That's when it hit me.

I hadn't even thought about the knife. I mean, who cares about the knife, right? I'd been stabbed, I'd been treating it like a normal cut, done my little herbal nonsense, assumed it would vanish like always. But this? This was... wrong. Really wrong. The pain wasn't fading. It was spreading. My blood was rejecting me. And then I realized-holy hell-it had to be silver. Of course it was silver. That's why nothing worked. That's why I wasn't healing.

My parents used to talk about it. The one thing that could actually mess us up. Silver.

I'd always thought they were being paranoid. Like, who the hell carries silver weapons in New York City?

Apparently, the asshole who stabbed me.

Oh, for God's sake, Silver. Are you kidding me?"l

"Ms. Stevens?" Elena's voice was suddenly right there. "You're... you're sweating. And you're really pale."

She reached out and touched my hand. She jumped back like I'd burned her. "You're freezing! Meredith, your skin is like ice."

I tried to pull back, tried to give her the 'Iron Goddess' look, but I was failing hard. "I'm fine, Elena. Just... it's the AC. It's too high."

"The AC is off," she said, her voice rising. "You look terrible. Like you saw a ghost. I'm calling a doctor."

"No," I snapped. "No doctors. No hospitals. Just... give me a minute."

The room started to spin. My parents weren't crazy. They were right. They were ready for this, and I was just sitting here pretending to be a CEO while my blood was literally turning against me.

"Meredith, please," Elena said, reaching for her phone. "You're scaring me."

I grabbed her wrist. My grip was weak, but it was enough.

"No hospitals," I whispered. "Elena, please. I can't. They'll ask questions. I can't answer them. No one can know. Fuck... just promise me."

Her eyes filled with tears.

Before she could answer, my laptop made a sharp sound.

Ping.

I looked up just in time to see a red box flash on the screen.

SECURITY BREACH DETECTED:

PENTHOUSE ACCESS

I laughed weakly. "You have got to be kidding me."

Someone was in my penthouse. My sanctuary. The one place where I could take off the heels and be the monster I was born to be. If it was Lucas, I'd kill him. If it was a burglar, I'd almost feel sorry for him-he was about to find a very grumpy, very poisoned werewolf

I tried to say something-to tell Elena to call Dave, or to run, Anything-but the words wouldn't come.

Everything went dark, like an old TV shutting off, and the last thing I heard was Elena screaming my name before everything just... stopped.

DAVE

I'd been staring at my screen for so long that the words stopped looking like words. On the screen, the lab report was staring back at me. The letters were big and loud.

DNA ANALYSIS: INCONCLUSIVE / MUTATED.

Mutated. What the hell does that even mean? Is she a science experiment? Did she fall into some toxic waste or something? Like what the fuck was going on?

My coffee was freezing cold. It tasted like bitter sand water but I drank it anyway. Mutated didn't mean anything. It wasn't a diagnosis or a conclusion. It was just a fancy way of saying we have no idea what the hell this is. And somehow, that scared me more than if it had said something definite.

I was tired, stressed, and confused. If I hit the 'Submit' button, Meredith Stevens is done for. The government would take her. They'd put her in some basement with guys in white lab suits before I could even finish my shift.

I thought about her in that apartment, the way she looked at me. Her hazel eyes had turned gold. They were literally glowing. And then that tiny, weak whisper. "No hospital. Please."

She wasn't the "Iron Goddess" in that moment. She looked like a girl who was terrified of her own secret.

"Hey, Callahan!"

I jumped so hard I almost knocked my coffee onto my lap. It was Miller. He was leaning against my desk, looking way too relaxed.

"You look like hell," he said. "Rough night?"

"Something like that," I muttered.

"How did it go with the CEO? Did she tell you the truth?

I felt a cold sweat on the back of my neck. I looked at the 'Submit' button, then back at Miller. My brain was screaming don't do it. The lie came out of my mouth before I could stop it.

"She wasn't there," I said. I tried to keep my voice flat, like I didn't care. "The people at the front desk said she was working from home. It was a total waste of time."

Miller raised an eyebrow. He looked surprised. "Really? The Iron Goddess taking a day off? That's weird. Well, the Captain wants that DNA report. Are you filing it now?"

"Later," I said quickly. "System's being slow."

Miller laughed. "Whatever man, Don't stay up all night staring at the screens. Go home."

"Yeah," I said. "You too."

As soon as Miller walked away, I grabbed my jacket and bolted. I was officially lying to my partner. I was officially a bad cop. But I couldn't just sit there. I needed to see her. I needed to know what the hell was happening before I accidentally ruined her life.

I didn't even look at the receptionist when I got to Aurora Luxe Holdings, I just flashed my badge and walked straight to the elevators like I owned the place.

When I got to the top floor, it was too quiet. It wasn't the "rich people" kind of quiet. It was the "something is wrong" kind of quiet.

Then I heard it. A muffled cry coming from behind the big office doors. I didn't knock. I shoved them open.

"Meredith?"

She was on the floor. The most powerful woman in Manhattan was piled in a heap next to her desk. Her face was as white as a sheet of paper. Elena, her assistant, was on her knees next to her. She was shaking so hard she could barely hold her phone. Her thumb was about to press the 'Call' button.

"Detective! Thank God!" Elena cried. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. "She just collapsed. I'm calling emergency services right now-"

"Don't!" I shouted.

Elena froze. She looked at me like I was crazy. "What? She's not waking up! Get out of my way, I have to call!"

I stepped over and snatched the phone right out of her hand.

"Are you insane?" Elena screamed. She tried to grab it back, but I held it up high. "She's dying! Give me my phone back!"

"Listen to me!" I grabbed her shoulders. I didn't want to hurt her, but I needed her to snap out of it. "Look at me, Elena! Focus!"

"She told me yesterday, at her place that she has a condition. Something private. She was very clear, Elena. No hospitals. Do you understand?"

"She never told me that!" Elena yelled. "She's my boss! I care about her life, I don't care about some stupid secrets!"

"Do you know what happens if the news people see her like this?" I lowered my voice. I tried to sound calm, even though my heart was banging against my ribs. "They will dig into her life and tear her apart. She told me she'd rather die than have the whole world poking around in her business. You know how she is, Elena. She's proud. Is that what you want? To humiliate her?"

Elena looked down at Meredith. Then she looked back at me. Her bottom lip was trembling. "But... she looks so sick. What if she doesn't wake up, Detective? What if she dies because of you?"

Suddenly, a loud ping came from the desk.

We both looked at the laptop. A red box was flashing on the screen.

SECURITY BREACH DETECTED: PENTHOUSE ACCESS.

"Oh my God," Elena whispered. She went even paler. "Someone is in her house?"

My cop brain took over. If someone was at her place, it wasn't safe. And if I took her to a hospital, She'd be trapped.Whoever was at her house would just find her at the hospital.

"Someone's at her house," I said. I reached down and scooped Meredith up. She was ice-cold. It felt like I was holding a statue made of marble. "We can't go to her place. And we are definitely not going to the hospital."

"Then where are we going?" Elena asked grabbing Meredith's bag and her laptop. "We can't just drive around!"

I headed for the private elevator.

"My place," I said.

"Your place? Are you kidding me?" Elena said. "That is kidnapping! You are kidnapping a billionaire CEO! Do you know how much trouble we are in?"

"I'm saving her life," I said. I wasn't sure if I was lying to her or myself, but I didn't have another choice.I got Meredith into the back seat of my car, supporting her head, making sure she was breathing. As I pulled out into the crazy New York traffic, I looked at her in the rearview mirror.

I had lied to my partner. I had ignored a lab report. And now I was taking the city's most famous woman to a crappy one-bedroom apartment in Queens that smelled like laundry detergent.

Congratulations, Dave, I thought. You are officially the worst cop in New York. You're going to jail for sure.

MEREDITH 

Everything felt heavy. My eyes, arms, even my head. It felt like my body didn't want to move. The first thing I noticed wasn't pain, It was the smell.

I'm a wolf so my nose is basically a superpower, even when I'm half-dead. My office smells clean and expensive. My penthouse smells soft and sweet.

This place didn't.

This place smelled bad. Like old socks, cold pizza, and cheap soap.

Oh God. Where am I?

I tried to open my eyes, but the light was too bright. It wasn't the soft light from my room. It was hard and flickering. It made a low noise.

"She's moving!"

That was Elena. She sounded like she'd been crying for three hours straight.

I forced my eyes open. The ceiling was white, but not a "clean" white. It had a weird water stain in the corner that looked like a cat. I blinked, trying to clear the blur.

"Meredith? Can you hear me?"

I groaned, the sound catching in my throat. I tried to sit up, but a hand pressed gently on my shoulder, keeping me down.

"Don't even try it," a voice barked.

Dave. Of course.

I turned my head slowly. I wasn't in a hospital. I was on a couch that felt like it was made of stones. Dave was leaning over me, looking like he hadn't slept for more than a week. His tie was loose, his hair was a mess, and he had a look on his face that was somewhere between worried and "I'm definitely going to jail for this."

"Where am I?" I rasped. My throat felt like I'd swallowed a handful of sand

"My place," he said. "In Queens. Fourth floor, not exactly the Four Seasons, but paparazzi don't know it exists."

"Queens?" I croaked. "Are you kidding me? I'm dying in Queens?"

"You're not dying," Dave said, though he didn't look entirely sure. "But someone was at your penthouse. Your security system went off right after you passed out. We couldn't take you home."

I looked around, even with the pain. The walls were dull white. There was a folding chair in the corner, used like a table. Outside the window was a brick wall and an old fire escape.

My head started to clear. The red box on the laptop. The breach.

Lucas.

Fear hit me before the pain. I tried to sit up again. I got halfway, then my side burned like fire. I gasped and grabbed my ribs.

"Meredith!" Elena was right there, her face hovering over mine. "Please, just stay still. The Detective... he said he knows what he's doing."

I looked at Elena. She looked terrified. Her perfect professional chignon was falling apart, and she was wearing a hoodie that definitely didn't belong to her.

"You... you brought her here too?" I asked Dave, glaring at him.

"I didn't have a choice," Dave said, crossing his arms. "She wasn't going to let me leave with you unless I dragged her along. Plus, she has your laptop and your bag.

I felt Elena sit on the edge of the couch. She took my hand. It was cold, but hers was warm.

"Meredith," she whispered, her voice shaking. "What is going on? Why did you say no hospitals? And why is your skin so cold?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't. How do you tell your perfect PA that you're a werewolf who's been poisoned by a silver-wielding stalker?

Dave sat on the edge of the mattress. He looked at my side, where the bandage was already staining dark again. He looked back at me, his expression serious.

"Remember at your apartment? When I said I knew a doctor? Someone discreet?" Dave asked. "I wanted to call him before you even woke up. But I figured you'd probably try to sue me for medical kidnapping if I didn't ask first."

"No doctors," I said, the old fear sparking in my chest. Doctors meant blood tests. Blood tests meant the government finding out I was different "I have my own... treatments."

"Your 'treatments' aren't working, Meredith," Dave said, his voice dropping an octave. "That wound is turning a color that isn't found in nature. You're shivering, but you're burning up. If I don't call this guy, you're not going to make it.

"He's right," Elena chimed in, stepping closer. She looked at Dave, then at me.

"Look, I don't trust this guy's but he's the only one who knows we're here. If you go to a real hospital, Victor Langford will have the press there in minutes. He'll tell everyone you're unstable."

I bit my lip. The silver was moving. I could feel the poison crawling toward my heart. If I didn't get it out, I wouldn't just lose my company. I'd lose my life.

"Is he... safe?" I asked Dave, searching his blue eyes for any sign of a trap.

"He was a top-tier surgeon until he got into some trouble with the hospital. Now he works for people who need to stay off the grid. He doesn't ask questions, and he doesn't keep records," Dave promised. "He's the only shot you've got."

I looked at my shaking hands. I was a CEO. I was an Alpha. And right now, I was at the mercy of a Queens detective.

"Fine," I whispered. "Call him."

Dave nodded and stood up, reaching for his phone. As he walked out of the room, I looked at Elena.

"Elena?"

"Yeah?"

"If I die in this apartment, here, tell the police I was taken somewhere nicer," I said. "I can't be found in a place like this."

Elena gave a watery laugh. "Don't worry, boss. I'll lie for you."

But as I felt the fever take hold again, I wondered if even a doctor could fix what was wrong with me. The silver was in deep, and I could hear the howling in the back of my mind getting louder. Lucas was still out there. And I was stuck In a small apartment in Queens.