My Alpha Tried to Kill Me Before the Ceremony

Two days before my Mate Ceremony, I woke to the sound of pack members bustling outside my door. The Silver Creek Pack House hummed with activity as everyone prepared for the celebration that would make me Luna. Or so they thought.

I stretched my arms above my head, wincing as the familiar ache in my legs reminded me of my uselessness. Three years since the rogue attack, and still no healing, no wolf awakening. Just this broken body and the hollow promise of becoming Grayson's Luna.

"We need to finalize the flower arrangements," I murmured to myself, reaching for the mind-link that connected me to my betrothed.

*Grayson?* I called through our bond. *We need to discuss the ceremony details.*

Nothing. Not even the warm hum of acknowledgment I'd grown accustomed to. Just... cold silence. A wall where our connection should be.

I frowned, concentrating harder. *Grayson, are you there?*

The silence that answered me wasn't natural. It felt deliberate, like a door slammed shut in my face.

A strange tingling sensation crawled up my spine—not my own feeling, but something deeper, more primal. My wolf, buried beneath years of disappointment, was trying to tell me something.

*Danger. Lies. Find.*

The words weren't mine. They couldn't be. My wolf had been silent for so long I'd forgotten what it felt like to hear her voice, even in whispers.

I wheeled myself to the window, looking out at the pack grounds. Everyone was too busy with preparations to notice me—the crippled almost-Luna who needed help with everything.

"Fine," I muttered, gripping my wheels. "If no one will talk to me, I'll find my own answers."

As I exited my room, a scent caught my attention—sweet, sickly, with an undercurrent of deception. It wasn't a scent I recognized, but something about it made my skin crawl.

My wolf stirred again. *Follow. Truth.*

I wheeled myself through the corridors, avoiding the bustling pack members who barely glanced at me. Years of being invisible had taught me how to move unnoticed.

The scent grew stronger as I approached the Pack Infirmary. Strange. That section was supposed to be empty except for Dr. Webb's office and...

My breath caught. The Luna Suite. The private rooms reserved for the pack's most important female—me, after tomorrow's ceremony.

The scent led straight to those doors.

I hesitated, my hand on the door handle. What if Grayson was inside with Dr. Webb, discussing last-minute preparations? What if I was overreacting?

But my wolf growled, urging me forward.

I pushed the door slightly ajar.

"Grayson, you can't keep giving her small doses," a female voice said—Miley's voice. My former friend. "If she suspects anything—"

"She won't," Grayson replied, his voice tender in a way it never was with me. "She's too pathetic to question anything."

I leaned forward, my heart hammering against my ribs.

Through the crack in the door, I could see them. Grayson sat on the bed—my bed—with Miley in his arms. Her stomach protruded prominently, her hand