The heavy mechanical pump roared to life. It didn't pull the blood smoothly. It sucked the life from my vein.

"Increase the flow rate," Dr. Thorne ordered, his hands shaking over the plastic dial. "The mutated venom is spreading too fast. We need higher volume."

A brutal, irreversible tearing ripped through the very center of my womb. I arched off the leather chair, screaming as the metal restraints bit into my wrists. A fresh wave of hot blood flooded between my thighs, turning the blue hospital gown a sickening blackish-red.

"My baby!" I gasped out, thrashing against the nylon straps. "Adrian, make them stop! Please!"

Adrian stood by the door, staring at the floor tiles. He didn't look up. He didn't flinch.

The machine emitted a high-pitched, continuous beep. The target volume was reached.

"She's crashing!" a nurse screamed, shoving past Adrian with a metal crash cart. "Blood pressure is bottoming out! Get the oxygen!"

Paddles ripped my gown open. The blinding white halogen lights on the ceiling flickered, then swallowed my vision completely.

Late the next night, the sterile smell of iodine dragged me back to consciousness.

I lay still on a fresh hospital bed. I pressed my palm flat against my lower stomach. The familiar, protective weight deep in my pelvis was gone. An absolute, echoing emptiness remained. My womb was a graveyard.

Adrian stood by the room's window, staring out into the dark pack lands.

"You survived," he said. His voice carried a rough, scraped quality.

I didn't answer. I stared at the ceiling tiles.

"Celeste is out of danger," he continued, keeping his broad back to me. "The heavy filtration cleared the mutated venom from her organs."

"And the price?" I asked, my tone flat.

He finally turned around. Shadows clung to the angles of his jaw. He looked exhausted, but his amber eyes remained hard. "The pregnancy terminated during the second extraction. The fetus didn't make it."

He watched my face. His gaze tracked my every movement. He waited for the breakdown. He braced himself for the screaming, the shattered plates, the hysterical sobbing of a grieving mother.

I blinked once. I adjusted the thin cotton sheet over my chest.

"Understood," I said.

Adrian frowned, stepping away from the window. "That is all you have to say?"

"What do you want me to say?" I asked, pushing myself up against the headboard. "Do you want me to beg for a child that is already dead? Do you want me to apologize for bleeding out on your hospital floor?"

"I want you to show some remorse," he snapped, his hands curling into fists at his sides. "A life was lost today because of your jealousy."

"A life was lost because you strapped me to a chair and drained me dry," I fired back, my voice dangerously calm. "You traded my child for your savior. The transaction is complete."

"Do not speak about this like a business deal." He marched to the foot of my bed, gripping the metal railing. "It was a medical necessity caused by your own treachery. You brought this on yourself."

"Whatever helps you sleep, Alpha," I said, turning my face toward the blank wall.

The metal door handle clicked open.

Celeste leaned against the doorframe. She wore a baggy white hospital gown, her blonde hair falling in messy clumps around her pale face. No nurses flanked her.

"Adrian," she whispered, her voice frail and trembling. "I woke up and you weren't there."

Adrian released my bedrail and crossed the room in three strides. He wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her weight. "You shouldn't be out of bed. Your body is too weak for walking."

"I had to come," she murmured, resting her head against his chest. She turned her face toward me, her eyes wide and innocent. "I had to thank our Luna."

I sat up completely. My muscles screamed in protest, but I locked my spine straight.

"You owe me nothing, Celeste," I said.

"But I do," she insisted, taking a shaky step into the room. "You gave up so much for me. I am forever in your debt. I heard about the... complication."

"It wasn't a complication," I replied. "It was an execution."

"Stop it," Adrian warned me, he growled. "She is trying to offer her condolences."

"Let me get you a chair," Adrian said to Celeste, stepping away from her for a fraction of a second to grab the plastic seat by the wall.

The moment his back turned, Celeste's fragile, trembling demeanor vanished entirely.

She stood straight. A sharp, victorious smirk stretched across her pale lips. She slid her hand into the oversized pocket of her gown and pulled the fabric down just an inch.

A bright yellow plastic wristband peeked out.

I recognized the red barcode stamped across the center. It was a Level Four access tag. Only the internal pharmacy supervisor possessed that specific band. It was the only key that could open the secure vault where the Silver Thorn venom was legally stored.

She tapped the plastic band twice with her index finger, locking eyes with me to ensure I understood the message. She had the supervisor in her pocket. She had orchestrated the entire poisoning.

Adrian turned back around with the chair.

Celeste slumped forward, gasping in fake pain. He caught her by the shoulders, easing her into the seat.

"Are you alright?" he asked, brushing the hair from her face.

"Just dizzy," she sighed, clutching his hand. "Luna, I hope we can move past this tragedy. I hope we can be a family."

I looked at the woman who had framed me, murdered my child, and stolen my husband's loyalty.

"We will get exactly what we deserve," I told her.

Adrian glared at me. "Show some respect. She is trying to make peace after you nearly killed her."

"Take her back to her room, Adrian," I said, leaning back against my pillows. "She needs her rest."

He scoffed, scooping Celeste up into his arms. He didn't look at me again as he carried her out into the hallway, kicking the door shut behind them.

I sat alone in the quiet room.

No tears came. The grief had been burned away, leaving only cold, hard ash.

I slid my hand beneath the flat hospital pillow. My fingers closed around the cracked screen of my phone.

I unlocked the device and opened a secure, encrypted message thread. I typed in the number of Elias, my former Beta guard who had been exiled to the border patrols last year.

I typed a line.

"The pharmacy supervisor is compromised; begin the hunt."

I pressed send.