Aria’s POV

"It is a pity you really can’t hold your liquor, Aria."

Richard’s voice slid into my ears like syrup laced with poison.

My head spun violently, the world tilting and folding in on itself. I blinked hard, trying to force my feet to obey me, but my legs refused.

If not for his arm around my waist, I would have collapsed onto the floor. Richard had brought me to a hotel.

My wolf snarled inside me, furious and trapped.

Get away from him.

Richard seemed to sense my weakness immediately. I felt it in the way his eyes darkened, in how he leaned closer, crowding my space deliberately. His breath brushed my ear as he spoke again, his tone husky and coaxing.

"Aria... let me take you somewhere to rest. You’re feeling really uncomfortable right now."

The moment he said uncomfortable, my body reacted violently. Heat surged through me, starting at my spine and rushing up my neck, flooding my face. My vision blurred further, the edges of the world melting.

A soft sound slipped from my lips before I could stop it.

My wolf slammed against the invisible cage inside me, roaring in warning. This is wrong. He did this.

Richard’s eyes lit up at my weakness.

He guided me forward, steering me away from the main path, choosing a shadowed route where no one would look twice. I barely registered the hotel lobby, the staff’s quick glances, the way they deferred to him without question.

Everything felt distant and muffled.

The small watch glowed faintly red on my wrist. It showed it was streaming everything. Amelia and Chloe were currently outside watching everything that was happening through a livestream.

"Aria," Richard murmured, his face filling my blurred vision as the door closed behind us. "Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?"

His gaze clung to me with an intensity that made my skin crawl. He looked obsessed, possessed and hungry.

I swayed, my thoughts thick and slow.

"Richard..." I tried to pull away, my strength melting like snow under sunlight. "I don’t feel well. I need to rest. You should... leave."

My hands pressed weakly against his chest.

He didn’t move back.

Instead, his fingers rose and touched my cheek and he put something in my mouth, something that melted instantly.

"Aria," he said softly, "the medicine will soon start to work. Very soon, you’ll feel better."

My wolf screamed.

Medicine.

The word echoed uselessly in my fogged mind.

"What... medicine?" I whispered, staring at him in confusion.

The gentle look on his face made bile rise in my throat.

"I just gave you some medicine," he said calmly, stroking my hair as though soothing a child. "After the medicine, you will sleep. And tomorrow, everything will be fine."

My thoughts tangled, slipping backward in time.

"Medicine... sleep... get better," I murmured, my voice small. "Grandma used to say that."

The words weren’t meant for him. They only made his grip tighten.

He began to help me out of my jacket, his movements careful, almost considerate. Anyone watching might have thought he was kind.

Cool air brushed my shoulders as the fabric slipped away. My wolf raged, teeth bared, claws scraping uselessly against the inside of my skin.

Touch her and I’ll tear you apart, she promised.

Richard’s eyes burned as they lingered on me, his excitement barely restrained. There was no guilt there, only triumph.

I could hear his heartbeat.

It was fast and uneven. Louder than it should have been.

He leaned closer, his breath shallow with anticipation.

Just as his fingers hovered a breath away from my skin, a sound more violent than his pulse filled the room. It was the sudden snap of bone as I pushed him aside and straightened my neck.

I rose to my feet in one fluid motion. The haze vanished instantly. My senses snapped back into place, sharp and blazing. The medicine had worked faster than I expected.

Before Richard could even stumble backward, I pressed the face of my watch.

Click.

A thin, gleaming spike shot out with a sharp hiss, stopping a hair’s breadth from his cheek.

"Richard," I said calmly, tilting my head as my wolf stretched beneath my skin, "guess who’s the hunter... and who’s the prey?"

His dreamy gaze shattered.

He froze, his eyes snapping into focus as if waking from a nightmare. "What...what do you mean?"

I stepped closer instead of away, the watch hovering by his face. I could see every pore on his skin, every flicker of panic he was desperately trying to suppress.

There you are, my wolf purred. The real you.

"How is this possible?" he muttered hoarsely. "The drug did not work?."

I laughed.

It came from deep in my chest, low and cold.

"Why are you laughing?" he demanded, his voice tightening.

I leaned in even closer, letting him feel the pressure, the shift in power. "Because you really thought you were clever."

Chloe and Amelia had suspected something like this could happen and I had taken with me a substance that would nullify the effects of a drug in a matter of minutes incase I was drugged.

I had taken it on the drive to the hotel without Richard noticing.

Richard’s gaze dropped to my wrist.

The silver watch gleamed innocently against my skin, elegant and unassuming. But the longer he stared, the more the blood drained from his face.

"What... is that thing?"

At last, understanding dawned in him.

This wasn’t his trap, It was mine. The moment stretched.

Then

BANG!

The door burst open violently, crashing against the wall.

Shouts exploded into the room.

"Quick—get photos!" "Ms. Aria Darvin! Are you feeling guilty about being alone with your childhood friend so soon after your divorce?"

"Alpha Richard was the biggest beneficiary when you stole Hemsworth Group’s trade secrets...were you colluding a year ago?"

"Ms. Aria Darvin, instead of clarifying the Darvin family rumors, you’re meeting privately with Alpha Richard. Are you desperate for his help?"

Camera flashes detonated like lightning, blinding and relentless.

My wolf snarled. This was an ambush.

They swarmed like locusts, hungry and reckless, convinced they’d found a feast.

My heart sank.

How did they know I was here?