Aysel's POV I could smell her fear before I even saw it. Anna's pulse hammered through the air like a frantic drum, betraying every ounce of her arrogance. My one hand pressed against her chest, the other a shard of jagged glass tracing a line from her neck to her flawless face, hovering just above her widened eyes. "Investigate me?" I hissed, teeth bared, my claws itching to sink into the soft hide of her arrogance. "You should know by now... I don't play by your rules. Wolves like me... we don't bargain, we don't reason. We take. Or we die trying." Her hands trembled near her face, inches from where my own did, and for a fleeting second, I saw it-panic breaking through her practiced mask. "You think you're protected by your pack outside," I growled, letting the tip of the glass tremble against her skin. "But I've already accepted that tonight, one of us might not leave this room alive. Death doesn't scare me, Anna. It shouldn't scare you either." Thunder cracked through the night, lightning slicing the sky like a silver fang. In its jagged light, her perfect face twisted into something small, terrified. I felt my wolf lean forward, craving the scent of her fear, the warmth of blood. "You claim you've lived enough... but I see the lie in your eyes. You're not ready to die, not really. Otherwise, why plan this little game? You want revenge, don't you? But half-dead is more satisfying than dead, isn't it?" I slid the glass closer. A flick, a misstep, and I could end her sight forever. She froze, as still as a rabbit caught in a hunter's glare. "I like how your Pack operates," I whispered, letting my teeth glint in the lightning. "Tell me-who will reach out faster, your pack outside... or my shard through your eyes? From now on, blind and helpless, tending two broken souls... a fitting fate for your family, isn't it?" "You're insane! You think you can leave if you hurt me?" she spat, her voice trembling. I laughed, a low, wild sound, more wolf than woman. "I told you-I don't fear death. You've never seen someone truly unafraid to die. Tonight, I'll show you." Then I moved-swift, precise. Not her eyes... not yet. Instead, I carved a line below the left corner of the eye, letting crimson bloom down her cheek. Her scream was music, primal, echoing off the walls, vibrating through the storm. My wolf swelled with satisfaction. The fear had her. The terror tasted sweet. Outside, her pack must have heard the scream over the rain. I could sense them, anxious, ready to burst in."Don't come in!" she shrieked, clawing at my wrist, trying to push back. But her head rested against the hard edge of the table; she couldn't escape. Not from me, not from what she deserved. Time stretched, every heartbeat a drum of tension. Her spirit began to crack. "I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" she finally shrieked, breaking, and spilled the location through trembling lips. I released her wrist, stepping back slightly to watch. Her fingers pressed against her ruined eye, her face twisted in a mask of hatred and shock. The clock ticked in the background, the storm outside echoing the rhythm of my pulse. "You'd better not go there," she warned, smeared blood making her expression almost inhuman. "He might not even recognize you..." I paused, wolf instincts coiling in my chest. But my teeth gleamed in the half-dark, my wolf snarling beneath my skin. "Lucky for you, Anna, your little game just made my hunt more... interesting." Her twisted smile, her plotting... I could almost taste the collapse she wished for, the pack violence she anticipated. But her venom wasn't for me. It was for them-the fools who had no idea how deep a wolf could sink when her family, her pack, her mate, was threatened. "My Caleb," she muttered to herself, eyes flicking in guilt and malice. "He's innocent... yet suffers... all because of others." I felt the storm outside press against my senses, but I didn't flinch. Anna's fear, her self-pity... it wasn't really for Caleb. It was for herself, for the life she'd built upon lies and fragile leverage. Her grief over her kin was a mask; the raw truth was her own survival. And yet... "Those girls Caleb humiliated," I growled under my breath, my wolf sniffing the scent of every injustice, every violated innocence. "The innocents thrown into the chaos... they deserved better. And so does he." Caleb would reap what they sowed. I tore my gaze from Anna, letting the air between us crack with ice. My claws flexed under my gloves, barely restrained. "Magnus isn't fragile," I spat, voice low and steady, carrying the weight of my wolf's warning. "Your advice about survival... I return it to you."