A scheming look flashed through Hayley's eyes, sharp like a predator calculating weak points in a rival pack. The tension between packs always felt closer to instinct than choice in moments like this.
"It's best to keep Anastasia and Elliot from getting engaged," she said. Her words carried the weight of someone trying to shift fate itself.
"What idea do you have, Hayley?" I asked, my mind blank, unable to see how we could interfere with something that already felt sealed by fate and pack alignment. But interference with Alpha-chosen bonds always came with consequences in our world.
Hayley had lost most of her resources after her downfall, but even stripped of status and influence, she still carried that poisonous refusal to let Anastasia rise unchallenged. Even so, I could feel how dangerous her obsession had become beneath the surface.
"Erica, let's head home first. Let me think of a way," she said. There was a finality in her tone that made me follow without question.
