The pack doctor's needle is already in my arm when I realize this isn't a request—it's a command. "Wait—" I try to pull back, but Alpha Dominic's hand clamps down on my shoulder, pinning me to the medical chair. His grip is iron, and the mate bond that should bring comfort only broadcasts his impatience like static through my chest. "Be still, Mara." His voice carries that Alpha resonance that makes my wolf want to submit, even as every instinct screams danger. I watch my blood—too much blood—flow through the clear tube into the collection bag. Dr. Reeves won't meet my eyes. He's been our pack physician for twenty years, delivered half the wolves in this territory, but right now he's just following orders. "Dominic, I can't—I told you last week I'm anemic. The iron supplements aren't working yet. My wolf is already weak from—" "Enough." He doesn't even look at me. His eyes are fixed on the window overlooking the intensive care unit, where *she* lies in the hospital bed. Sera. Beautiful, fragile Sera with her golden hair spread across the pillow like a halo. The woman he actually chose. The woman he actually loves. I'm just the mate the Moon Goddess stuck him with. "She needs this," Dominic says, and there's more emotion in those three words than he's shown me in six months of marriage. "The silver poisoning is spreading. Your blood is the only compatible match." "I gave blood three days ago. And two weeks before that." My voice sounds thin, reedy. "My wolf can barely shift anymore. I'm dizzy all the time. If you take more now—" "You're being dramatic." Finally, he looks at me, and the contempt in his dark eyes makes my stomach drop. "You've always been dramatic when it comes to Sera. Don't think I haven't noticed." The accusation hits like a slap. "What?" "Every time she needs something, suddenly you have a crisis. A headache. Fatigue. Some convenient ailment that requires attention." His jaw tightens. "I won't let you manipulate this situation. Sera is dying." The world tilts. He actually believes that. He thinks I'm faking this—faking the tremors in my hands, the constant exhaustion, the way my wolf whimpers in pain whenever I try to connect with her. "Dominic, please—" My wolf's desperate plea mingles with my own. The mate bond thrums with wrong, wrong, wrong, but he's shut himself off from it. Or maybe he just doesn't care what it's telling him. "Alpha." Dr. Reeves clears his throat nervously. "Perhaps we should check her levels first. If she's anemic as she claims—" "She's always claimed something." Dominic's hand tightens on my shoulder. "Take what Sera needs." I watch the bag fill. One pint. Two. My vision starts to blur at the edges. "That's enough for now," Dr. Reeves says quietly, moving to remove the needle. "Keep going." Dominic's Alpha command rolls through the room like thunder. Dr. Reeves's hand freezes. His eyes dart to me, to my pale face, to the way I'm starting to shake. "Alpha, I can't—this is dangerous. She's already showing signs of—" "I gave you an order." The command slams into the doctor like a physical force. His hand trembles as he adjusts the tube, letting more blood flow. I try to speak, but my tongue feels thick, useless. Through the window, I see Sera stir. Even from here, she's ethereal—the daughter of the neighboring pack's Beta, brought here five months ago for "protection" after a rogue attack. The same attack where Dominic found her bleeding in the woods and something in him just... clicked. He'd looked at her the way he'd never looked at me. Within a week, she was living in the pack house. Within two, everyone knew she was his chosen one, mate bond be damned. The whispers started: *Poor Alpha, stuck with Mara when his heart belongs to Sera.* I'd tried to be understanding. The mate bond is sacred, but love is complicated. I'd even tried to be kind to Sera, to welcome her, to ignore the way Dominic's eyes followed her everywhere. But she'd looked at me with those big blue eyes and said, sweet as honey, "I'm so sorry you're in this position. It must be hard, knowing he wishes the bond was with someone else." That's when I knew she wasn't fragile at all. "Alpha—" Dr. Reeves's voice is urgent now. "Her lips are turning blue." The room spins. I slump forward, but Dominic's grip keeps me upright. "She's fine. She's done this before—passes out for attention right when Sera needs help." His voice seems to come from very far away. "Last month during Sera's birthday celebration, remember? Suddenly Mara had a migraine. Two weeks ago when I was supposed to take Sera to the territory borders, Mara fell down the stairs." I didn't fall. I was pushed. But I never told him that because I had no proof, and I knew he wouldn't believe me anyway. "This is different," Dr. Reeves insists. "Her heart rate—" "Finish the collection." My wolf howls somewhere deep inside, a desperate, dying sound. The mate bond stretches thin as a spider's thread. I want to fight, to rip the needle out, to shift and run, but I can't. I'm trapped by the Alpha command, by the mate bond, by the cruel reality that the man the Moon Goddess chose for me would rather let me die than disappoint his true love. The last thing I see before darkness takes me is Sera's face through the window. She's awake. Looking right at us. And she's smiling.