Summer’s POV


    I drove frantically toward the abandoned boathouse at the eastern edge of ckwood territory.


    My wedding dress was bunched awkwardly around me in the driver’s seat, the delicatece catching on the gearshift as I navigated the rough forest road. 1


    My wolf whimpered anxiously inside me. *We should have told Alexander. This is a trap.*


    “I couldn’t risk it,” I whispered aloud, my knuckles white against the steering wheel. “The text said they’d kill Thea immediately if I brought anyone.”


    And then the boathouse came into view, a dpidated wooden structure leaning precariously toward theke. I parked some distance away and stepped out, the hem of my wedding gown immediately soaking up the morning dew.


    *Be alert,* my wolf warned. *This feels wrong.*


    I moved cautiously, my senses heightened, scanning for any movement or sound. The woods were unnaturally quiet–no birds, no rustling leaves. Just eerie silence.


    The boathouse door hung crooked on its hinges. I pushed it open slowly, wincing at the creak that seemed to echo across the water.


    “Hello, Summer.” Natalia Thompson stepped out from the shadows, her tall figure silhouetted against the dim light filtering through the broken windows. “What a lovely dress. Shame you won’t bepleting your ceremony today.”


    Two burly male wolves nked her, their eyes glowing amber with barely contained aggression. I recognized them as European–bloodline enforcers, the kind trained from birth for brutality.


    “Where’s Thea?” I demanded, keeping my voice steady despite the fear wing at my throat.


    Natalia smiled, a cold twist of lips that never reached her eyes. “Not here. Not yet. First, we have some… business to discuss.”


    “You said-”


    “I said a lot of things <i>to </i>get you here alone,” she interrupted, gesturing to one of her wolves who stepped forward holding a small vial filled with viscous green liquid. “Do you know what this is?”


    The acrid smell hit my nostrils immediately, making my wolf recoil in terror.


    “Wolf’s bane,” I whispered, recognizing the poison that could temporarily–sometimes permanently- suppress our wolves.


    “Mixed with a few other special ingredients,” Natalia confirmed with disturbing pride. “A little concoction I had specially made. Drink it, and I’ll tell you where the baby is.”


    “You need to tell me where Thea is first,” I demanded, struggling to keep my voice steady.


    “You’re in no position to negotiate,” Natalia said with a dismissive flick of her wrist, signaling her guard


    to move forward.


    Therger guard stepped closer, the vial extended toward me. “Drink,” he growled, his ent thick and Eastern European, “or we start sending pieces of the baby back to Lyra.”


    My heart hammered against my ribs. I needed to stall, to think.


    “How do I know you even have her? Show me proof she’s alive right now.”


    Natalia snapped her fingers, and the second guard pulled out a phone, showing me a video feed of baby Thea wailing inconsbly in the background.


    My breath caught. “Where’s Thea? Show me Thea!”


    “Drink first,” Natalia insisted, a cruel smile ying on her lips. “Then we’ll take a little drive to where they’re being kept.”


    I took the vial with trembling fingers, my mind racing through scenarios. None ended well if I drank the poison. But if I didn’t…


    I raised the vial to my lips, pretending to prepare myself to drink it. As I did, my wolf suddenly stirred with a realization that hit me like lightning.


    *There’s no baby scent here. None. Not even trace amounts.*


    I froze. My wolf was right. If Thea had been here even briefly, I would detect her unique scent–the


    “You’re bluffing,” I said softly, lowering the vial. “You don’t have Thea.”


    Something flickered in Natalia’s eyes–surprise, then fury.


    “The video-“I continued, pieces falling into ce, “it’s from before.”


    Her face contorted with rage. “Clever bitch. But not clever enough.”


    Her lips curled into a mocking smile. “Melissa took that picture for me. One photo–just one–and you came running like a good little fool.


    ”


    Then, her tone dropped, cold and triumphant.


    “Alpha Lucien Cross has Lyra and Thea now. Together. And you–you’re already toote.”


    Lucien Cross–the ruthless Eastern European Alpha whose reputation for brutality was legendary.


    If he was involved with Natalia and Alpha Foster, I could understand how they broke through ckwood’s defenses, but why would he take Lyra and Thea? Unless…?


    My thoughts were violently interrupted as Natalia lunged at me with supernatural speed, knocking the vial from my hand. It shattered against the floor, the liquid sizzling on the wooden nks.


    I barely had time to dodge her next attack, her ws shing through the bodice of my wedding dress. One of her guards grabbed me from behind, his arms like steel bands around my waist. <fna283> ???? ????s? ???????s ?? find[?]ovel</fna283>


    “Hold her,” Nataliamanded, retrieving another vial from her pocket. “She’ll drink it one way or


    another.”


    I summoned my wolf’s strength, driving my elbow into the guard’s sr plexus with enough force to make him loosen his grip. Twisting free, I mmed my palm into his throat, sending him staggering


    backward.


    The second guard shifted partially, his face elongating into a grotesque half–human, half–wolf snarl as he charged toward me.


    I kicked off my wedding shoes and ran, bursting through the boathouse door into the forest. My wolf pushed to the surface, lending me speed despite the awkward dress hampering my movements.


    We need to get back to thepound, my wolf urged. Back to our mate.


    Behind me, I heard Natalia’s enraged howl and the heavy footfalls of her guards. They were herding me–I realized toote–away from the road where I’d parked, deeper into the woods toward the territorial


    boundary.


    I ducked behind a massive oak, tearing at theyers of my gown to free my legs. The sound of fabric ripping seemed thunderous in the quiet forest.


    ”


    “You can run, little Luna,” Natalia’s voice echoed through the trees. “But did you know the truth about your precious Felix’s death? He died because of you!”


    “What are you talking about?” I shouted back, my voice betraying my position. “He died because of Alpha Foster and Suzanna’s plotting!”


    “You poor thing,” Natalia sneered. “Still clinging to the lie. No, Summer. He died because of you.”


    “You’re lying,” I said, my voice trembling as her wolves began to close in.


    “It was me,” she said, viciously. “I coated Alpha Foster’s fur with wolf’s bane that day. But Felix? He rushed in to protect you. If you hadn’t been there, he would’ve never gotten close enough to be poisoned.”


    I shook my head, her words slicing through my defenses. My vision blurred. “Why would you do this,


    Natalia?!”


    Her face twisted with hatred. “Because everything should have been mine! Alexander was supposed to be my mate. My destiny. I was born an Alpha’s daughter–raised to be Luna. And then you-” she spat, “a nobody, a broken Luna from a washed–up pack–stole him.”


    Her voice dropped into a venomous whisper. “Want to know the best part?”