Just then, Adrian and Ivy scampered over, their voices high and eager.
"Daddy, it was Mommy who slipped something in your coffee that day!" Adrian blurted.
"Yeah, she said you wouldn't give her a pup, so she spiked your drink!" Ivy added.
Colette's eyes widened, as if a revelation had struck. "I get it now," she said, wiping away tears. "Isabel wanted to ruin me with some other wolf while stealing you for herself. She's pure poison!"
Her voice broke as she turned to Charles. "When you asked earlier, it hit me—back at the lounge, I was nearly humiliated. I was so scared, I froze."
That settled it. Charles's doubts vanished, replaced by a hollow ache. Before binding with Isabel, he'd looked into her past, learning she was his old schoolmate, maybe even carrying a torch for him all those
