Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 34

Chapter 34

BIANCA

I woke to the sound of machines beeping steadily, Every breath took effort, and my chest ached with a deep, bone- weary exhaustion that suggested I’d been fighting something or someone.

My eyes cracked open slowly, the fluorescent lights above was too bright, making me shut my eyes once more as I tried to remember what had happened, but my memories were fragmented.

The fire pit. Matthew grabbing me. The hospital. Being strapped down. The needle. Matthew’s voice saying Mia would be fine. The drugs pulling me under.

And then… darkness. I had been certain I was dying. I’d felt my life force draining away.

But I was awake.

How?

The door to my room opened, and I tensed automatically, expecting Matthew or Dr. Hartwick or someone else who’d been complicit in my near–murder. Instead, a small figure ran in with the kind of energy only children could possess.

“Dr. Bianca! You’re awake!” Louis’s face split into the brightest smile I’d ever seen. “Dad! Dad, she’s awake!”

“Louis?” My voice came out hoarse, raw, but seeing him made something warm bloom in my chest. “You’re okay. You’re really okay.”

“I’m all better!” He approached my bedside carefully, like he’d been instructed not to jostle me. “You healed me enough. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up so I could say thank you properly.”

The door opened wider, and Lucian Rivera entered, his expression torn between concern and anger. Anger at someone else or something.

“You saved my son’s life,” he said without wasting time moving to stand beside Louis. “And I almost didn’t return the favor.”

I was

“What…” I tried to sit up, but my body protested violently. Rivera moved quickly, adjusting the bed upright without straining myself. “What happened? I remember the anesthesia, and Matthew said Mia needed the treatment. That I had to save her.”

“Your husband tried to kill you.” Rivera’s voice was filled with fury. “Or at the very least, he was blind to the fact that the ‘treatment‘ Dr. Hartwick was performing wasn’t actually a treatment at all.”

I stared at him, struggling to process his words. “What do you mean?”

“I came to the hospital to check on you after our conversation. When I arrived, the staff told me you’d been brought in for an emergency procedure. I demanded to know what was happening, and when they tried to block me…” His eyes darkened. “Let’s just say I don’t take well to evasion when my instincts tell me something’s wrong.

Louis squeezed my hand gently. “Dad made them let him in. He was really scary.”

“I stopped them just in time.” Rivera’s hand curled into a fist at his side. “What they were doing wasn’t treating Mia’s illness. They were performing a Luna transference ritual. Essentially trying to dissect your magical essence

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Chapter 34

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and transfer your Luna abilities directly to her.”

The room tilted sideways. “That’s… that’s impossible. That kind of magic is forbidden. It’s-”

“It’s dark magic of the worst kind,” Rivera confirmed. “And it would have killed you. Slowly, painfully, while your husband watched and believed you were heroically saving his mistress.”

“But Mia…” I’couldn’t finish the thought.

“Mia never had Feral Lupin Phase 2,” Rivera said bluntly. “Or any terminal illness. I had my people investigate while you were unconscious. Her medical records were falsified, just like you suspected. Dr. Hartwick was being paid quite handsomely, I might add to maintain the fiction and eventually perform this transference ritual.”

“Why?” The word came out broken. “Why would she do this?”

“Because she wanted what you had. Your position. Your mate. Your son. Your Luna abilities. Everything. And your husband was so desperate to save her that he never questioned whether she actually needed saving.”

I closed my eyes, tears rolling down my cheeks. Matthew had tried to kill me. Not deliberately–he probably genuinely believed he was asking me to save Mia’s life. But still…

The result was the same either way.

“How did you stop it?” I asked.

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