My blood turned to ice.

Wolfsbane.

The metallic taste flooded my mouth as panic shot through me. Someone had poisoned me.

I needed help but the pack hospital was too far away, but there had to be something in the building's medical supplies.

I pushed back from the staff table, my legs already feeling unsteady. The other assistants barely glanced at me as I stumbled toward the service corridors behind the main hall. My wolf, already so weak, whimpered and retreated deeper inside me as the poison spread through my system.

I needed to find medical supplies before the wolfsbane completely shut down my nervous system.

That's when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Elena? What are you doing back here?"

I turned to see Sophia approaching, still radiant in my silver dress. But something about her expression—the slight curve of her lips, the way her eyes glittered in the dim light made my blood run even colder.

"Sophia," I gasped, my throat already beginning to close. "I think someone put wolfsbane in something. I need help finding medical supplies—"

"Wolfsbane?" Her eyebrows raised in perfect surprise. "How terrible! Are you sure that's what it is?"

The way she said it, the complete lack of genuine concern in her voice, made everything click into place. The abandoned canapés I'd found near the back entrance. The bitter taste I'd ignored because I was so hungry. The convenient placement, as if they'd been left specifically for me to find.

"It was you," I whispered.

Sophia's mask of innocence melted away, replaced by cold satisfaction. "You always were too trusting, Elena. Did you really think I'd let you ruin my perfect evening forever? Tonight was supposed to be about me finally taking my rightful place beside Kai."

I tried to move past her, back toward the main hall where people could help me, but she stepped into my path. The hallway was narrow, and with my weakened state, I couldn't push past her.

" Please help me," I pleaded.

"Help you?" Sophia laughed, the sound echoing off the concrete walls. "Why would I do that? Do you know what Kai said to me tonight? He said he's tired of pretending to care about you. He wants to make me his Luna officially, but he needs you gone first."

I stumbled backward, looking for another way out, but we were in a dead-end corridor. Behind me was only a storage room marked "Medical Supplies - Authorized Personnel Only."

Sophia seemed to read my thoughts. "Go ahead," she said sweetly. "Check the storage room. Maybe you'll find something to help with your... condition."

With no other choice, I fumbled for the door handle. The room was small and dark, filled with cleaning supplies and basic first aid equipment. I searched desperately through the shelves, my hands shaking as I looked for anything that might counteract wolfsbane poisoning.

That's when I heard the door slam shut behind me.

"Sophia!" I spun around and grabbed the handle, but it wouldn't budge. She had locked it from the outside.

"You know what's funny?" Sophia's voice came through the door. "I've been planning this for months and there is no way out for you.”

My legs gave out, and I slid down the door to the floor. Each breath felt like swallowing glass, and my vision began to blur as the poison attacked my nervous system.

"Why?" I managed to ask.

"Because you've had everything that should have been mine!" she snarled through the door. "The Alpha position, the mate bond, the respect of the pack. Do you think I wanted to be the adopted daughter forever?"

"I'm going to do you a favor," Sophia continued, pulling out her phone.

"I'm calling security to report an intruder in the storage room. "No..." I managed to wheeze.

"Yes," she said, dialing. "Hello? Security? I need to report someone suspicious in the storage area behind the main kitchen. Please send someone immediately."

She hung up and smiled—I could hear it in her voice. "They'll think you're some desperate omega who snuck in to steal drugs. By the time they figure out who you really are, you'll be long gone from an 'accidental' overdose."

I tried to crawl toward the shelves, but my body was failing me. The wolfsbane covered every inch of my system, and each breath felt like drowning in reverse.

"Kai will be so relieved," Sophia whispered, crouching down beside the door. "He's been looking for an excuse to get rid of you for years. This way, he doesn't have to feel guilty about it."

Through my swollen eyes, I heard her moving something outside the door—placing a sign, from the sound of scraping metal.

"There," she said with satisfaction. "'Authorized Personnel Only - Investigation in Progress.' No one will think to disturb us now."

My wolf had gone completely silent, leaving me more human and vulnerable than I'd ever been.

When I finally heard voices outside the door, I couldn't even lift my head. Security officers were discussing the report, debating whether to investigate the "suspicious activity."

I tried to call out, but only a weak croak emerged from my damaged throat.

The door finally opened, and harsh light flooded in. A security guard stepped inside, took one look at me, and immediately called for medical assistance.

"Luna Elena?" His voice was shocked. "What happened to you?"

By the time the pack doctor arrived, I was barely conscious. They rushed me to the pack hospital, where I spent the next three days in intensive care, my body slowly recovering from the severe wolfsbane poisoning.

Kai never came to see me.

When I finally returned to the pack house, I found Sophia sitting at the kitchen table, wearing my bathrobe, reading a magazine as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, you're back," she said without looking up. "Kai was worried you'd caused some kind of scandal by disappearing like that. He asked me to tell you that he's reconsidering your living arrangements. The basement room might be too good for someone so... unreliable."

I stared at her, this woman who had literally tried to kill me, and felt something cold and final settle in my chest.

She looked up then, and for just a moment, I saw fear flicker in her eyes.

"Elena?" she said uncertainly.

I walked past her without a word, went down to the basement, and pulled out my phone.

Alpha Damon answered on the first ring.

"I'm ready," I said simply.

Alpha Damon answered on the first ring.

"I'm ready," I said simply.

His voice was sharp, immediate. "Elena, you're not playing games with me again, are you? After three years of silence, you're finally calling for real this time?"

"She tried to kill me," I whispered.

"I'm coming to get you tonight." His voice turned deadly serious. "Pack whatever you need. I'm done waiting."

"No, give me five days, I need to handle things properly here first."

He was quiet for a moment. "five days. Not a second longer. After that, I'm coming to take what should have been mine from the beginning."

After I hung up, I sat in the cold basement room, staring at the concrete walls that had become my prison. Through the thin ceiling, I could hear Sophia's laughter echoing from the kitchen above.

My kitchen. My house. My life—all stolen piece by piece.

The next morning, I climbed the basement stairs to find Sophia, wearing my silk pajamas. The ones Kai had given me last Christmas, still with the tags on them because he'd never bothered to learn my size.

They fit her perfectly.

"Kai left early for pack business. He asked me to give you a message." She said.

I stood there silently, my body still weak from the wolfsbane poisoning three days ago.

Sophia looked up, her eyes glittering with malicious joy. "He's suspending you from all pack duties until further notice. Apparently, your recent instability has made the other Alphas question your competence."

My stomach dropped. Pack duties were the only thing that had given my life meaning. The only way I contributed anything of value.

"He's also asked me to take over your responsibilities temporarily," she continued, standing up and smoothing down my silk pajamas. "Starting with tonight's Luna Circle meeting. I'll need your formal blue dress, the one with the gold trim."

That dress had been my mother's. The only thing of hers I had left.

"That dress doesn't belong to—"

"Kai specifically requested it," Sophia cut me off. "Unless you want to explain to him why you're being difficult about pack business?"

I closed my mouth. We both knew Kai would side with her.

"Good girl," Sophia smiled. "Oh, and one more thing. Kai thinks you need time to... reflect on your recent behavior. You're not to leave the house without his permission."

House arrest. In my own home.

"Sophia, know your place. I'm still Kai's mate. You're just the other woman—the adopted daughter who's stealing her sister's life."

My voice was steady, calm. "Push me too far and I'll call an emergency pack meeting. Let everyone know you tried to murder their Luna with wolfsbane."

Sophia's eyes flashed with rage, but before she could respond, heavy footsteps echoed from the stairway.

Kai was coming.

Immediately, Sophia's knees buckled and she dropped to the floor, her face crumpling into perfect victim mode.

"Elena, I'm sorry—I never should have come back! I'll leave today! I'd rather die than cause problems between you and Kai!"

Before I could even react, Sophia suddenly sprang to her feet and ran straight toward the stone pillar in our foyer.

Kai rushed down the stairs just in time to catch her, pulling her against his chest protectively.

"Sophia, I invited you here. If anyone has a problem with you, they have a problem with me!"

I watched him hold her, this woman who had tried to murder me, and felt my heart turn to ice.

Kai, still cradling Sophia, turned and barked coldly at me. "Elena, apologize to her!"

"I didn't do anything wrong. I have nothing to apologize for." I met his eyes steadily. "Kai, aren't you even curious where I've been for the past three days?"

"Did you—" he began, frowning.

I cut him off. "Aren't you wondering why I missed the board meeting?"

"I don't care where you were," he snapped. "But you don't get to attack Sophia! If you don't apologize right now, you're cut off from everything—until you admit you were wrong!"

In his eyes, isolation was the perfect punishment for someone already broken.

What he didn't know was that I had only worked so hard to support his career. To prove I was worthy of being his wife.

Seeing something shift in my expression, Desmond's jaw tightened slightly. But he still turned away, guiding Sophia toward the elevator.

Before leaving, he told Jackson, who had been standing by the door, "Keep her in the guest wing. No access to the main penthouse until she apologizes."

I watched his retreating figure, watching him console the woman who had sabotaged me while I nearly died alone.

For five days, I was essentially exiled in the guest wing of my own home.

Three times a day, Jackson would bring meals to my door and ask if I had "come to my senses."

I never answered—just kept staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows, counting down.

Two more days, and I would be gone forever.

Sitting on the guest bed, my phone buzzed constantly.

Messages from Sophia, each one more cruel than the last.

On the sixth day, as I prepared for my final night in this place, another message came through.

You couldn't win over his family, and you can't keep a man. With just one call from me, Desmond won't come home for a week.

And she was right.

For two full days, Desmond didn't return to the penthouse.

But Sophia sent me audio messages constantly.

Voice recordings of her laughing with Kai during private moments.

Photos of them sharing intimate meals in restaurants I'd always wanted to visit.

In the past, I would've fought back. Now, I felt hollow. A man that devoted was already lost to me.

On the fifth day, I still hadn't "come to my senses," and the staff still ignored my calls. I survived on coffee and spite alone.

That evening, as always, I walked through the estate grounds. Suddenly, a Doberman burst from the kennels and collided with me. Normally, I could've steadied myself—but weeks of stress had left me weak. My body crumpled like tissue.

I hit the concrete, agony tearing through my abdomen. Crimson spread across my dress. My vision blurred. I knew instantly.

Kai's mother had been demanding grandchildren. Eight weeks ago, during one of our last tender nights, we'd been careless.

Now, the fire in my stomach broullllght me to my knees. Gasping, I called out to the security team.

Jackson, the head of security, carried me to his vehicle in alarm, racing toward the medical center. But traffic barriers blocked every route.

"Mrs. Elena," Jackson said quietly, "tonight's Sophia's Fashion show premiere party. Mr. Kai closed all the main streets for the celebration. We... we can't reach the clinic."

While my life bled away, champagne toasts echoed from the mansion. All for Sophia.

With trembling hands, I pulled off my mating ring and hurled it as far as I could into the darkness.

I was done. With all of it.