HOTEL SUITE, LATE NIGHT~
Aria's POV
I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing that recording of Bella talking to her father, planning to steal Mateo's entire pack like it was some kind of game.
The Council hearing was tomorrow morning and I had all the evidence I needed to destroy both Bella and Marcus in front of everyone.
Lucian had organized everything perfectly and Elder Miriam had confirmed that the neutral Council members were already leaning my way after hearing whispers about the Darkmoon situation.
I should've felt good about it. In fact, I should have felt confident and ready. But instead, I felt restless and something in my gut was telling me that things weren't going to go as smoothly as we planned.
Kira was pacing in my head, anxious and on edge. "Something's wrong," she kept saying. "I can feel it."
"You're just nervous about tomorrow," I told her, but even I didn't believe it.
I got out of bed and walked to the window, looking down at the parking lot below. It was almost 2 AM and everything was just too quiet.
That was when I saw three men standing by a black SUV, and even from this distance, I could tell they weren't human.
The way they moved, the way they kept looking up at the hotel…they were wolves. And they were looking directly at my window.
My blood ran cold when I recognized one of them. He'd been at the pack house before, one of the wolves who sometimes did security work for visiting alphas.
But what the hell was he doing here at my hotel in the middle of the night?
I watched as they talked to each other and then one of them pulled out his phone.
He made a call and even though I couldn't hear what he was saying, I saw him nod and point up at my window again.
Then I saw the last person I was expecting. Bella. She stepped out of a car I hadn't noticed before and walked over to the three men.
She was wearing all black and her usual sweet expression was gone, replaced with a deadly one.
She handed something to the biggest guy. Money, obviously. I could see the cash exchange hands even from up here.
Then she said something and pointed directly at my window.
The three men looked up again and one of them smiled, showing teeth that were too sharp to be human.
Bella's voice drifted up and even though I shouldn't have been able to hear it, my wolf hearing caught every word.
"Make it look like an accident. Before the hearing tomorrow. I don't care how you do it, just make sure she doesn't make it to that Council meeting."
Oh f**k.
Bella just hired someone to kill me.
I stepped back from the window fast, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. My hands were shaking as I grabbed my phone and called the first person I thought of.
Lucian answered on the second ring, his voice rough with sleep. "Aria? What's wrong?"
"Bella just hired assassins," I said and my voice came out way calmer than I felt.
"They're in the hotel parking lot right now and she told them to make sure I don't make it to the Council hearing."
I heard movement on his end, like he was already getting out of bed. "I'm ten minutes away. Lock your door, don't let anyone in, and stay away from the windows."
"Lucian—"
"I'm coming. Just hold on."
The call ended and I stood there in my dark hotel room, trying to figure out what to do. I could try to run but they'd probably catch me in the hallway.
I could shift and fight but three against one weren't good odds, especially if they had weapons.
I grabbed the silver letter opener from the desk. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing.
Then I heard footsteps in the hallway outside my room.
Kira was going crazy in my head. "They're here! We need to shift now!"
"Not yet," I told her. "If we shift in the hotel, innocent people could get hurt."
The footsteps stopped right outside my door and I immediately held my breath and waited.
For a moment, everything was silent. Then the door exploded inward with a crash that made me jump back.
The lock was completely torn off and two of the men from the parking lot stepped inside like they owned the place.
"Luna Aria," the bigger one said with his rough voice . "This is nothing personal. Just business."
"Bella's paying you to kill me," I said and kept the letter opener behind my back. "You do know that killing a Luna is a death sentence, right? Every pack in the region will hunt you down."
The second guy laughed. "Not if there's no body to find and besides, once Darkmoon takes over Silvermoon, we'll be protected."
So they knew about the takeover. They were probably Marcus's wolves.
"Last chance to walk away," I said.
They both laughed like I'd told the funniest joke they'd ever heard.
The big one lunged at me fast, way faster than I expected, and I barely dodged to the side. His fist went through the wall where my head had been a second ago.
I swung the letter opener at him but he caught my wrist and twisted hard. Pain shot up my arm and the opener fell from my hand.
"Should've just accepted your fate quietly," he growled and threw me across the room.
I hit the wall hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs and slid down to the floor. Everything hurt and I could taste blood in my mouth.
The second guy was already moving toward me, pulling out a knife that gleamed silver in the dim light.
Silver. F**k. That would actually hurt me, and the wound wouldn't heal fast.
Kira was screaming at me to shift but I couldn't, not here, not with hotel guests in the rooms next door who might get caught in the fight.
The guy with the knife raised it above his head, ready to bring it down.