The hospital room smelled like antiseptic and lies. I pressed my palm against the bullet wound in my shoulder and listened to my mother's voice through the locked door.
"She's in here," Emily said to someone in the hallway. "I'm her mother. She was shot yesterday."
I held my breath. The pain in my shoulder was nothing compared to the terror clawing up my throat. They had found me.
"If she was your daughter, how come you don't know where she is?" a male voice asked. Security. Thank the Moon Goddess for hospital security protocols.
"Today is her wedding," my mother said. Her voice was sharp with desperation and something else I couldn't quite place. Fear, maybe. Or guilt. "I'm here to fetch her. Her groom is waiting at the Keyamo compound."
My fingers tightened around the bed rail until my knuckles went white. The Keyamo pack had paid a bride price for me. Fifty thousand in gold. My parents had spent every single coin already. Spent it on my sister Codysa's third abortion. Spent it on their gambling debts. Spent it on everything except saving me from marrying Larry Keyamo, the disgraced wolf who had killed three mates already and walked away clean every time.
The security guard's voice grew stern. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"Please, you don't understand," my mother begged. "If she's not found, my other daughter will—"
I stopped listening. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, weak from the silver bullet they had dug out of me yesterday. Someone had shot me outside my parents' house when I tried to run. I still didn't know who pulled the trigger, but I had my suspicions. My father had been cleaning his rifle that morning. My mother had been crying in the kitchen. And Codysa had been nowhere to be found when the shot rang out and I went down hard on the gravel driveway.
The voices faded down the hallway. I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.
My phone buzzed on the side table. I grabbed it with my good arm, my heart pounding against my ribs.
Stay where you are. I'm handling this. The message was from a blocked number.
I stared at the screen until the words blurred. Who was this? The same person who had called the ambulance after I was shot? The same person who had paid for this private room and posted armed guards at my door? Someone with resources. Someone with power.
Before I could reply, another message came through.
The Keyamo pack is at your parents' house right now. Your sister is there.
My blood went cold. Codysa. She was only nineteen. Spoiled, selfish, and completely unprepared for wolves like the Keyamos.
I tried to stand, but pain shot through my shoulder. The room tilted. I grabbed the IV stand to steady myself, breathing hard through my teeth.
The door handle rattled. I tensed, ready to shift despite the silver still burning in my veins.
"Miss Bluey?" A new voice. Male. Authoritative. "I'm Dr. Rivers. May I come in?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't trust anyone right now.
"I'm alone," he said. "I need to check your wound."
Slowly, I moved to the door and pressed my ear against it. I could hear his heartbeat. Steady. No other heartbeats nearby. He was telling the truth about being alone.
I unlocked the door and stepped back, keeping the IV stand between us like a weapon.
Dr. Rivers entered and closed the door behind him. He was older, maybe fifty, with gray streaking his dark hair. He wore the white coat of a healer, but his eyes held the gold shimmer of an alpha wolf.
"You need to sit down before you tear your stitches," he said.
"Who sent you?"
"Someone who wants you alive." He moved to the medical cart and pulled on gloves. "Someone who's been tracking the Keyamo pack's movements for months."
"Why?"
"Because Larry Keyamo doesn't deserve another mate to destroy." His jaw tightened. "Sit. Please."
I sat on the edge of the bed, watching him carefully. He unwrapped the bandage on my shoulder with practiced efficiency.
"The silver's out," he said. "You'll heal, but you need rest. No shifting for at least three days."
"My sister—"
"Is not your responsibility." His tone was firm. "You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He met my eyes. "Your parents offered you to the Keyamos. When you ran, they offered your sister instead. She agreed to go."
The words didn't make sense. "No. Codysa would never—"
"She thought it would be romantic. A powerful wolf choosing her." He finished rebandaging my shoulder. "She's about to learn otherwise."
Nausea rolled through my stomach. "I have to stop this."
"You can't. Not in your condition." He disposed of his gloves and turned back to me. "But there's someone who can."
"Who?"
"Alpha King Richard Delmark."
I blinked. Everyone in the northern territories knew that name. The Delmark pack controlled half the kingdom. They were old money, old blood, old power.
"What does he want with the Keyamos?"
"Larry Keyamo owes him a debt. A significant one." Dr. Rivers pulled a card from his pocket and set it on the table beside my bed. "The Alpha King has been looking for leverage. You're it."
I stared at the card. It was heavy paper, embossed with a silver wolf.
"He wants to meet you," Dr. Rivers said. "Tomorrow night. The Delmark estate."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then Larry Keyamo gets away with whatever he does to your sister tonight. And next month, he'll find another girl. And another." He moved toward the door. "The choice is yours, Miss Bluey."
He left before I could respond.
I picked up the card with shaking fingers. On the back, someone had written an address in black ink.
My phone buzzed again.
Your sister is in danger. Come to me, and I'll save her. Refuse, and I'll let the Keyamos have what they paid for.
No signature. No name. But I knew who had sent it.
Alpha King Richard Delmark was making me an offer I couldn't refuse.