贊助


    Finished


    Third Person’s POV


    The coffeehouse in the heart of The Capital smelled faintly of roasted beans and ashwood smoke, a faint attempt atfort against the sharp tang of dominance that seemed to hang in the air whenever two wolves of different packs sat across from each other.


    Aurora smoothed her flight jacket as she regarded the man across from her. He looked to be in his mid–thirties, broad- shouldered with the kind of wiry strength that told her he wasn’t just another city wolf. His eyes gleamed with calction, the kind of gaze that could peel skin from bone.


    “You’re the one who helped Caelum investigate the incident from eight years ago?” Aurora asked evenly, her voice pitched


    low.


    2


    “That’s right,” the man replied. He leaned back in his chair as if he owned the ce. “Name’s Lee. Private investigator by trade. Caelum and I… we go way back. Same old roots, same broken soil.” His smile carried no warmth, only the smug satisfaction of a wolf who knew he held teeth at another’s throat. “I’ll admit, Aurora, I didn’t expect the daughter of Bluemoon’s Beta to be wearing someone else’s glory. All these years, letting Caelum Grafton believe you were the one who saved his life. That’s quite the deception.”


    Aurora’s face went pale. She had anticipated that Lee might have dug up fragments of truth, but hearing it spoken aloud was a knife to the ribs.


    “Do you have proof?” she asked coldly.


    “Of course I do.” Lee’s grin widened. “Wouldn’t have said it otherwise. I tracked down the woman who actually stayed with Caelum that night after he was dragged from the river.”


    Aurora’s stomach tightened. She already knew where this was going.


    “After Freya Thorne hauled him out of that flood–swollen current, she had to leave urgently. Some mission with the Iron Fang Recon Unit, I believe.” Lee’s voice grew slow and deliberate, savoring every word. “But before leaving, she performed emergency resuscitation, called the medics, and asked a bystander to watch over Caelum until help arrived. That bystander remembered it vividly. She didn’t stay until the end, so she didn’t know what happened next, but she clearly remembered who jumped into the water to save Caelum. After all, it’s not every day you <b>see </b>a woman leap into death–waters like that, strong as any Alpha, dragging a half–drowned wolf to safety. And more importantly…”


    He leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of the hunt. “She never forgot the sight of Freya in military uniform, dripping riverwater, vanishing like a ghost into the night.”


    Aurora’s hands clenched into fists beneath the table. “You’re certain it was Freya?”


    Lee chuckled. “Caelum himself mentioned her name once, and when I showed the witness a photo of Freya Thorne of Stormveil’s fifth branch, she confirmed it without hesitation. That woman has never forgotten her face.”


    Silence stretched between them.


    Aurora’s thoughts spiraled back to that night. She had been there too, on the riverbank, when she saw a man lying unconscious against the mud. She had not seen Freya; the soldier had already vanished into the night. When she bent closer, Caelum had reached out in delirium<b>, </b>clutching at her dress like a drowning man clings to driftwood.


    And when the medics arrived, drenched herself from the rising tide, the mistake was easy. They assumed she was the rescuer. She had not corrected them. Pride, vanity–whatever it was, she let the lie harden into truth. From that day forward, she wore the mantle of Caelum’s supposed savior.


    But now the real savior’s name had been unearthed. Freya Thorne. The unwanted daughter of Stormveil’s Bloodmoon branch, the girl Aurora had always dismissed as unworthy.


    Her pulse throbbed in her throat “How much does Caelun know?”


    “Nothing.” Ryker said lightly, swirling the untouched coffee before him. “Not yet. Since you called me first, I thought it only polite to share the truth with you before I share <b>it </b>with him.”


    12:25 AM <b>P </b>


    Finished


    So that was it. He was here to bleed her dry.


    “What do you want?” Aurora asked.


    “Simple.” His eyes gleamed. “You’re the Bluemoon Beta’s daughter, and soon to be Luna of the Silverfang Alpha. Caelum’s fortune alone rivals half the Irond Coalition. If he learns you’ve deceived him about something this important, he might not forgive you. So–give me a number.”


    Aurora’s teeth ground together. “Say it.”


    “Fifty million.” His smile was pure malice.


    Her eyes widened, fury shing like lightning. “Impossible. You think I carry the wealth of an entire pack treasury in my ws? I may be the Beta’s daughter, but my branch doesn’t hold the coffers. My stipend is barely enough to livefortably. I’ve only just beenmissioned into the Bluemoon Airborne Wing.”


    Lee’s expression didn’t falter. “And yet Caelum hasvished you with jewels worth far more than that. Didn’t Freya Thorne herself call it out, during that public severance phase? Said Caelum gifted you jewelry valued at fifty million. I did my homework.


    Aurora’s nails bit into her palms until blood welled. Those damned jewels again. Freya had dragged them into the light during the Lunar Severance Phase, and now this scavenger was circling the same carrion.


    “I can’t liquidate them. Caelum would notice. The most I can give you now is half a million. Once I’m Luna, I’ll find get you the rest.”


    Lee sneered. “Half <i>a </i>million? That’s what you toss beggars at the city gates.”


    a


    way


    <b>to </b>


    Aurora leaned forward, her wolf aura curling, sharp and dangerous. “Then go ahead. Tell Caelum everything. You’ll walk away with nothing. Do you think he’ll spare you once he realizes you’ve been ckmailing his Luna–to–be? At least this way, you get something. And as long as the evidence stays with you, you’ll always have leverage to make me pay the rest.”


    Her wordsnded. Lee hesitated. Greed warred with caution in his eyes.


    “Fine,” he said finally, leaning back with a smirk. “Tomorrow I expect five hundred thousand transferred into my ount. And once you wear Caelum’s mark, I’ll collect the remaining forty–nine and a half million. Everyst fang of it.”


    “Agreed,” Aurora said quickly, her voice smooth now, controlled.


    Because she only needed time. Time to bind Caelum to her with vows and blood. Time to make him so entangled he wouldn’t leave her even if the truth surfaced.


    As for Lee-


    Her lips curled into the faintest smile. He thought himself the predator. But he had no idea how wolves of Bluemoon yed the long game.


    In the end, the only victor would be her.