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Chapter 7: The Other Woman

The morning after Jake broke in, Ava decided she was done being the damsel.

She woke up first. Ethan was asleep on the floor again, one arm thrown over his eyes, bare chest rising and falling. The mark on his own neck - a matching dark crescent - was faintly visible. His Luna mark for her. It had appeared overnight.

She stared at it, then at him, then got up quietly and went to the kitchen.

If she was going to be a Luna - fake or not - she was going to make coffee.

She was in the middle of pouring water into the fancy espresso machine she didn't know how to use when the penthouse elevator dinged.

Ava froze. "Ethan? Did you order - "

Sophia Laurent walked in.

Not with security. With a key. A key Ava didn't know anyone else had.

Sophia wore white workout clothes, perfect makeup at 7 AM, holding a green juice and a small paper bag.

"Oh," Sophia said, smile sharp. "You're still here. I thought Ethan would have sent you home after last night's little... drama."

Ava's hand tightened on the mug. "How did you get in?"

"How do you think? I've had a key for three years. Ethan and I were engaged before his crash. Didn't he tell you? Of course not. He tells human toys nothing."

Ava's stomach dropped. Engaged?

Sophia set the paper bag on the counter. "I brought croissants. For Ethan. He loves almond. You would know that if you were really his Luna."

She pushed the bag toward Ava. "Go on. Be a good little Luna and take them to him. Wake him up. I'm sure he'll love breakfast in bed from you."

Ava stared at the bag. Something felt wrong. The way Sophia's eyes watched her hands. The way she didn't drink her own juice.

"I... I'm not hungry," Ava said.

"No, but Ethan is. After his rut. He needs protein." Sophia's smile got wider. "Unless you're scared?"

That word - scared - did it. Ava grabbed a croissant.

"I'm not scared of you," she said.

She took a bite.

It was dry. Too sweet. Almond. She chewed, swallowed.

Sophia watched, eyes unblinking.

Thirty seconds later, Ava's throat started to itch.

"What's - " She coughed. "What's in - "

Her tongue felt thick. Her neck, where the mark was, burned white hot, not gold.

"Ethan!" she tried to shout, but it came out as a whisper.

Sophia picked up her green juice, calm.

"Wolfsbane," she said lightly. "Just a little. Mixed into the almond paste. It doesn't kill werewolves. Just makes them sick for a day. But for a human girl who has a half-formed Goddess mark? Oh, honey. It could stop your heart. Or burn the mark right off. Either way, you won't be Luna anymore."

Ava fell to her knees, clutching her throat.

Sophia stepped over her.

"Ethan! Darling! Your little human is having an allergic reaction! Come quick!"

Ethan appeared in the hallway in two seconds, eyes wild, smelling the panic, the poison.

He saw Ava on the floor, gasping, and Sophia standing with fake concern.

"What did you do?" His voice was death.

"I - I brought croissants - she ate - "

Ethan didn't listen. He was on the floor, Ava in his arms.

"Ava! Ava, look at me! Breathe!"

"I can't - " Ava wheezed, tears streaming. "Burns - "

He saw the half-eaten croissant, smelled it, roared.

"WOLFSBANE!"

He picked Ava up and ran to the elevator, shouting into his phone, "Doctor Lee! Penthouse! Now! Poison! Wolfsbane ingestion! Human with Goddess mark!"

Sophia followed. "Ethan, I didn't know - I swear - "

Ethan turned, and Ava, even through blurred vision, saw his face change. Not human. Not even Alpha. Monster.

"You tried to kill my Luna," he growled, voice shaking the walls. "In my home. With my key."

Sophia paled. "Ethan - "

"Get out. If she dies, you die. If she lives, you still die in this city. Your family, your vineyards, your name - I will erase it. No pack will take you. No human company will hire you. You are dead to this world."

Security dragged Sophia out, screaming this time for real.

In the elevator, Ava seized in his arms.

"Stay with me, Luna," Ethan whispered, holding her face, his forehead pressed to hers, his mark glowing trying to cool hers. "Stay with me. You can't leave me. You just got here."

"I - I'm not - " Ava choked. "I'm not - going - "

Doctor Lee was waiting downstairs with an ambulance. They put Ava on a stretcher. Ethan held her hand the whole ride, not letting go even when they tried to put an oxygen mask.

At the private Blackstone Hospital, they pumped her stomach, put cold compresses on her neck where the gold mark was fighting the poison, turning black at the edges.

Ethan paced outside her room like a caged animal. He had broken three phones. Called twelve people. By noon, Laurent Vineyards had lost two major contracts. By 1 PM, Sophia's father called begging.

Ethan didn't answer.

At 2 PM, Ava woke up.

Ethan was there, head in his hands, sitting on the chair pulled right to her bed. He looked up, eyes red - not amber, red from no sleep, from fear.

"Hey," Ava croaked.

He was on his feet, hands hovering over her face, not touching, scared to hurt.

"Hey," he whispered. "Hey, you're awake. You're okay."

"Am I... still marked?"

He gently moved the bandage on her neck. The mark was still there. Gold, angry, but there. And around it, faint, his own bite mark had started to appear - not from biting, from proximity. His wolf trying to heal her.

"You are," he said, voice breaking. "You are still mine. Goddess didn't let her take you."

Ava tried to smile. "So... does this mean I get hazard pay? On top of the $100k?"

Ethan laughed, wet, broken.

"You get whatever you want," he said. "You want Laurent Vineyards? I'll buy it and burn it. You want Sophia gone? She's on a plane to Europe, never coming back. You want - "

"I want coffee," Ava said. "Not poisoned. From my shop. And I want you to stop sleeping on the floor."

Ethan stared.

"What?"

"You heard me," Ava said, stronger now. "If I'm going to almost die for being your fake Luna, you are sleeping in the bed. We can put a pillow wall. Like in movies. But I'm not letting you ruin your back for a contract."

Ethan leaned down, carefully, and pressed his forehead to hers. His skin was cool, hers was warm. The marks touched.

"Deal," he whispered. "Pillow wall."

"And," Ava added, eyes closing, tired, safe now, "you have to tell me if you were really engaged to Sophia."

A long pause.

"No," Ethan said. "Never. She wanted to be. I never asked. I was waiting for someone who would yell at me about coffee."

Ava smiled and fell asleep in his arms, in a hospital bed, with a gold mark on her neck and a billionaire Alpha King who had just burned down an empire for her.