Scarlett’s POV
I sat by the window in my dark room, the silence of the night pressing against my ears. My mind was a battlefield, replaying the look in the triplets’ eyes—the possessiveness, the raw hunger, and that terrifying confidence that I was theirs. My heart ached for my parents, for the life that had been taken from , and for the impossible choice that now sat like a heavy weight on my chest.
A soft, steady knocking at the door broke through my thoughts.
"Who is it?" I called out, my voice sounding thin even to my own ears.
"A maid, My Lady," a shy voice replied. The door creaked open, and a young maid I didn’t recognize stepped into the room. She kept her head bowed, her eyes fixed on the silver tray she carried. "Lady Lila sent . She said you looked pale after the... events in the library. She insisted you drink this tea to calm your nerves and help you sleep."
I managed a small, tired smile. Lila. She was the only one in this den of wolves who saw as human. "Thank her for ," I said, reaching out to take the warm cup.
The maid nodded quickly, her movents rushed, and vanished back into the hallway before I could even ask her na.
As I lifted the cup to my lips, a sharp, tallic sll hit my nose. It was bitter, hiding under the soft scent of the herbs. Deep in the back of my mind, my wolf let out a low warning growl. Her fur rose, a deep instinct screaming that sothing was wrong.
Hush, I thought, trying to calm the restless spirit inside . It’s just the dicine. You know we hate the sll of dried roots and bitter leaves. Wolves and dicine had never gone well together; the wildness in our blood always pushed back against anything made in a pot. I ignored the warning, desperate for the sleep it promised. I took a long, deep swallow.
The first thing I noticed was the heat. It wasn’t the soft warmth of tea; it was a burning, oily heat that covered my tongue and slid down my throat. I gasped, the cup slipping from my numb fingers. It hit the floor with a dull thud, the dark liquid spreading across the rug.
The world began to tilt.
I tried to stand, but my legs felt like water. A sudden, painful cramp grabbed my stomach, making bend over. It felt as though a thousand tiny needles were stabbing inside . My breath hitched, my lungs suddenly feeling too small, too tight.
"Lila..." I wheezed, but my voice was gone.
I stumbled toward the door, my vision breaking into pieces. The shadows in the corner of the room seed to stretch out, reaching for . I fell to my knees, the cold stone floor biting into my skin. This wasn’t a fever. This wasn’t the bond.
This was wolfsbane.
Strong, concentrated poison. It was made to paralyze a wolf, to shut down the heart by freezing the blood in the veins. I could feel it working—a slow, icy wave creeping up from my fingertips toward my chest. My heart, usually steady, began to miss beats, fluttering like a dying bird trapped in a cage.
I collapsed onto my side, my cheek pressed against the cold floor. Through the haze of pain, I felt sothing in my chest flare. It wasn’t the usual soft feeling; it was a wild, screaming alarm. It felt like three burning irons pressing into my soul.
They felt it. The triplets had felt my pain.
Sowhere in the distance, I heard the sound of doors being kicked open. The floor shook beneath —a heavy, steady pounding that grew louder and louder. Voices followed, but they sounded far away, blurred by the rushing sound of blood in my ears.
"Scarlett!"
The door to my room burst open. I didn’t have to look up to know who it was. The air shifted, heavy with the scent of forest and fury.
Liam was the first to reach . He dropped to his knees, his hands hovering over as if he were afraid I’d break. "She’s not breathing right! Look at her eyes—they’re widening!"
"Move!" Leon’s voice was a roar. He shoved Liam aside, his face full of wild fear. He picked up into his arms, but his touch felt like fire against my frozen skin. "Soone get the healer! If she dies, I’ll kill every guard in this wing!"
Leo was there a second later, his hand shaking as he pressed it to my neck. "Her heart... Liam, it’s slowing. We’re losing her."
The pack healer, an old woman nad Hecate, hurried into the room, her face tight with concern. She took one look at the broken cup on the floor and the blue shade of my lips.
"Wolfsbane distillate," she whispered, her voice rough. "She’s been poisoned with Night-Stitch. It’s a heart-stopping poison. My healing ability will fight the poison, but it won’t restart her heart. Her body is too weak; she’s slipping into a deep cold."
"Do sothing!" Liam demanded, his Alpha command shaking the walls.
"There is only one way," Hecate said, her eyes eting the three brothers. "She needs an Alpha’s life heat. She needs skin-to-skin contact, a steady flow of warmth and energy to help her heart until my ability heals her."
A deadly, heavy silence filled the room. The air grew thick with a different kind of tension—a sharp, suffocating energy that made my skin crawl even through the numbness.
"I’ll warm her," Liam said, his voice dropping low and firm. He reached for , his eyes hard with worry. "I am the strongest. I can keep her alive longer than both of you."
"Get your hands off her," Leon snapped, stepping in front of Liam, his chest rising fast. "I run hotter than both of you. I’ll keep her alive."
"Both of you will ruin it!" Leo shouted, pushing his way between them. His eyes were wet with fear and anger. "Scarlett always says she loves my scent. She feels safe with . I’m the one she relaxes around. I’m staying with her. The rest of you, get out!"
I lay there on the bed where they had placed , trapped in a body that was no longer mine. I could hear them arguing, the sound of furniture being pushed aside as they faced each other. They were fighting over who got to save , their pride and rivalry blinding them to the fact that every second they argued, another piece of my life slipped away.
"Enough!" Hecate yelled, slamming her staff against the floor. "She is dying! One of you must hold her, and you must do it now, or you can spend the rest of your lives mourning a corpse!"
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