Rise of a Silenced Wolf

Negoitation

July

"Oh, the Vance family," Joseph said, testing the waters. "That name sounds incredibly ancient—"

He trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid for her to fill in the blanks. It was one of his classic social tricks.

"Yes," Enya replied, a flicker of pride in her smile. "Our family goes back a long way. My great-great-grandfather actually founded the Silverlining Pack."

"What?" Joseph's eyes went wide. "You're both from the Silverlining Pack?"

"Yes. Our father is the current Alpha," Enya said. "Killian is next in line to lead the pack. But here at the hospital, he’s just Dr. Vance, and I’m Nurse Vance. We prefer to keep our heads down and just do our jobs."

Joseph’s expression shifted instantly. "The future Alpha," he murmured, his voice dripping with newfound respect. "No wonder. The moment Dr. Vance walked in, I knew he was cut from a different cloth. That kind of commanding presence... you don't see that in just any regular doctor."

"You flatter him, sir," Enya said.

Joseph’s brown-nosing clearly didn't move her an inch. Growing up as the Alpha’s daughter, she’d probably heard a lifetime's worth of sycophantic compliments. Her eyes remained completely calm as she gave a polite nod. "Thank you. But taking care of patients is just our job."

She turned her attention to me. "July, I’ll be back for rounds in an hour. If you need anything at all, there’s a call button right by your pillow. Just press it down, and I'll come running."

Turning back to Joseph, she pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it over. "These are the ICU guidelines. Your wife's oxygen line must remain completely clear at all times. If her oxygen saturation drops below ninety-five percent, the monitor will automatically sound an alarm. If anything happens, don't try to handle it yourself. Hit the call button immediately. There’s a straw in the water cup on the nightstand. She can’t drink on her own yet, so if you give her water, don't do more than twenty milliliters at a time. Trickle it slowly into the corner of her mouth to prevent choking."

Joseph took the paper, studying it intently for a few seconds before looking up with a deeply grateful smile. "Got it. Thank you for being so thorough. With you and your brother watching over her, I know July is in the best hands."

Enya nodded and stepped out, the heavy door clicking shut behind her as her footsteps faded down the hall.

Joseph looked down at the care guide, the smile completely vanishing from his lips. When he looked back up at me, there wasn't a trace of the warm gentleman he had played for Enya. He tossed the paper onto the nightstand without a second glance.

Then, he leaned down over me.

Panic gripped my chest. I thought he was going to try and kill me again, maybe choke me out or smother me with a pillow. A dozen horrific ways to die flashed through my mind in an instant. But instead, Joseph simply pressed his forehead against mine.

He was establishing a mind-link with me.

Normally, a wolfless can't communicate via a mind-link, except with her fated mate. The Moon Goddess seemed to have left a back door in our souls that only a partner could unlock. Perhaps it was meant to be a safety net so a defenseless mate could be warned in times of danger.

"July." Joseph’s voice echoed directly inside my mind.

"What do you want?" I spat back mentally.

Joseph went silent for a moment. "I'm sorry. July. I don't even know how to explain myself... I can't look you in the eyes. I've done something unforgivable."

No kidding, you monster. You pushed me off a cliff. You nearly killed our baby. You just tried to choke me out with my own oxygen line.

I sneered inwardly but forced my mind to remain dead calm.

Provoking him now was pure suicide. I couldn't move a muscle, couldn't utter a sound. All he had to do was pinch that tube for two minutes and I'd vanish from this world forever.

So instead of throwing accusations, I asked, "Why did you want to kill me?"

Joseph pulled back slightly, his face twisted in shame. "I didn't have a choice, July. I'm sorry. I owed a massive amount of money. I didn't dare tell you..."

"What?! Didn't we pay it all off—oh my God, you went back to gambling," I deduced.

"Yes, I thought I'd win it back. But I dug myself into an even deeper hole. The amount I owe this time is too huge. I was terrified to tell you. I knew you'd never forgive me—you said last time that if I ever gambled again, you'd leave me. I was desperate... I truly was desperate. I didn't know where else to turn for the cash..."

"What does that have to do with murdering me?" I demanded.

"I took out a massive accidental life insurance policy on you," he whispered, swallowing hard. "The payout is huge. And the beneficiary is the spouse."

The puzzle pieces finally clicked together in my brain.

"So you planned this for months. You suddenly act like a perfect husband, take me on a romantic vacation, lead me to the edge of a cliff, and push me off... all for blood money?"

"Yes," he admitted in a soft, pathetic whisper.

"God, Joseph. I am your fated mate. How could you do this to me?" Tears spilled from my eyes, and Joseph used a tissue to gently wipe them away.

"I'm sorry, July. I really am. But I had my back against the wall—"

"You shouldn't have gambled in the first place! I bailed you out once, and you swore on your life you'd never touch it again!"

"I know, I know I made a catastrophic mistake. But if I didn't pay them back on time, those loan sharks would have torn me limb from limb..."

I closed my eyes, then snapped them open. "I don't care about your pathetic excuses, Joseph. You should have thought about the consequences before you rolled the dice. How could you make me—make our child—pay for your sins?" I interrogated him. "Our baby is nearly dead! I literally told you I was pregnant, and you still chose to push me from that goddamned cliff!"

Joseph lowered his gaze, unable to look me in the eye. "I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you." He suddenly looked up, a manic look in his eyes. "July, I'll spend the rest of my life making this up to you and our baby. I'll take care of you, protect you. From now on, I will only do things that make you happy. I swear it—"

He had said those exact words the first time he got into debt.

I didn't believe a single word coming out of his mouth. How could I ever trust a monster who threw me off a cliff for an insurance payout just hours ago? My trust was as shattered as my body.

But I couldn't let him see through me. I needed to play along to survive. Instead, I said, "Swear it."

"I swear it!" he blurted out instantly, grabbing my right hand and intertwining his fingers with mine.

The irony was sickening. This was the same hand that had plunged me into the abyss. Hands can hold both tenderness and murder at the same time—a dark truth I had never understood as clearly as I did today.

"Do you forgive me, July? Do you forgive me?" Joseph begged.

In my heart, the answer was never. I will survive, I will stand back up, I will find my voice, and I will rip that mask off your face in front of the whole world. You won't escape a single penny of that debt.

But through the mind-link, I lied, "I forgive you."

Joseph's body flinched slightly, stunned by my words. "Really?" he asked, completely caught off guard.

"Really," I said. "On the day I married you, I vowed to stand by you for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. You made a mistake—a horrible, unforgivable mistake—but you're still here. You didn't run away. You still care about me, don't you?"

"Of course I do," he lied smoothly.

"Then that's enough," I spun my web. "I won't breathe a word of this to anyone. Not the police, not the doctors, not the nurses, and not my parents. No one will ever know. We'll tell everyone it was a tragic accident—I took a bad step while taking photos at the cliff. We can start over. You can find a real job, and we can rebuild our lives, raising our baby together."

"You don't hate me?" he asked.

"Of course I hate you," I said. This line had to be true, or a gambler like him wouldn't buy the lie. "I will never forget what you did to me today for the rest of my life. But hate and forgiveness can live in the same heart. I hate the man who pushed me, but I also remember the man who didn't reject me for being wolfless. Joseph, we are mates and I don’t want my baby to grow up without a Dad."

There was a pause. Something flickered accross his eyes but I couldn't tell. "But how can I be sure I can trust you?" Joseph asked, sudden suspicion darkening his eyes. "If you turn on me—"

"I won't."

"Dead men tell no tales, July," Joseph muttered coldly.

I shivered at his sheer ruthlessness. I never thought I'd have to negotiate for my life with my own fated mate.

"Maybe. But you can't kill me here. You heard Enya—Killian Vance is the future Alpha of the Silverlining Pack. If I mysteriously die under his watch, how do you expect to walk away scot-free? If Dr. Vance finds my death suspicious, he will launch a full Pack investigation. Do you really want an enforcer of a powerful wolf pack hunting you down?"

Joseph was a gambler, and gamblers are masters at calculating risks. Now he was weighing the danger of killing me against the benefit of keeping me alive.

"The stray returns," I whispered into his mind, turning the very words he wrote on the back of our plane tickets against him. "You wrote those words yourself. Now you have a real chance to prove it. The insurance payout for my accident will be more than enough to cover your gambling debts and give you a fresh start. No one will ever know what you did. Just let me live, let me go home to my parents, and I'll bury the truth. I just want to survive, Joseph."

Joseph went quiet for a long time. He paced around the room anxiously, balancing his options on a razor's edge. Finally, he looked straight at me. "Alright. I believe you. Thank you, July," he said, nodding slowly. "Thank you for giving me another chance. I swear I won't let you down. I will cherish you and our baby."

He leaned down and kissed my forehead again. My stomach churned, but I didn't flinch.

"I'm going to use the restroom," he murmured aloud, backing away.

The second the door closed behind him, I let out a ragged breath.

Thank the Moon Joseph couldn't read minds, or I'd be a dead woman. But a chilling thought crossed my mind. How I wish there were someone else out there who could read me, someone who could hear my silent screams in the dark. I had bought myself some time, but what now? I had to find a way to let the world know the danger I was in...

Before I could figure out a plan, Joseph returned. He sat at my bedside and held my hand tightly. "We're going to be okay," he said, his voice quiet but firm, as if trying to convince himself as much as me. "Everything is going to be just fine."

I forced a gentle smile to my face.

Yes.

Everything is going to be just fine.

Just not in the way you think, you monster.