Tempted By The Alpha Of Manhattan

MEREDITH

The office was really quiet. Like, scary quiet. You know that feeling when the sun goes down and the cleaners haven't started yet, so the whole place feels like it's holding its breath? Yeah. That.

I was leaning against my desk, trying to breathe like a normal person, but my ribs felt like they were being squeezed by a giant, angry hand that really hated me.The adrenaline from roasting Victor earlier was totally gone. Now, I just felt like trash. All I had left was pain and exhaustion and the strong urge to lie face-down on the floor and never move again.

After Victor Langford, this can't be how it ends.

My side was hurting. It wasn't the sharp pain anymore. It was this weird, heavy ache that felt like it was spreading through my blood. I'm a wolf. I'm supposed to heal. Scratches vanished in an hour. Broken bones were annoying but manageable. This stupid wound, though, felt like it was spreading instead of shrinking, acting like I was a normal human.

"Okay, body. What the hell? Get it together."

That was when Elena walked in, She held out a folder like it was the most important thing in the world.

"Ms. Stevens," she said gently, "One last document, then you're officially free."

"Music to my ears."

I reached for my pen-my favorite gold one-and that's when everything went south. My hand started shaking, it shook hard and I couldn't control it.

Oh no. No, no, no.

Stop it. Are you kidding me? Move, hand. Move.

I forced my fingers on the pen.The second I did, I felt pain moving round my body like liquid fire and everything went still for a second.

That's when it hit me.

I hadn't even thought about the knife. I mean, who cares about the knife, right? I'd been stabbed, I'd been treating it like a normal cut, done my little herbal nonsense, assumed it would vanish like always. But this? This was... wrong. Really wrong. The pain wasn't fading. It was spreading. My blood was rejecting me. And then I realized-holy hell-it had to be silver. Of course it was silver. That's why nothing worked. That's why I wasn't healing.

My parents used to talk about it. The one thing that could actually mess us up. Silver.

I'd always thought they were being paranoid. Like, who the hell carries silver weapons in New York City?

Apparently, the asshole who stabbed me.

Oh, for God's sake, Silver. Are you kidding me?"l

"Ms. Stevens?" Elena's voice was suddenly right there. "You're... you're sweating. And you're really pale."

She reached out and touched my hand. She jumped back like I'd burned her. "You're freezing! Meredith, your skin is like ice."

I tried to pull back, tried to give her the 'Iron Goddess' look, but I was failing hard. "I'm fine, Elena. Just... it's the AC. It's too high."

"The AC is off," she said, her voice rising. "You look terrible. Like you saw a ghost. I'm calling a doctor."

"No," I snapped. "No doctors. No hospitals. Just... give me a minute."

The room started to spin. My parents weren't crazy. They were right. They were ready for this, and I was just sitting here pretending to be a CEO while my blood was literally turning against me.

"Meredith, please," Elena said, reaching for her phone. "You're scaring me."

I grabbed her wrist. My grip was weak, but it was enough.

"No hospitals," I whispered. "Elena, please. I can't. They'll ask questions. I can't answer them. No one can know. Fuck... just promise me."

Her eyes filled with tears.

Before she could answer, my laptop made a sharp sound.

Ping.

I looked up just in time to see a red box flash on the screen.

SECURITY BREACH DETECTED:

PENTHOUSE ACCESS

I laughed weakly. "You have got to be kidding me."

Someone was in my penthouse. My sanctuary. The one place where I could take off the heels and be the monster I was born to be. If it was Lucas, I'd kill him. If it was a burglar, I'd almost feel sorry for him-he was about to find a very grumpy, very poisoned werewolf

I tried to say something-to tell Elena to call Dave, or to run, Anything-but the words wouldn't come.

Everything went dark, like an old TV shutting off, and the last thing I heard was Elena screaming my name before everything just... stopped.