"Azura, speak up. What's wrong with you? Why are you just standing there looking like you've seen a ghost?"
Adrian's voice, thick with annoyance, yanked Azura back from the brink of her existential crisis.
Right. Villainess. Porn plot. Four angry werewolves with boundary issues. Check, check, and check.
But screw the genre. Her survival instinct, which had been on vacation since she arrived, suddenly kicked into high gear.
The new mission objective was crystal clear: be nice to the future porn protagonist. Befriend Selena. Protect her. Do whatever it took to ensure the girl didn't unleash her four-man harem of destruction on her later.
With a newfound sense of desperate purpose, Azura shoved Adrian's arms off her. The sudden movement made him stumble back.
"Don't reject her," she said, her voice firm, "or you will live to regret it."
Adrian's brows slammed together, his confusion morphing into irritation.
"Regret it? Why the hell would I regret it? I wouldn't want her as my mate if she was the last she-wolf on earth! I choose you as my chosen Luna!"
Azura shook her head so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash. She shrugged off the expensive suit jacket—the one that smelled faintly of Adrian's ego and designer cologne—and strode purposefully towards the girl on the floor.
As she draped the jacket over Selena's shoulders, the poor girl flinched so hard you'd think Azura had just slapped her with a live eel.
Yep. Definitely an abusive sister situation. These hands are not clean.
She turned back to Adrian, who was watching her with the expression of a man who'd just seen his dog start speaking fluent French.
"Sorry, Adrian... but..." Her mind scrambled, trying to pull a single coherent plot point from the one non-porn werewolf book she'd read. It was like trying to catch smoke with a fork. Nothing. Zilch.
Fine. Time for some good old-fashioned, high-stakes bullshit.
"But... what you two have... it's a sacred gift! From the... uh... the Moon Goddess herself!" She gestured vaguely at the sky, trying to look mystical. "If you, the Alpha, break this divine bond... I'm afraid the pack will suffer! Misfortunes! Plagues of... of... really bad luck!"
"Nonsense!"
A voice, sharp and dripping with enough ice to give a polar bear frostbite, cut through the air. An elegantly beautiful middle-aged woman glided towards them, her expression so cold it could freeze hell over. Her gaze, however, turned positively glacial when it landed on Selena.
Selena, who had just stopped her waterworks, immediately burst into a fresh torrent of tears, her whole body trembling like a leaf in a hurricane.
The woman, who was clearly Adrian's mother and the pack's former Luna, fixed her son with a glare that could curdle milk from a mile away.
"You don't need to listen to this nonsense! Reject that worthless omega right now! If you truly choose to be with the thing that murdered your own brother, then I will not think of you as my son anymore!"
"Mother..."
Adrian's voice was a strangled whisper. He looked from his mother's furious face to Selena's crumpled form. His gaze turned to stone.
"I, Alpha Adrian Quinn of the Crimson River Pack, reject you, Selena Williams, as my mate and future luna."
Selena let out a gut-wrenching scream, a sound so full of pure agony it made Azura's teeth ache. She clutching her chest like she was trying to physically hold her shattered heart together.
Azura didn't even think; she just dropped to her knees beside the girl, rubbing her back in what she hoped were soothing circles.
"Hey, hey, breathe... it's okay..."
Across from them, Adrian looked like he was about to puke. He was pale and sweating, clutching his own chest, but he pushed through the pain, his voice a low growl.
"Accept it, Selena."
"No... I don't want to... Alpha... Adrian..." Selena gasped, each word a struggle.
Meanwhile, Azura's brain felt like a browser with a hundred tabs open, all of them screaming 'PANIC!'. This was a disaster. A complete, utter, dumpster fire of a disaster.
She was completely out of her depth in this godforsaken genre.
Okay, let's break this down.
Adrian was the starter villain, the cliché rejection guy. He wasn't one of the four horny leads—that honor went to Selena's step-brothers and step-uncle.
Initially, she'd thought, 'Hey, maybe the fated mate is better than the harem!'
Selena clearly had a thing for him. And from what Azura recalled of the pornographic chapters she'd accidentally skimmed, Selena's time with the four leads was less 'passionate romance' and more 'crying and moaning "no" and "stop".'
That meant suffering, right? It had to mean suffering!
But then her brain did a screeching U-turn. The entire reason for this drama was a murder accusation. Handing Selena over to the guy who thought she killed his own brother was like tossing a steak into a lion's den and expecting it to start a book club. Adrian would make her life a living hell.
So, Adrian was a big, fat NO.
Which left... the four step-relatives?
Azura felt a migraine coming on. This was a Sophie's Choice of terrible options.
Wait. Maybe the answer was simple. Maybe she just had to convince Selena to accept the rejection. Cut her losses. Start fresh. Get her away from this ticking time bomb?
Plus, Selena had looked at her with something almost like... warmth? When she'd stroked her back? Maybe, just maybe, the future porn star would listen to her?
"Selena, listen to me," Azura whispered urgently, leaning in closer. "Perhaps you should just accept this rejection, or—"
She was cut off by a look so cold it could have frozen the sun. Selena's eyes, still swimming in tears, now held a glacial fury. The tiny spark of warmth Azura had seen earlier was snuffed out, replaced by the bitter embers of betrayal.
Of course. Selena probably thought Azura's earlier concern was genuine, a crack in the villainess's facade.
But now? Now, in her mind, this was just the ultimate act of a two-faced bitch. Pretending to care, only to turn around and push her towards the rejection she so desperately wanted to secure her own man.
Whatever flicker of hope Selena had—that maybe, just maybe, her sister actually cared—died a swift, brutal death.
"I really... hate you..."
The words, soft and venomous, hit Azura like a physical blow. A fresh wave of panic, hot and sharp, washed over her.
Oh, you stupid, stupid girl! Stop loving this walking red flag! I'm trying to save your ass from a lifetime of misery and a harem of step-relatives! Don't you get it? Even though you're the one who's going to murder ME in the future (maybe), I still try to help you! A little gratitude here for me, please!