Third Person’s POV


    Sidney gripped Adide’s wrist tightly, ncing outside, her breathingbored.


    +5 Frée Colns


    The ashen wolf fur at the back of her neck brushed against the silver bracelet on Adide’s wrist. Cedar pheromones mixed with a shuddering tone, “Listen to me, Germain’s no good. He and Madison have been scheming secretly for years.”


    Adide’s moon mark zed hot at the nape of her neck. Silver–blue blood beads welled from her elongated ws<b>. </b>


    “What?” she gasped.


    Her pupils slit like ice in the candlelight. The Alpha presence of the Shadowfang Pack surged, frost spreading across the carpet. The hot cocoa Paisley brought in trembled and rippled.


    Adide swiftly dismissed everyone and posted Paisley on guard.


    Paisley stood at the door, her ears ttened from the Alpha aura.


    “Sidney, what do you mean?” Adide pressed.


    Sidney’s head sagged. Her sulfur pheromones reeked of fear. “For years, he’s been secretly recruiting private forces in Blue Ridge State, funded by Madison and Maya. Those werewolves are hidden on Madison’s privatend.”


    Adide’s ws dug into the sandalwood table, silver–blue blood freezing the five deep grooves.


    She knew Madison’s territory–thend granted by the old Lycan King, still marked with the Moon Goddess’s totem at the borders.


    “Don’t cross him. Don’t oppose him,” Sidney rásped, her voice trembling with fear and cold.


    The temporary mark on Sidney’s nape cracked with ice crystals, a sign of a werewolf’s impending copse. “He’s far moreplex than outsiders think,” Sidney noted.


    Adide caught the suffocating fear in Sidney’s pheromones, overshadowing any faint reassurance.


    “For years, he’s yed the ‘doting breeder‘ card, but it was all for show–to mislead Lycan Erasmus,” Sidney added.


    As Sidney revealed the truth about the “doting breeder,” Adide’s wolf roared deafeningly in her mind, making her temples throb.


    Everyone thought Germain was ipetent andzy. Even Adide had believed it.


    Likely, Lycan Erasmus’s spies in Blue Ridge State overlooked the recruitment happening on Madisnd.


    Madison didn’t even reside there–how would Erasmus know about Fairfax County?


    <b>08:04 </b><b>Mon</b><b>, </b><b>14 </b><b>Jul </b>NW M


    No wonder Madison had been so brazen in her corruption.


    After speaking, Sidney grew weak and dozed off.


    s


    On December twenty–second, her spirits unexpectedly rallied. She ate lunch and dinner, even asking for more and eating half of it.


    Adide thought her condition was improving and was overjoyed, encouraging Sidney to rest and promising spring would bring recovery.


    Sidney smiled and agreed, “Okay!”


    Adide, too caught up in her relief, missed the silent sigh from Arnold.


    By midnight on Christmas’s Eve, Adide and Paisley were roused by Arnold’s knock and her choked voice, “Sidney has passed away!”


    Adide bolted upright, gasping as if surfacing from a deep dive. “No!”


    Sidney had passed peacefully in her sleep.


    Arnold, who had kept vigil, discovered her lifeless in the early hours when checking on her.


    She didn’t make it through the year and passed away in the silence of the Greenwood Sanatorium.


    Lance arrived early on Christmas’s Eve morning. Upon hearing the news, he held Adide close, expecting tears.


    Instead, she was eerily calm, her eyes dry.


    Adide’s wolf curled inward, a silver–blue droplet sliding from her bitten lip.


    Amid Greenwood’s wood scent, she sensed Sidney’s final pheromones–moon grass and resignation.


    Nestled in his embrace, she whispered, “She’s gone. Perhaps it’s a relief.”


    Lance gazed at the bare trees around the sanatorium, their deste aura echoing Sidney’s lonely passing.


    She passed away alone here, with neither mate nor children by her side.


    Fortunately, Adide came. Otherwise, she would have had no kinfolk apanying her at death.


    Her identity was so noble. She was the spouse of a royal family member.


    Those few omega were from the Blue Abyss Pack. They would send people to report it. And for Sidney’s funeral, Adide needed not take the lead.


    Adide personally bathed and dressed Sidney.


    When Blue Abyss Pack members arrived to take her home for burial, Adide remainedposed.


    The journey back to the capital was silent. Lance sat with Adide in the carriage, Paisley on his horse, and Avery driving.


    08:04 Mon, 14 <b>Jul </b>W


    All were steeped in sorrow.


    Lance held Adide throughout, not letting her out of his arms.


    Shey still as a hurt kitten, silent and motionless.


    s