Chapter Seventeen

Evander’s POV

"You cannot do this to me!" Nalani screeches, her no longer tearful eyes blown wide. "I am the Luna of this pack and I will not be treated like some sort of common criminal."

She lifts her chin – regal, arrogant, stunningly beautiful – and the image that immediately comes to my mind is a coral snake. So colorful. So deadly.

"No one is treating you like a criminal," I say as patiently as possible. "But your refusal to comply is suspicious."

"HOW DARE YOU!" she gasps. Suddenly, her face contorts with surprise, pain, and …fear?

She clutches her chest, her perfectly manicured nails digging into her skin. She gasps again, then goes deathly pale.

She reaches out a single, trembling hand to me the second before she collapses.

Acting on total instinct, I catch her smoothly, cradling her in my arms. My mother is already on the phone to Dr. Oliver, and without any thought or hesitation, I'm out the door, running to the hospital, Nalani still dead in my arms.

The doctor meets me i