Freya’s POV


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    Finished


    “I came to ask you for one thing, Freya.” Caelum Grafton’s voice was low, but beneath it pulsed the authority of an Alpha used to obedience. His silver–gray eyes locked on mine, demanding an answer. “The truth. I only want the truth from your lips. Stop twisting something as sacred as a life–debt into a weapon.”


    The words stung, but I didn’t let it show. Instead, I tilted my head, narrowing my gaze. My wolf stirred uneasily under my skin, ws scratching against bone. “You’re saying… the one who pulled <i>you </i>out of the ckwater River was Aurora?”


    His jaw tightened. “Yes.”


    it


    The single syble hit harder than a strike. He delivered it with certainty, without hesitation, as though the truth had always belonged to her.


    Caelum’s eyes flickered, his shoulders straight with conviction. “You didn’t expect that, did you? I’ve known all along who saved me. Aurora was the one who pulled me out. So don’t degrade yourself further with these ridiculous lies.”


    Lies. He dared to call it that.


    Augh burst from my chest, harsh and hollow. It spilled out of me uncontrobly, cutting through the night air. “Ridiculous? Lies? Oh, Caelum… tell me, which of us is the fool here?”


    Because I remembered every moment.


    The cold ws of the river dragging us both under.


    The metallic tang of blood clouding the water.


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    The desperate fight to keep his half–dead weight afloat while waves tried to break me apart.


    The hours afterward, when I had to bind wounds with shaking hands, praying he’d breathe again.


    And now, the wolf I saved called me a liar.


    The balcony door creaked, and another voice cut through like a de. “How shameless you are, Freya Thorne. To im someone else’s deed–someone else’s bond–as your own. I never thought you could fall


    this low.”


    I turned sharply. Standing just inside the moonlight was Jocelyn Thorne, my oh–so–perfect cousin from the Metropolitan Pack, first branch of Stormveil. At her side, with her cheek still swollen from Ss‘ earlier strike, was Aurora.


    They arrived together, circling like vultures, feeding off each other’s venom.


    My eyes didn’t linger on Jocelyn. She was a fly buzzing against ss. Instead, my focus burned into Aurora. “So it was you. You’re the one who told him the lie–that you were the one who saved him in the river.”


    Aurora’s lips parted, but she didn’t flinch. She had prepared herself for this, I could see it in the steadiness of her gaze. She must have known the moment she followed Caelum here that she’d be confronted. Her


    wolf bristled under her skin, posturing, as if daring me to challenge her.


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    “I didn’t have to tell him,” she replied coolly. “Caelum and others saw it with their own eyes. I dragged him from the water, stayed with him as the medics carried him into the ambnce, followed him to the clinic. and visited him while he healed. That’s the truth. Everyone knows it.”


    Half of that was true, and she knew it. That’s what made the lie so dangerous–it was wrapped in reality.


    scraps of


    I stepped closer, my eyes narrowing to slits. My wolf surged forward, my aura pressing against hers. “I asked you a simple question, Aurora. Were you the one who pulled him from the river’s jaws?”


    For a moment, her mask cracked. Her pupils dted, her scent spiked with unease. I could feel her heartbeat elerate even across the short distance. She hadn’t expected me to push back this directly.


    “Or was it me?” My voice sharpened, cutting the air like a w.


    Before Aurora could answer, Jocelyn cut in, her tone dripping with mockery. “Why are you pressing her like this? What, if Aurora wasn’t the one, you expect us to believe you saved him?”


    I turned my re on Jocelyn. “I wasn’t speaking to you.” My words were ice, sharp enough to still her smirk for half a breath. “Stay out of what doesn’t concern you.”


    “It does concern me,” she snapped back, lifting her chin in defiance. “Aurora is family. Her mother carries the Thorne bloodline. She’s my cousin–my elder cousin. And I’ll defend her.”


    That revtion struck me like a p. “Her mother… was Thorne–born?”


    Jocelyn’s smirk returned, crueler now that she’d drawn blood. “That’s right. Aurora’s mother is a Thorne by blood, just as your father was. Which makes Aurora your kin, Freya.”


    The words tasted bitter. Fate had a twisted way of binding us, threading our bloodlines together whether I wished it or not.


    Jocelyn stepped closer, her gaze dripping disdain. I could see the satisfaction lighting her eyes as she continued. “Do you know what she told me? That you’ve already been through the Lunar Severance Phase. You’re divorced. A discarded she–wolf. Tell me, cousin, is this why you cling to Caelum still? Fabricating tales to crawl your way back to him?”


    Herugh grated, and Aurora joined in, her voice deceptively sweet. “Freya, you and Caelum are finished. Why waste your dignity? Do you think if you convince him you were his savior, he’ll take you back? That he’ll feel so guilty he’ll grovel for forgiveness<b>?</b><b>” </b>


    Their words pressed in, suffocating, sharp as teeth at my throat.


    I turned back to Caelum. “So this is what you believe?” My voice was steady, but the rage in my chest burned hot enough to sear bone. “That she saved you?”


    His eyes wavered, just for a moment, uncertainty shing like lightning behind storm clouds. But then Aurora’s hand brushed his sleeve, her eyes pleading silently for his faith. And as always–always–he chose


    her.


    “I believe her,” Caelum said. His voice was firm, but his scent betrayed the crack in his conviction.


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    Of course. When given a choice, he had never chosen me.


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    My wolf snarled inside me, grief and fury colliding. But I forced my voice to stay even,ced with venom. “Caelum Grafton. Look at her. Look at Aurora.” I stepped closer, eyes locked on his. “Do you really believe she has the strength to haul your half–dead body out of a raging river? Against waves that nearly dragged me under even as I fought with every breath I had?”


    Images surged through me–the endless ck current, his blood clouding the water, my own lungs screaming for air as I clung to him with teeth and ws, refusing to let go.


    “You think she could have done that?” My voice rose, fierce enough that even Jocelyn flinched. “She couldn’t havested two minutes in that current. Do you really believe Aurora’s dainty hands bore your weight while eight des had already torn you apart?”


    Silence crashed over us like a breaking wave. The night wind howled through the terrace, carrying the tension with it.


    Caelum’s gaze hardened, but I saw the flicker in his eyes–the doubt he fought to suppress.


    But instead of admitting it, he clung tighter to the lie.


    And in that moment, I realized: it wasn’t that he truly believed Aurora’s story. It was that he couldn’t stomach the truth being mine.


    Send Gifts


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