His First Love Took My Place as Mother

"Get your own medicine," I told Sienna, turning away from the refrigerator.

She stood beneath the kitchen archway in Carter's old gray T-shirt, one hand curled around the edge of the counter as if staying upright required effort. "I only need the blackthorn drops, Lena. They're on the top shelf."

"You walked down two flights of stairs to get here. You can manage a cabinet."

Her mouth tightened before the helpless expression returned. "My hands are shaking. Please. Just this once."

I looked at the brown bottle behind the glass door. Blackthorn concentrate was common in Pack homes for digestive cramps, but every healer warned against taking more than a few drops. I opened the cabinet, removed the sealed bottle, and set it on the marble island between us.

"There."

Sienna held up both hands. Her fingers trembled visibly. "Could you carry the tea tray to the living room? I don't want to spill it."

"I'll carry the tray. You handle your own medicine."

I lifted the wooden tray with her mug and a plate of crackers. The blackthorn bottle stayed on the kitchen island, cap untouched.

Carter was in the living room reviewing council documents. Eli lay on the rug with his tablet, one sock half off his heel. I set the tray on the side table beside Sienna's chair and went upstairs without waiting for thanks.

Less than twenty minutes later, a raw gasp tore through the house.

I ran downstairs.

Sienna was crumpled beside the sofa, clawing at her throat. Her face had gone gray around the lips. Tea soaked the rug beneath the overturned mug.

"Sienna!" Carter dropped to his knees and caught her shoulders. "Look at me."

I stayed beside the doorway while Dr. Aris worked. No one asked whether I had been alone with the cup, whether Sienna had touched the bottle after I left, or whether anyone else had entered the kitchen. The room had already chosen the easiest story before the evidence arrived.

"Can't... breathe," she rasped.

Eli stood frozen near the coffee table, his tablet forgotten at his feet.

"Call Dr. Aris," Carter barked.

I already had my phone out.

The Pack healer arrived within minutes with two guards behind her. She injected Sienna, fitted an oxygen mask over her face, then lifted the half-empty mug and smelled the liquid.

"Blackthorn concentrate," Dr. Aris said. "Far too much. Enough to trigger severe airway swelling."

Carter's head turned toward me.

The accusation in his eyes arrived before the question.

"Don't," I warned.

"You brought her the tea."

"I brought the tray. The medicine stayed in the kitchen."

Eli's small voice cut between us. "Mom was holding the bottle."

I looked at him. "I took it out of the cabinet because she asked me to. Did you see me pour anything into the cup?"

He hesitated.

Sienna coughed behind the oxygen mask. Carter immediately looked back at her.

"I saw Mom with it in the kitchen," Eli said more quietly. "Then Sienna got sick."

"That is not the same thing," I said.

One of the guards returned from the kitchen carrying the brown bottle in a clear evidence sleeve. "It was on the island, Alpha."

"Was it open?" I asked.

The guard glanced at Carter before answering. "The cap was loose."

My stomach dropped.

"I left it sealed."

Carter stood. "Dorian, lock the kitchen footage and pull the access logs. Nobody deletes anything."

"Good," I said. "Then we'll see exactly what happened."

Sienna lifted a weak hand from beneath the blanket Dr. Aris had tucked around her. "Carter, don't turn this into a fight. Maybe I took too much by accident."

"Did you?" I asked.

Her eyes met mine for one brief second. There was nothing weak in them.

Then her lashes lowered. "I don't remember. I was dizzy. Lena was helping me."

"I did not put medicine in your tea."

Carter moved between us. "Enough."

"No. Not enough." I pointed at the evidence bag. "Test the dropper. Test the cup. Pull fingerprints. Check who entered the kitchen after I left."

Dorian came in from the hallway with a tablet already in his hand. "The kitchen camera has a partial archive. It shows Luna Lena entering at ten-oh-seven and leaving at ten-ten. There's a forty-second gap several minutes later."

"A gap?" Carter demanded.

"The feed resumes before Dr. Aris arrives. I need the main server to determine whether it was a system fault or a manual deletion."

I let out a humorless breath. "So the only footage missing is the part after I left. Convenient."

Carter's jaw hardened. "Until we know what happened, no one touches the kitchen system."

"And no one calls me guilty," I said.

He didn't answer.

That silence told me exactly where he already stood.

Dr. Aris finished checking Sienna's lungs. "She'll recover, but I want observation overnight. Someone deliberately or accidentally administered at least ten times the normal dose."

Sienna reached for Carter's hand. He gave it to her without thinking.

Eli moved to her other side.

I stood alone across the room.

Dorian's tablet chimed. He read the new message, then looked at Carter. "The council elders heard there may have been an attempted poisoning inside the Alpha House. They want a formal inquiry at nine tomorrow morning."

"There was no attempted poisoning," I said. "There was an overdose. Those are not the same thing."

Carter finally met my eyes. "Then the inquiry will clear you."

"You don't sound like a husband who believes that."

His expression did not change. "I sound like an Alpha whose guest stopped breathing in his home."

The words landed with brutal precision. Alpha first. Husband somewhere after that, if there was room.

A guard approached Eli gently. "Young man, I need to record what you saw before everyone goes upstairs."

I expected my son to look at me.

He looked at Sienna instead.

"I saw Mom take the blackthorn bottle," he told the guard. "And Mom was really mad at her tonight."

"Eli," I said.

His lower lip trembled, but he kept going. "I think you should make sure Sienna is safe."

Carter put a protective hand on his shoulder.

No one put one on mine.