Third Person’s POV


    Lost in thought, Valentin approached with the IOU and a pen, his tone cold. “Sign here.”


    The $50,000 debt humiliated her.


    She red at Adide, but fear washed over her when their eyes met.


    She signed hastily and stumbled away.


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    Valentin filed the IOU and noticed Adide leaning against the corridor wall, her earlier coldness reced by visible heartbreak.


    “Don’t be so upset,” Valentin consoled. “Indifference is the best armor.”


    Adide shook her head, her voice soft. “I’m fine. I was just remembering how lively the pack used to be.”


    Valentin, too, fell into a mncholic silence.


    The Frostfang Pack endured, its status elevated, but few original members remained.


    Adide quickly regained herposure and headed back to her vi to be with Cedric.


    She worried he might have been frightened by the earliermotion, especially since Velda had been screaming as she was dragged away.


    To her surprise, she found Cedric calmly writing in his study, nked by Beata and Rachel.


    At the sound of her footsteps, Cedric looked up and greeted her eagerly, “Auntie.”


    His voice was still a bit hoarse, and he struggled with longer sentences, but he was clearly improving.


    He’d been practicing diligently, and Adide was confident he’d soon speak normally again.


    “What are you writing?”


    Adide asked with a smile, ruffling his hair as she peered at his progress. “This character’s got more strength to it.”


    Cedric’s writing wasn’t just about penmanship–it was about rebuilding wrist strength after his hand injury.


    Lance had been insisting on this exercise for months.


    Cedric put down his pen, ced his hand on his throat, and said with determination, “I’ll… protect you from now on!”


    Adide’s heart skipped a beat, and she smiled through her tears.


    Cedric might not grasp the full situation, but he clearly sensed the disturbance and wanted to shield her/3


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    Two dayster, Valentin, apanied by two pack guards, entered the Bloodmoon Pack’s territory. The frostfang emblem on his shoulder glimmered as they crunched through the snow.


    Meanwhile, Velday curled under a fur nket, her mint–green pheromones mixed with the coppery stench of wolfsbane.


    The scab on the back of her neck oozed blood from her fever. Her wolf whined pitifully in the depths of her mind.


    The moonflower remedy the pack doctor had left was spilled on the bedside table, its shards stained with dark blue blood.


    Nightmares of ughtered civilians gnawed at her.


    But she shrugged off the $50,000 debt as mere humiliation from Adide.


    What was $50,000 to Adide?


    Surely she wouldn’t send collectors to the Bloodmoon Pack.


    Yet the collectors did arrive.


    When informed by a Bloodmoon omega that the Frostfang Pack was demanding payment, Velda’s nails dug into her palm.


    Her mint–green pheromones surged, shattering the bedside moon goddess statue. “$50,000? Adide’s got the nerve to send dogs after me?”


    Velda’s face burned with shame.


    Ulrik, unaware of Velda’s visit to the Frostfang Pack, stayed in the pack today.


    They’d been arguing frequently, and he’d been sleeping in the study.


    This time, he returned to the pack only to renovate their vi for his new mate.


    Initially thinking the Frostfang Pack was settling old debts, he had Valentin brought to his study to spare Rosmary the trouble.


    Valentine held out a note that read, “Velda of the Bloodmoon Pack smashed a vase at the Frostfang Pack. Unable to pay on the spot, she promises to repay the fifty–thousand–dor debt by tomorrow.” It was signed by Velda.


    Reading the IOU,Ulrik’s face turned ashen. “What is this? When did Velda go to the Frostfang Pack? And why break a vase?”


    Valentine said coldly, “She went to the Frostfang Pack to see Adide the day before yesterday. They had a dispute, and she started smashing things. Impolite behavior aside, damages must bepensated. The vase cost fifty thousand dors. She promised to repay it the next day but failed. So, we’vee to collect.”


    “Velda went to the Frostfang Pack to see Adide and caused damage?” Ulrik was livid with disbelief.


    Ulrik’s pupils narrowed, and his cedar pheromones erupted.


    He recalled Adide on their mating day, her silver–tipped ears glowing in the candlelight.


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    “Adide didn’t want to meet her, but Velda was causing a scene at the border. To avoid disturbing Cedric, Adide let her in.”


    Ulrik’s wolf ws tore through his gloves<b>, </b>scoring five deep marks on the desk. “Who gave her the guts?”