Three

Tears filled Crystal’s eyes when she grabbed my hand. "Eve, please, don’t leave me now. Stay with me."

The sound of my best friend begging felt foreign. She never begged. She was always the calm one, the doctor who told patients the worst news and helped them breathe. She had stayed steady the night we learned our parents were dead. While I broke down, she kept me standing. Back then I thought she was unshakeable. Seeing her crack now twisted something deep inside me. It wasn’t fear for myself; it was guilt that she was afraid because of me.

She had misread my body.

I was not dying, I was healing. Healing was supposed to feel like peace, not like my veins being rewritten from the inside. 

Axel, the Lycan beast, laid his large hand on my forehead. His skin was warm, like his touch alone could order my body to obey. 

When he lifted my eyelid, his silver eyes met mine with no surprise and no softness. It was like looking into a frozen lake.

My chest tightened. Why did I want so badly to see something else in those eyes? Something to prove the bond wasn’t fate’s cruel joke.

There was nothing.

My wolf gained strength with every second, like she had swallowed fire. Her voice rumbled in my head. "He is ours!"

She didn’t care about logic. I felt her press against the walls of my mind, desperate to reach for Axel. She didn’t see the enemy, she saw destiny.

My body arched suddenly, ripped from the bed. Crystal panicked and tried to hold me.

I wanted to scream that I wasn’t dying. God no, I was burning alive. Every nerve was a lit fuse. If this was surviving, then it was the worst torture.

Axel’s scent filled the room, swallowing me. It smelled of cedar, wind, and earth after rain. It was in my blood now, invading my cells.

The doctor holding my file spoke calmly. "No sign of internal bleeding. Vitals are stable."

"You okay, Eve?" Crystal whispered, wiping her cheeks. "You don’t get to leave me now. We’ve come too far." Her voice cracked on the last word.

"Can you stop?" Axel said flatly. "If you can’t control yourself, step away. I've got work to do."

I saw Crystal’s anger, but she swallowed the insult. Axel flipped through my chart like he was checking items off a shopping list. It infuriated me to see him so detached, like my life was just another report before his next task.

And yet, even while hating Axel’s arrogance, I could not look away. He had that magnetic presence, a stubborn mouth, a body cut by war. His black shirt clung to every line of muscle. Around his neck a small totem rested on his skin, carved with an ancient symbol. 

"Blood pressure is stable," he murmured. "Breathing is normal. Oxygen ninety-eight."

He spoke like I was a file. Still, every touch of his fingers made me tremble. 

"What’s her classification?" he asked without looking up.

"Gamma," the doctor answered. "Pack: Blood Moon."

The lies stung. I had buried my real pack name for obvious reasons. I had to lie about my identity and endure the humiliation of the bond, because part of me wanted him to hesitate, to show anything but an ice wall. Axel’s silence said everything: I didn’t matter.

Of course he felt the bond. Lycans sensed it instantly. He had felt it the moment he walked in. Yet he showed nothing.

He was going to reject me. I’d seen rejections before, but this one would be personal. It would hurt.

My wolf whimpered, growling with each breath. "Talk to him. Beg him. He can't reject us!”

I pushed her back. What did she know? She lived for the thrill of the bond. She didn’t know the bitterness, the pain of wanting someone who would never want you back.

Where was the joy of being bound to the killer of your parents? 

The memory of that night clung to my skin. The blood. The screams. 

He was going to reject me, and I would let him. It would be quick. I would pretend it didn’t break me. That my wolf wasn’t howling inside.

"Prepare a blood test," he said to the doctor. He took a vial of clear liquid from the tray. The needle burned under my skin. My body, too weak, betrayed everything: every shiver, every twitch. He didn’t need words to humiliate me. His control was enough.

"Will she pull through?" Crystal asked from the corner of the room.

"There’s an inconsistency here," he answered. "Someone poisoned her."

Crystal let out a nervous laugh. "Poisoned? That’s absurd."

"Maybe. Or you’re lying through your teeth," he muttered as he scribbled on a pad. He handed the sheet to Crystal. "Go get a vial of Neurostatine from the pharmacy. We’ll see how much is in her blood."

Crystal hesitated, then left the room. I heard her footsteps fade. The door click left me alone with him. The air turned sharp.

My heart pounded so hard it hurt. Axel leaned toward me, his hand entering my field of vision. He turned my face gently toward him, but his gaze did not match the gesture. It was maddening.

It wasn't a pity. He simply didn’t want me. Lycans never wanted us. To them we were bodies, bloodlines, tools. Never equals. Never enough.

He didn’t know I was Luna, because I’d let Lance handle diplomacy. A mistake I regret now. Hiding behind his title had protected me, but it had also erased me.

The door opened. A woman entered, wearing a ridiculous uniform, more cleavage than fabric. One look said her real role.

She moved like she was already undressing for him. Her lips curved. "Your Majesty," she said, bowing.

Axel didn’t seem surprised. His eyes slid over her, stopping at her ass. "Wait for me in my office," he said. His voice sounded like an order to a trained animal. The tone cut me deeper than I wanted to admit.

She left, swinging her hips. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Something burned in me. It wasn’t jealousy. I couldn’t be jealous of a monster like that. 

Crystal came back with a small bag.

"Tell me everything. Habits, diet, contacts," Axel said. "And don’t lie. I can smell bullshit before it leaves your mouth."

Crystal laughed nervously. She insisted there was nothing unusual. 

"She had enough poison to take down a wolf twice her size. Try again."

He removed one glove and put on another.

"She stays here for a week. One more day and she would have been gone." He adjusted the IV and tossed the gloves in the trash.

"Don’t ruin my treatment. I have cameras everywhere," he said before the doors closed behind him.

Crystal watched him go, her face full of rage. "What an asshole," she said in a trembling voice. "I hate him. I want him to die."