Chapter 28

Cora

I gripped the steering wheel tightly. The city lights blurred into streaks as I sped through the streets, heart hammering like it was trying to escape my chest.

Kingston had collapsed.

He had been poisoned, I was sure of it. One moment he had been taking a celebratory sip and the next he had been collapsing to the floor.

His tall, strong body had gone senseless and limp before my own eyes, falling to the ground. I still couldn’t believe it as it played over and over in my head. It couldn’t be real.

The hospital loomed ahead, a sterile gray monolith against the overcast night. I barely threw my car into park before I was out and sprinting across the lot, puddles soaking through my shoes instantly. My breath caught in my throat as I rushed toward the brightly lit entrance, my heels slipping once on the slick concrete.

“Miss, hold on!”

Two uniformed guards stepped in front of the automatic doors before they could slide open. Their arms were crossed, faces hard under the harsh overhead lights.

"I need to see Kingston. He’s t-the new Alpha King," I stuttered. I was still dressed in my lavish gown, but my hair was now in disarray.

“I work for him. I was at the party. I—he needs me!”

One of the guards, a stocky man with a buzz cut and a visible snarl curling his lip, shook his head.

"Human visitors aren't permitted beyond this point," he said flatly, as if reading from a script. "Alpha King Kingston is in critical condition. Only pack members allowed."

"But—" I started, my voice cracking. I tried to take a step forward, but the other guard, taller and built like a wall, shifted to block me completely.

"Step back," he ordered. "This is your final warning."

Panic flared sharp and blinding in my chest.

I couldn’t just stand here. I couldn’t.

"I was there!" I cried. "At the party! I know what happened.” I had been thinking about it on the ride over between replaying images of Kingston falling and going limp.

“Someone must’ve put something in his drink,” I said. “You have to let me—"

The buzz-cut guard’s nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply, like he was scenting me. His gaze hardened further, if that was even possible.

"I think you've done enough," he said.

I blinked. What did he mean by that?

Behind them, I could see the sterile gleam of the hospital corridor, the occasional flicker of movement—doctors, nurses, wolves in suits pacing frantically. Everyone was visibly on edge as the Alpha King fought for his life.

No one else from work had arrived yet, so I was left to my own panic with no one to express it to. Somewhere in there, Kingston was fighting for his life, and I was stuck here, helpless and alone.

A few other wolves lingered nearby; they looked like security, staff, and maybe reporters. Their heads turned toward me. I caught snatches of muttering, glances sharp as knives sliding over my shivering form.

"—the human employee—"

"—shouldn't have been so close—"

"—heard she handed him the glass herself—"

"No!" I shouted, turning to face the growing cluster of onlookers. “I didn’t… Someone else… He took the drink himself!”

But it was like shouting into the raging wind. Their faces blurred through my tears, hard and cold and suspicious. A woman with silver hair and cruel eyes whispered something to the man next to her, and he nodded grimly, like a verdict had already been reached.

No one’s listening, I thought. No one cares.

A vibrating sound drew my attention downward. I fumbled my phone out of my pocket, fingers trembling. A news alert lit up the screen, the headline in bold.

BREAKING: Human Secretary Under Suspicion for Poisoning the Alpha King.

The air left my lungs all at once.

Beneath the headline was a grainy photo of me, smiling awkwardly in front of Kingston at the party a few minutes ago, a glass of champagne in his hand. Someone must have taken it sneakily while we were talking on the balcony.

It looked damning.

It looked planned.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no—"

The guards stiffened. One even put his hand on the taser at his belt.

"I didn’t—" My voice cracked like glass. I tried to take a breath, but it hitched painfully in my chest.

How could this be happening to me again? Even after Kingston had made and posted that video warning them off of me, they were still intent on using a human as their scapegoat.

"It wasn’t me. I swear it wasn’t me!"

Another alert popped up. Then another. Different outlets, different wordings, but the same brutal accusation.

I looked up, heart slamming against my ribs.

The guards were staring at me now, not with contempt, but cold calculation. Like I was prey. Like I was already guilty.

I stumbled back a step, nearly slipping. My stomach twisted so violently I thought I might be sick.

The buzz-cut guard spoke into his walkie-talkie, voice low but urgent. I heard "holding" and "questioning" before the static swallowed his words.

I needed to get out of here.

Now.

But my feet wouldn't move.

All I could do was stare at the emergency entrance, where somewhere behind those walls, Kingston lay unconscious because someone had poisoned him.

Because someone wanted him dead.

And now everyone thought that someone was me.

I didn’t move. I couldn’t.

I just stood there, staring down at the flashing alerts on my phone, until the words blurred into meaningless shapes.

Kingston trusted me.

I’d worked beside him loyally. I'd been proud to stand at his side. And now, in a single night, all of that had turned to ash.

Because someone had set me up.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Somewhere deep inside me, a small voice whispered what I didn't want to admit: You were human. You were always a liability to them. It was only a matter of time before someone found a way to use the fact that you’re a human against you.

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold in the shivers racking my body. Across the parking lot, more wolves were arriving, sleek black cars pulling up, figures in tailored suits emerging, faces grim and determined.

They weren't here just to help Kingston.

They were here to find someone to blame.

To find me.

My phone buzzed again. Another alert.

Urgent Update: Alpha Council Calls Emergency Session to Discuss Human Involvement in Alpha King Incident.

My legs finally gave out. I staggered to a bench, sinking down hard enough that the metal rattled.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and stared blindly at the hospital doors. I imagined Kingston lying in one of those sterile, impersonal rooms, surrounded by pack doctors, fighting to breathe.

I imagined him waking up, maybe even asking for me, and no one letting him know where I was.

Or worse, believing the lies, too.

A fresh wave of nausea rolled over me. I dropped my head into my hands, breathing in shallow, broken gasps.

I have to fix this.

I have to prove I didn’t do it.

I have to find who did.

But sitting there, it felt impossible. Like the whole world had shifted while I wasn’t looking, and now the ground beneath my feet was ready to swallow me whole.

The guards were still watching me.

The crowd was growing.

And somewhere beyond the walls of the hospital, an enemy I couldn’t even name was smiling.

“Hold on, Kingston,” I whispered, the words ripped from my chest like a prayer. “Please. Just hold on.”