Chapter 7

Elara Thorne POV:

I fought against the tidal wave of rage, my knuckles white as I clenched my fists.This must be a trap she set, deliberately provoking me to attack her here and achieve her unknown purpose, so I cannot let it be as she wishes.

I forced my voice to be steady, cold. "You think a lie can hold him forever? One day, Ryker will learn the truth."

Serena laughed, a high, piercing sound that grated on my nerves. "The truth?" She stopped laughing, her brown eyes turning hard and vicious. "And what will he do? He'll think you're a jealous, bitter she-wolf, making up stories to slander the woman who saved his life."

She stepped closer, her face inches from mine, and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Just like two years ago."

The air left my lungs in a rush. Two years ago. The miscarriage. My first baby.

She saw the horrified recognition in my eyes and her smile was pure poison. "You didn't really think that was an accident, did you? That you just *slipped* while walking in the garden?"

Flashes of that day returned with sickening clarity. Serena, there in the garden with me. Serena, handing me a glass of refreshing fruit juice because I looked tired.

"It was you," I breathed, the words barely audible. The realization was a physical blow, stealing the strength from my legs. "You murdered my child."

She straightened up, all pretense of subtlety gone. Her face was a mask of triumphant cruelty. "Of course, it was me. A few crushed wolfsbane petals in your juice was all it took. Watching you collapse in a pool of your own blood... watching Ryker panic... it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

That was it. The last thread of my control snapped. The grief for my lost son, the fury at her deception, the pain of Ryker's betrayal-it all converged into a single, blinding point of impact.

With a guttural roar, I swung my arm, pouring every ounce of my pain and rage into the blow. My palm connected with her cheek with a crack that echoed through the silent room.

Serena's head snapped to the side. A dark red handprint bloomed on her skin, and a trickle of blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.

But there was no anger in her eyes. Only elation. This was her moment.

She threw herself backward with theatrical flair, landing softly on the plush rug.

"Aah!" she shrieked, her voice a pitch-perfect scream of agony. "My stomach! My baby!"

I stared, frozen, as she clawed at her flat stomach. And then I saw it. A dark, wet stain was spreading rapidly across the front of her silk robe, a vibrant, horrifying crimson. A blood pack. She had a blood pack hidden between her legs.

She writhed on the floor, a perfect imitation of a woman in unimaginable pain, her eyes fixed on the front door. "Ryker!" she screamed, her voice cracking with manufactured terror. "Help me! My sister... she's killing our baby!"

I was speechless, trapped in the web of her monstrous, intricate lie.

And right on cue, the front door of the villa burst open, splintering off its hinges.

Ryker stood there, his massive form filling the doorway. He looked like a beast of legend, his face a thunderous mask of pure, unrestrained fury.

His wild eyes took in the scene in an instant: Serena, writhing in a pool of "blood" on the floor, and me, standing over her, my hand still tingling from the slap.

From his perspective, the story was simple, brutal, and clear. He saw a crime scene, and I was the undisputed villain.

He looked at me, and the hatred in his eyes was so absolute, so potent, it was a physical force that knocked the breath from my lungs. I knew, in that moment, that nothing I could say would ever be heard. I was already tried, convicted, and sentenced in his mind.

Serena's trap had snapped shut.

*No...* Lyra's howl was a faint, dying whisper in my soul. *No... we've been framed...*