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Something shifted in the air. The temperature dropped, and everyone in the garden turned to look at us. I felt power rollingoff both brothers in waves—not just magick, but something deeper, older, more fundamental.

"You want to know who you're talking to?" Lust asked, his voice carrying despite being barely above a whisper. "I'm Lust. That's Envy. We're two of the Sins, and you're touching my employee.”

Xavier went very still. I watched the arrogant confidence drain from his face as the implications hit him. Alpha werewolf or not, even he wasn't stupid enough to pick a fight with the literal embodiments of sin.

"That's...not possible," he said, but his grip on my arm loosened.

"Oh, it's very possible," Envy said with that same casual grin. "And we're having such a lovely evening. Shame to ruin it with bloodshed."

Xavier's gaze darted between the two brothers, then back to my face. I could see him calculating, weighing his options. He was outgunned and he knew it.

"This isn't over," he said finally, releasing my arm.

"Security!" Diana's voice rang across the garden as she glided toward us. "Please escort this gentleman out. He seems to have gotten confused about the guest list."

Two massive security guards appeared as if from nowhere, flanking Xavier. He looked like he wanted to resist, to assert his Alpha dominance, but even his ego wasn't strong enough to take on two Sins plus whatever other supernatural backup Diana had on hand.

He let the security guards escort him toward the exit, but I could feel him looking back at me, confusion and suspicion written in every line of his body. He wasn't convinced. How could he be?

The moment he was gone, my knees gave out.

"Whoa there." Envy caught my arm, steadying me. "You OK?"

I couldn't breathe. The garden was spinning, and all I could think about was Xavier's hands around my throat, the weight of wet earth, the desperate clawing toward air and light and life. Everyone closed in, and I couldn’t breathe–

"Hey." Lust's hand settled on my shoulder, magick washing over me—warm, grounding, gentle. "You're safe. He's gone."

Diana appeared at my elbow, her face pale with realization. "Oh my god. Juniper...that was him, wasn't it? The Alpha who..." She stopped herself, glancing at the two brothers.

"Who what?" Lust demanded.

Diana's expression shifted, pieces clicking into place. "The night I found her, she was running through the woods in a torn wedding dress. Covered in dirt, like she'd been...like she'd clawed her way out of something. She kept saying 'he called me Evangeline' over and over."

The temperature around us dropped another ten degrees.

"He called you what?" Envy asked, his casual demeanor evaporating.

I wrapped my arms around myself, the memory flooding back.

"We were...we were about to..." I couldn't finish, my face burning with shame and humiliation. "And he said her name instead of mine. When I confronted him about it, he just...snapped."

"Evangeline," Diana said grimly. "The Northern Range Alpha's sister. There were rumors about her and Xavier having an affair, but it was never confirmed."

"So he was cheating," Lust said, his voice deadly quiet. "And when you caught him..."

"He tried to kill me," I whispered. "Strangled me. Left me for dead in the woods behind my cottage."

Lust frowned. “Diana, did you say she was covered in dirt?”

Envy’s gaze sharpened, his head whipping around to stare at me.

“Were you buried alive?!” Envy demanded, even as Lust’s face drained of color.

The words hung in the air like a physical weight. Diana's hand found mine, squeezing tightly. Envy's expression went deadly serious. And Lust ...

Every glass in a hundred-foot radius exploded.

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