Chapter 2: He Chose Her Even As I Was Dying

Stella POV

The fire in my veins was growing wilder, a conflagration consuming me from within.

The Lycan blood was at war with my human cells, a battle tearing my organs apart.

"System," I thought, my breath coming in shallow, ragged bursts. "Engage maximum pain suppression."

"Affirmative, Host. Pain receptors blocked by eighty percent. Be advised, physical deterioration is proceeding at an accelerated rate."

The door clicked open.

Selene entered alone.

The pretense of tears was gone.

She crossed her arms and stood at the foot of my bed, her gaze dripping with pure, unadulterated disgust.

"Look at the state of you," she said, her voice a low laugh. "A pathetic creature. Seven years, and still unmarked."

She was right.

In seven years, Kaelen had never once set his teeth to my throat.

He had never given me the permanent Mark to claim me.

He claimed my human skin was too delicate for his fangs.

Now I understood.

He simply could not bear the thought of the Pack seeing him permanently bound to a human.

"Leave," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

Selene's lips twisted into a smirk.

"Kaelen was just complaining about you in the corridor. He said your jealousy is an exhausting burden. He said you are not worth a single hair from his wolf's pelt."

I closed my eyes.

I felt nothing for him anymore.

Whatever affection I once held for the male lead had been cauterized by the foreign blood burning through my veins.

Selene produced a small black mini-computer from her purse.

She was a gifted technician who delighted in using her skills for petty cruelties.

She plugged a cable into the wall port behind my bed.

"Let us see how much he truly values you," she whispered.

The ward fell silent except for the dry, insect-like tapping of her acrylic nails against the miniature keyboard.

The progress bar on her screen crawled upward with excruciating slowness.

She even paused to pick at a loose thread on her cuff.

Suddenly, the monitor beside my bed shrieked.

A piercing alarm filled the room.

The screen displayed a heart rate climbing toward lethal levels while my blood pressure dropped to zero.

Footsteps thundered down the hallway.

The door crashed open.

Kaelen rushed in, his eyes glowing with the golden light of his Inner Wolf.

Three Healers followed close behind.

Selene instantly concealed her device and threw herself onto the floor, covering her ears.

"Alpha! The noise frightens me!" she cried, performing the role of a terrified omega perfectly.

Kaelen was at her side in an instant.

"It is all right," he murmured, pulling her into his arms. "I am here."

The Healers swarmed my bed.

One of them pressed two fingers against my wrist.

"Wait," the Head Healer frowned. "Her pulse is steady. The machine is malfunctioning."

He rebooted the monitor.

The screen went black.

In that brief moment of darkness, the System erased Selene's malware and replaced it with fabricated normal readings.

The monitor flickered back to life.

Perfect vitals.

Perfect health.

A perfect lie.

Kaelen looked from the screen to me.

His golden eyes darkened with certainty.

"You manipulated the monitor," he said.

I stared at him in disbelief.

"I have not moved from this bed."

"You did it to frighten Selene!" Kaelen roared. "You knew she was traumatized by the Rogues, and you triggered the alarm to torment her!"

He marched to my bed and ripped the blanket from my body.

"Apologize to her. At once."

The sudden movement sent a violent spasm through my torso.

My lungs, already being destroyed by the Lycan blood, seized.

I doubled over and coughed.

A thick pool of blackish-red blood splattered across the pristine white floor.

The room went still.

Kaelen froze.

His eyes locked onto the blood.

For one brief second, uncertainty flickered across his face.

Then arrogance reclaimed its throne.

"Theatrical blood packets?" he scoffed. "Truly, Stella? Is there no end to your manipulations?"

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

The blood was warm.

My death was real.

Yet he still chose not to see it.

I looked up at the man I had once believed was my destiny.

"You are a fool, Kaelen," I said, my voice hoarse but steady. "You are utterly out of your mind."

Reaching over, I ripped the monitor's power cord from the wall.

The room fell into abrupt silence.

Then I turned my back to them.

"Get out," I said quietly. "Your presence fouls the air."

Kaelen let out a low, threatening growl.

"Fine."

"Rot in here alone."

He scooped Selene into his arms.

Just like always.

He chose her.

Just like always.

Without another glance in my direction, he carried her from the room.

The door slammed shut.

The silence that followed felt strangely peaceful.

"Host," the System reported.

"Countdown at sixty hours remaining."

Sixty hours.

Only sixty hours left until my contract was fulfilled.

I stared at the closed door.

No tears came.

No heartbreak.

No grief.

Those emotions had already died.

Slowly, I opened the bedside drawer and pulled out a slim laptop.

The screen illuminated the darkness.

Selene believed her digital fortress was impregnable.

She believed her crimes were hidden.

She believed Kaelen would always protect her.

A faint smile touched my lips.

She was wrong.

Because I was no longer fighting to survive.

I was preparing for revenge.

And thanks to the System, I possessed an ally capable of tearing apart every secret she had ever buried.

Sixty hours remained.

More than enough time to destroy them all.