ra

d even process the reality of the frozen account, the heavy landline on the d

the receive

t facility. "The auto-pay for Hazle Mercer's ventilator care failed this morning. If the fifty thousand dollar balance

erfunded nightmare where patie

ling so violently the phone rattled against

buzzed. A text from Sylvia Vance: *Blackwood Towe

alculated. He had cut my mother's li

d, claiming she couldn't find my appointment in the system. For forty-five agonizing minutes, I

ed past, their hushed whispers loud

s the wolfl

lpha keeps that Rejec

like a starv

my dignity, drowning me in the suffocating

aiting in her glass-walled office. The red handprint I'd left on

nt across her mahogany desk. It r

"Confess to your emotional instability due to your wolfless nature. A

enever he deemed me inconvenient. But the clock was ticking toward five. I pricked my fi

dropping to a venomous whisper. "Listen to me, *Omega*. If you ever touch me again,

office. Passing the employee breakroom on my way

bags on a sunlit street in SoHo. Karly Rowe clung to his arm, and little Ava skipped happily beside th

k member muttered to her friend as they walk

private, agonizing hell-pierced my chest simultaneously. I

king garage. I had no Inner Wolf to howl my agony. I could only scream silently,

g, emotionless presence vi

*Alpha's

h my skull. His voice echoed in my head like metal scraping

he played the perfect father on TV-was the ultimate insult. But instea

the rearview mirror. The despair evaporated, leaving beh

he empty car, wiping the blood fr

ne and drove back