“You know her?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Knox’s jaw tightened. “She’s the daughter of family friends. She came to visit a few weeks ago and refused to leave. She’s been... pursuing me. Aggressively.”
I looked at the woman in the chair. At her tear-streaked face and her trembling lips and her designer dress that probably cost more than most people’s monthly rent.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Isabella said, her voice high and defensive. “I just wanted to see Knox. I went to his room but he wasn’t there, and then I saw you move and I just...”
“Just what?” Knox demanded.
Isabella’s lower lip quivered. “I just wanted a few minutes alone with him. That’s all. I saw a nurse’s cart in the room across the hall and there was a sedative syringe and I thought if I could just put you back to sleep for a little while...”
She trailed off, apparently realizing how insane that sounded.
“You were going to sedate my wife,” Knox said slowly, each word dripping with barely contained fury, “because you wanted alone time with me.”
“I didn’t know she would wake up!” Isabella wailed. “I was just about to do it when her eyes opened and she looked at me and I panicked, okay? I panicked and I ran!”
The room was silent. Hunt looked disgusted. Noah looked furious. Knox looked seconds away from violence.
And me? I was just pissed.
“What a bitch,” I said flatly.
Isabella’s head snapped toward me, her tear-streaked face twisting into rage. “Excuse me? You don’t even remember him! You don’t know what we had, what we could have been! I’ve known Knox my entire life and you just showed up out of nowhere and stole him from me!”
“I’m pretty sure you can’t steal someone who was never yours,” I shot back. “And from what I’m hearing, he’s told you no multiple times. That’s not romantic. That’s stalking.”
“You don’t understand anything!” Isabella shrieked. “You’re just a human! A pathetic, weak human who doesn’t deserve to be Luna of this pack!”
“Isabella.” Knox’s voice cut through her tirade, cold and final. “You’re done. You’re going back to your pack tonight. I’m sending you with an escort and you are never allowed to set foot in Ravenshollow territory again. Do you understand me?”
“Knox, please...”
“Do you understand me?”
Isabella crumpled. The tears came harder now, mascara running down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking with sobs. “Knox, I love you. I came back because I thought you needed a real Luna. Someone strong, someone from a proper wolf family, not some human who can’t even shift. I thought if I just had time to show you...”
Knox didn’t even blink. “Hunt, get her out of here. Make sure she’s on a transport within the hour.”
Hunt pushed off from the desk and grabbed Isabella’s arm, hauling her to her feet. She was crying, begging, looking at Knox with desperate hope in her eyes.
He didn’t look back at her once.
Hunt dragged her out of the room, her sobs echoing down the hallway, and I sat in my wheelchair feeling a deep, petty satisfaction.
That woman had tried to drug me. She had tried to sedate me so she could have a few minutes alone with my husband. And now she was being banished, sent away in disgrace, forbidden from ever returning.
Good.
Knox knelt in front of my wheelchair, his gray eyes searching my face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I reached out and touched his jaw, feeling the stubble rough against my palm. “She didn’t actually hurt me. She just scared me.”
“That’s enough.” His voice was fierce. “No one scares you. No one threatens you. No one gets anywhere near you without going through me first.”
The possessiveness in his tone should have bothered me. It should have made me uncomfortable, made me want to pull away and assert my independence.
Instead, it made me feel safe.
