Aliana POV:
*Thirty. That was the number of cracks in the plaster above the bed. It was also the age I turned today.*
In our world, the first Shift *usually hits like a freight train* at eighteen. The pain of bones breaking and rearranging is supposed to be a rite of passage, a welcome into adulthood. But for me, that day came and went with nothing but a *low-grade* fever.
Twelve years later, I was still just Aliana. The Wolf-less Luna. The embarrassment of the Silver Moon Pack.
The heavy oak door creaked open. I sat up, pulling the silk sheets against my chest.
Alpha Ivan walked in. He was already dressed in his charcoal suit, *looking like a million dollars and smelling like trouble.*
He was my Fated Mate. The Moon Goddess had decreed it. But without my wolf, the bond felt one-sided. *Like shouting into a canyon and waiting for an echo that never comes.*
"Happy birthday, Aliana," he said. *Tone flat. Professional.*
He leaned down to kiss my cheek. I closed my eyes, desperate for the spark, the electric current that books said mates shared.
Instead, I felt nothing but *damp skin.*
And then, it hit me.
The Scent.
Usually, Ivan smelled of crisp pine and rain. But today, beneath the expensive cologne, there was something else.
*Peaches. Rotting in the heat.*
"You're leaving?" I asked, my voice small. "I thought... I thought we might go to the Moon Stone today. To pray for my wolf?"
Ivan straightened his tie in the mirror, not looking at me.
"Pack business, Aliana. The border negotiations with the Northern packs are intense. I can't hold their hands and pray to a silent Goddess."
He turned, his eyes sweeping over me *with the kind of look you give a dog that needs to be put down.*
"Maybe if you focused less on fairy tales and more on your duties as a hostess, the Pack wouldn't be so restless."
"I do my best, Ivan," I whispered.
"Your best isn't an heir, is it?" he shot back.
He checked his watch. "I'll be late tonight. Don't wait up."
He walked out. The door clicked shut, leaving me in the silence of the massive, empty house.
My stomach churned. *It wasn't just heartbreak. It was physical. For years, I'd been waking up dry-heaving, my joints aching like I was eighty instead of thirty.* The Pack doctors said it was my body rejecting my dormant wolf.
I dragged myself out of bed. I needed coffee. I needed to feel like a person.
As I drove into town, my phone buzzed. It was Debi, my lawyer and the only friend I had left who didn't look at me like a charity case.
"Happy Birthday, Ali," her voice crackled over the car's Bluetooth.
"Thanks, Debi."
"Let me guess. The Alpha is 'working'?"
"Border negotiations," I said, gripping the steering wheel.
"*Bullshit,*" Debi said. "*I was at the courthouse filing permits this morning. The Northern delegates aren't even in the state until next week. Ivan isn't at the border.*"
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you should go to his office. Surprise him."
I hung up, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
I drove to the Hughes Corporation tower. *The security guards barely glanced at me. Why would they? I was the invisible wife.*
When I reached the top floor, Ivan's secretary, a Beta female named Sarah, turned pale.
"Luna Aliana! We... we weren't expecting you."
"Where is my husband, Sarah?" I asked.
"He's... he's in a meeting. Off-site. Very private."
Her eyes darted to the side. *I caught the distinctive glaze over her eyes-she was Mind-Linking.*
*The Luna is here. She knows.*
I saw a sticky note on her desk, half-covered by a file. *Reese Gallery - 10 AM.*
Reese.
The name sent a shiver down my spine. Kiera Reese. The Rogue who had tried to kill me five years ago. My parents swore she had been exiled to the Wastelands.
I turned on my heel and ran back to the elevator.
The Reese Gallery was in the arts district. I parked down the street, my hands shaking.
That's when I saw it. A black armored SUV with the crest of the Blood River Pack.
My father's car.
I got out, pulling my hood up. I crept toward the gallery's massive glass front.
The gallery was closed. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I saw them.
Ivan. My father. My mother, Luna Eleanor.
And Kiera.
She looked radiant. *She didn't look like an exiled Rogue; she looked like she owned the place.*
But it was what was happening in the center of the room that stopped my heart.
A little boy, maybe five years old, was running around a sculpture. He had Ivan's dark hair.
Ivan crouched down, opening his arms. The boy ran into them, giggling.
"Up! Up, Alpha Daddy!" the boy squealed.
Ivan lifted him effortlessly. The look on Ivan's face... it was pure adoration.
I pressed closer to the glass. *Adrenaline spiked through me, sharpening my senses in a way I hadn't felt in years.*
"He's strong, Ivan," my father's voice boomed. "A true Alpha heir."
"He has your eyes, Richard," Kiera purred, linking her arm through Ivan's. "And Ivan's strength."
"When will you announce it?" my mother asked, sipping champagne. "We can't keep pretending Aliana is useful for much longer. The Pack needs a future."
Ivan laughed. It was a cold, cruel sound.
"Tonight. After her pathetic little birthday dinner. I'll tell the elders that my sperm count is low, a tragic side effect of stress. We'll 'adopt' Leo. No one needs to know he's Kiera's."
"And the girl?" Kiera asked. "She smells of death already. That Wolfsbane cocktail you've been feeding her is working slow, though."
"Patience, my love," Ivan murmured.
"Five years of suppression," my father grunted. "If that White Wolf blood of hers ever woke up, she'd destroy us all. Better she dies a sickly Omega than lives to take my territory."
My knees gave out. I slid down the rough brick of the pillar.
*They weren't just cheating. They were murdering me by inches.*
Wolfsbane. The deadliest herb to our kind. They had been feeding it to me for five years.
I looked at my phone. A text message from Ivan popped up.
*My dear, Pack business is dragging on. I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you tonight. Happy Birthday.*
I looked through the glass. Ivan was kissing Kiera.
Something inside me snapped.
*It felt like a rusty lock breaking deep in my gut.*
*Kill them.*
The voice was ancient. Angry.
I scrambled back to my car. I drove.
As the gallery faded in the rearview mirror, my eyes caught my reflection.
For a split second, my irises weren't their usual hazel.
They were white. Pure, terrifying white.
Aliana POV:
I sat in the dark of our bedroom. The digital clock read 11:45 PM.
I heard the heavy front door open downstairs. Footsteps echoed on the marble stairs.
I scrambled into bed, pulling the duvet up. I had to play the part. The dying obstacle.
The door opened.
"Aliana?" Ivan's voice was soft, laced with that fake concern that made my skin crawl.
He walked to the side of the bed. Then, the smell hit me. *Rotting peaches and sex.* And underneath it, the scent of a child-milk and dirt.
He leaned down. For a horrifying second, I thought he would kiss me. Instead, he sniffed my hair.
"Still sleeping," he muttered. "Good."
He walked into the bathroom. The shower turned on.
*My eyes snapped open.*
*Move,* the voice inside me commanded. *Hunt.*
I slipped out of bed. I went to the hallway.
Ivan's study was his sanctuary. Secured by a bio-metric lock and a keypad.
I stood before the heavy mahogany door.
"He thinks you're stupid," the voice in my head hissed.
I stared at the keypad. Ivan was arrogant. He wouldn't use a random number.
I punched in the date: *05-12-18*. Leo's birthday.
The light blinked green. *Bingo.*
I slipped inside. I went straight to his computer. It was logged in.
*I didn't waste time looking for a folder labeled "Evil Plans." Ivan wasn't a cartoon villain; he was a businessman. I needed to follow the money.*
*I opened his financial records. My degree in finance, which Ivan always mocked as "cute," was finally useful.*
*I scanned the outgoing transfers from the last five years. There were the usual expenses, but one recurring payment stood out. A shell company called "Apex Consulting," registered in the Gray Zone.*
*I cross-referenced the company registration number. It was a dummy corp. But the shipping manifests associated with it were real.*
*"Aconitum delivery. Concentrated extract," I whispered, reading the invoice. Aconitum. Wolfsbane.*
*Then I checked the personal accounts. Huge withdrawals. Cash.*
*I found a hidden sub-folder in his cloud drive masked as tax returns. Inside weren't taxes. They were falsified medical reports from a clinic in the Rogue territories.*
*Subject: Leo Reese. Bloodline Potency: S-Class Alpha.*
*And a paternity test.* *Father: Alpha Ivan Hughes. Status: Positive.*
*My father was bankrolling the poison. Ivan was laundering the money to Kiera.*
I felt bile rise in my throat. I pulled a small, silver USB drive from my pajama pocket.
I copied everything. *The financial trail, the shipping manifests, the fake DNA tests.*
The progress bar crawled. *98%... 99%... Complete.*
I yanked the drive out just as I heard the shower turn off down the hall.
I wiped the recent history, turned off the monitor, and slipped out.
I made it back to the bedroom just as the bathroom door handle turned. I dove into bed.
Ivan emerged, smelling of soap and mint. He climbed into bed beside me.
His phone buzzed. He checked it, a small chuckle escaping his lips.
After he fell asleep, I reached over and took his phone.
The message was from an unsaved number. A photo of Kiera riding on Ivan's shoulders at the Pack's amusement park.
Caption: *An Alpha only belongs to a female who can breed warriors. Put the mule down, Ivan.*
*I stared at the screen. A mule. Sterile. Useless.*
*I carefully forwarded the text to a burner email address I'd set up years ago, then deleted the sent log.*
I placed the phone back.
Tomorrow was the Pack Gathering. The entire Silver Moon Pack would be there.
It was the perfect stage.
I closed my eyes. *My blood felt hot, like liquid fire. The poison was losing the war.*
Aliana POV:
The next morning, I told Ivan I was going to the spa.
"Good," he said, not looking up from his tablet. "Fix yourself up. You look... pale."
I drove straight to the warehouse district. Debi met me at the back door of the Reese Gallery.
*Debi wasn't a miracle worker, but she was resourceful.*
*"I got the maintenance uniforms," she said, tossing me a bundle of gray fabric. "And I bribed the regular cleaning crew to take a long lunch. We have twenty minutes."*
*"What about the scent?" I asked.*
*"Old fashioned way," she said, handing me a jar of industrial grease and ammonia. "Smear this on your neck and wrists. It'll burn, but it'll cover the lily scent."*
I applied the foul mixture. It stung my eyes, but I smelled like a garage floor. Perfect.
I pulled on the gray jumpsuit and tucked my hair under a cap.
I slipped inside through the service entrance.
The gallery was preparing for a private viewing. Kiera's office door was ajar.
I pushed my mop bucket inside. The room was opulent. And familiar.
The rug was Persian-my mother's. The vase was Ming-my father's.
They were stripping my inheritance to furnish his mistress's life.
*I pulled a tiny listening device from my pocket-something Debi had procured from a PI contact. I stuck it under the heavy oak desk.*
"The cleaner is here, Miss Reese," a voice said.
I froze.
Kiera walked in, followed closely by Ivan.
I turned my back, scrubbing a spot on the wall furiously.
"It smells disgusting in here," Kiera wrinkled her nose. "Like cheap chemicals."
"It's just the cleaning supplies, babe," Ivan said. His voice was thick with lust.
I glanced at the reflection in a painting. Ivan had Kiera pressed against the desk.
"I hate waiting," Kiera moaned. "When will she be gone? Truly gone?"
"Soon," Ivan growled. "*I upped the dose in her morning tea. Her heart will give out during the Gathering. It will look like a tragedy. The weak Luna, overwhelmed by the excitement.*"
My heart hammered. *They were executing me today.*
"And then?"
"Then I reject her corpse to break the bond formally. And I mark you. Leo becomes the heir."
"I love it when you talk power," Kiera giggled.
Ivan paused. He lifted his head, sniffing the air.
"Wait."
I stopped scrubbing.
"What is it?"
"That smell..." Ivan stepped away from the desk. "Under the bleach. It smells... familiar."
He took a step toward me.
The Alpha Command radiated off him.
"You," he barked at my back. "Turn around."
I couldn't move. If I turned, he would see my eyes.
"I said, turn around!"
His voice was a physical weight. *My wolf snarled, wanting to rip his throat out.*
*Do not bow.*
Just as Ivan reached for my shoulder, *a loud crash echoed from the hallway. Debi. She must have knocked something over to create a distraction.*
Ivan spun around. "What the hell?"
"My sculpture!" Kiera shrieked, running out.
In the chaos, I grabbed my bucket and slipped out the side door.
I ran to the car, stripping off the jumpsuit.
Debi was waiting, engine running.
*"I tipped over a display stand," she grinned nervously. "Did you get it?"*
*I tapped the receiver in my ear. "Every word. They're planning to kill me tonight."*
I looked at my hands. They were steady.
"Drive, Debi," I said. "We have a show to prepare for."
