Chapter 165

Kayla

I stood frozen in the doorway as William’s cold eyes locked onto mine. I expected him to be startled, maybe even afraid that he’d just been caught, but if anything, he just looked… satisfied.

“Well, well,” William drawled, his lips curling into a smirk. “If it isn’t the wolfless Luna herself. How convenient of you to join us. We were just talking about you—but I’m sure you already knew that, didn’t you?”

Isabella whipped around, her face paling when she saw me. For a split second, genuine fear flashed in her eyes before hardening into contempt.

I stepped fully into the cottage, my hands balled into fists at my sides. “So it was you,” I spat at Isabella, pointing a finger at her. “You were the one who was behind all those attempted coups in Bluemoon. You’re the reason Mason tried to kill me that day.”

Isabella said nothing, her jaw clenched tight. But her silence was all the confirmation I needed.

My gaze shifted to William then. “And you. You call yourself a chairman of the guild. You made an oath to protect werewolves, not plot against them. Not conspire to destroy packs from within.”

William’s face twisted into something ugly then.

“Protect werewolves?” he sneered, pushing away from the wall he’d been leaning against. “That’s exactly what I’m doing, you stupid girl. By taking down Bluemoon.”

I shook my head, struggling to comprehend. “That makes no sense.”

“You have no idea what’s at stake here, little girl,” William snarled, taking a step toward me. “No idea how important Bluemoon territory is to the guild. To our future.”

It still didn’t make any sense. Why did he need Bluemoon territory? Was it because of our strength? The location? Or…

What did my mother know?

“If you had just acted like a good girl and handed over Bluemoon to the guild all those months ago,” he went on, his voice dropping to a dangerous rumble, “instead of insisting on hanging onto it, your life would be far easier than it is now.”

I laughed, the sound harsh and bitter even to my own ears. “You mean if I had just rolled over and given up everything my father built? Everything my family fought for?”

“Your father,” William scoffed. “He knew what was coming, and still he refused to cooperate. I suppose stubbornness runs in the family.”

The mention of my father sent a fresh wave of rage through me. I took another step forward, ready to lunge at him, to claw the smugness off his face with my bare hands.

“My father lies in a coma because of people like you,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “And I swear to the Goddess above, I will—”

Suddenly, I caught a flicker of movement in my peripheral vision—Isabella giving a slight nod to someone behind me. I heard the sound of the cottage door clicking shut. Then, before I could turn, something slammed into me from behind with the force of a freight train. I crashed to the floor, the impact knocking the wind right out of me.

Liam stepped into view a moment later. I should have known he was lurking somewhere nearby, the bastard.

I tried to roll away, to get my bearings, but the pregnancy sickness hit me full force then. The world spun violently as I struggled to get up. All my training, all my fighting skills seemed useless as nausea crippled me.

Liam pounced again, driving his knee into my back and slamming my face against the rough wooden floor. Pain exploded across my cheek and forehead. I tasted blood—metallic and warm—on my tongue.

“Not so tough without your Alpha, are you?” Liam growled in my ear, his weight crushing me.

I bucked against him, trying to throw him off, but my body betrayed me. The pregnancy was draining my strength, making me vulnerable in a way I had never been before.

With a snarl, Liam flipped me onto my back and wrapped his large hands around my throat. His fingers dug into my skin, cutting off my air. I clawed at his arms, my nails tearing at his flesh, but he didn’t even flinch.

“I’ve waited so long for this,” he hissed, his face inches from mine, his breath hot against my skin. “To watch the life drain from your eyes.”

The pressure on my throat increased. Blackness crept in at the edges of my vision. I struggled frantically, my legs kicking uselessly, my hands pulling at his wrists. “L-Liam,” I begged, my voice hoarse. “I-I’m preg—”

“Pregnant?” Liam scoffed, driving his palms deeper into my throat. “Yeah, we know. News spreads fast, huh?”

“Better snuff out the sad little life now before it dies during labor,” Isabella cooed, shaking her head. As if my baby and I were just a couple of ants to be squashed.

Through the haze of pain, I saw them—William, Isabella, and Vanessa—standing in a loose semicircle, watching. Not just watching, but… smiling.

Vanessa, my former best friend, the woman I’d once trusted with everything, was fucking smiling as she watched Liam choke the life out of me.

That hurt more than the lack of oxygen. More than the bruising grip on my throat, the subtle crunch of my windpipe. My heart shattered at the sight of her standing there, so cold, so unmoved by my suffering.

My lungs burned for air. My strength was fading fast. The darkness closed in, narrowing my vision to a tiny tunnel. In those final moments, I thought of Nicholas, of our baby. Of all the things we would never see, never experience.

And then the cottage door exploded inward.

Through the fog, I heard growls, snarls, the sound of bodies crashing into furniture. The pressure on my throat suddenly vanished as Liam was ripped away from me.

I rolled onto my side, gasping and coughing, each breath like fire down my raw throat. I clawed at my neck, dry heaving. Through watering eyes, I saw Nicholas—my Nicholas—in his massive wolf form, teeth bared as he pinned Liam to the ground. Three more wolves flanked him—warriors from our pack.

In seconds, they had subdued Liam and Vanessa. I watched, still struggling to breathe, as Nicholas shifted back to human form, magnificent in his fury. He grabbed Vanessa by the hair and pressed a switchblade to her throat.

“Turn her into a rogue now!” he screamed at William, his face contorted with rage unlike anything I’d ever seen before. “Do it now, or I’ll fucking kill her!”

William’s eyes widened. The power to turn a werewolf into a rogue—forcing them permanently into wolf form, stripping away their intelligence—was an ancient power reserved only for the chairmen of the guild.

But he couldn’t turn Vanessa into a rogue now. Not when I still had questions about my father.

“Nicholas,” I croaked. “Wait…”

Nicholas wasn’t listening. “NOW!” he roared, pressing the blade harder against Vanessa’s skin.

William hesitated, looking between Nicholas and Vanessa. Finally, with a grimace, he extended his hand toward her.

“No!” I screamed, the word tearing at my injured throat. But it was too late.

Vanessa’s body convulsed, her eyes widening in shock and terror. Then she began to shift, bones cracking, skin stretching, until a wolf stood where my former friend had been. A rogue now, trapped in wolf form, the human part of her locked away forever.

With a pitiful whine, Vanessa—or the wolf that used to be Vanessa—bolted past me and out the door. Gone before I could ask her about my father, about the poisoning, about why she’d turned against me.

In the chaos that followed, William seized his opportunity. He shifted into his wolf form in one fluid motion, massive and grey. Isabella leapt onto his back, and before any of us could stop them, they were out the door and racing into the woods.

“After them!” Nicholas ordered two warriors, who immediately gave chase.

I tried to sit up, pointing weakly toward the door. “Wait… I have to…” The words rasped from my damaged throat.

Liam groaned from the floor where he lay, blood seeping from a wound on his head. The third warrior immediately cuffed him, ensuring he couldn’t shift or escape.

Nicholas was at my side in an instant, his warm hands cradling me. Without a word he stood, holding me against his chest, and carried me swiftly out of the cottage. I heard him say something about a doctor, but it sounded murky and far away, like I was underwater.

Only one thing was on my mind as he carried me away.

Vanessa.

I twisted in his arms, desperately trying to see over his shoulder, to catch a glimpse of the wolf that had once been my friend. I saw her fur disappearing in the trees.

“Wait,” I gasped, the effort sending daggers of pain through my throat. “I have to…”

But it was too late. Vanessa was gone, and Nicholas wasn’t listening. And then, the darkness claimed me completely.