Freya’s POV


    Finished


    I almostughed at the absurdity. “Too far?” I murmured under my breath, the memory of Aurora sprawling on the grass still sharp in my mind. Too far? Compared to the lies she’d tried to spread about me, the mockery she aimed to cast over the tragedy, she had no right to utter those words.


    Caelum’s storm–gray eyes burned into me. “Freya, I just saw you trip Aurora!” His tone was sharp, edged with both incredulity and controlled anger. “Why do you hold such malice toward her? Why harm her like this?”


    I could almost feel my wolf curl its lips at him. His question, his disbelief–it was almost funny. “You saw me trip her?” I said coolly, letting the edges of sarcasm cut through the tension. “Did you not see her reach for my WolfComm? Did you not see that she lunged at me?”


    Caelum’s jaw tightened. Aurora’s lips trembled, her Beta pride chafing against the sharp truth in my voice. But even I could see that their minds struggled to piece together what was really happening. They had both seen what my body could do.


    I had put Caelum t on his back once during a sparring session, easy as a wolf stretching its limbs. I could crush Aurora if <b>I </b>wanted–and she knew it, too. She stumbled, yes, but she was alive, unbroken, and if I had truly intended to harm her, she would not have risen with her dignity intact, much less just skidded across the grass in a graceless fall.


    “You see,” I said, letting the words roll off my tongue like steel, “if I wanted to hurt her, this wouldn’t be the result. A scratch, a bruise, a trip? Hardly enough. My body doesn’t work like that by ident.”


    Their expressions shifted, the tension around them thickening like smoke. Caelum’s Alpha instincts red beneath the surface, but his gaze flickered, betraying hesitation. Aurora’s eyes widened, doubt breaking herposure, even if only for a fraction of a second.


    “Freya-” Aurora hissed, “if you hadn’t handed over your WolfComm, how else would I


    prove-?<b>” </b>


    I cut her off with augh, sharp and cold. “Prove what? That you’re the victim? That some text message from a coward behind the scenes defines my actions? That’s what you’re basing your life around?”


    Caelum’s lips parted slightly, but before he could speak, I stepped closer, letting my wolf’s aura expand, heavy and low, brushing against his senses<b>. </b>It was a silent warning, a reminder that I was not prey, nor was <b>I </b>someone to misjudge.


    And then Caelum moved. His hand shot for my injured arm, instinctively protective, maybe a little overbearing. The WolfComm in my hand made me pause. My arm was slow–damaged from an earlier spar–but instinct, reflex<b>, </b>survival, all sharpened my response.


    “Let go!” I snapped, my wolf ring.


    But he gripped harder, thinking he could assert dominance through concern. “Give me the WolfComm. Let us check it, or I’ll


    His words faltered beneath the force radiating from me.


    I lifted my leg without hesitation. My wolf responded instantly, muscles coiling like a predator about to pounce. One swift kick, precise, controlled, and Caelum was thrown back, sprawling on the manicured grass.


    Shock radiated across thewn like ripples in water. Guests, reporters, and onlookers turned their eyes toward themotion, and I could sense their minds scrambling toprehend the audacity of what had just urred.


    “Freya, what’s going on?” Ss’s voice rumbled like distant thunder. I looked up to see the Irond Alpha striding toward us<b>, </b>


    as he took in the scene.


    his ck eyes narrowis


    “Nothing,” I replied, voice calm but firm, letting my wolf’s posture speak for the restrained storm within me.


    His gaze dropped to my right arm. The cream–colored sleeve bore <b>a </b>darkening streak of red.


    “You’ve


    reopened the wound?” <b>he </b>asked, concern cutting through the ice in his voice.


    Just a scratch from when Caelum grabbed me,” <b>I </b>said. “I’ll re–dress itter. Nothing serious,”


    Ss’s eyes, however, were storm clouds ready to break. He turned, slow and deliberate, and faced Caelum<b>, </b>who was still


    8:07 PM


    Finished


    gathering his bearings. Even as Caelum rose, attempting to justify himself, the tension was immediate and primal–the scent of dominance, blood, and challenge rising in the space between us.


    “You touched her arm?” Ss asked, his voice low, lethal. The weight of the Irond Alpha pressed down like a living thing.


    Caelum swallowed, unease prickling the hairs along his spine. “I… I didn’t know. If she’d handed over the WolfComm, none of this would have happened!”


    Ss’s gaze never wavered. “Her innocence,” he said, the words cold steel, “does not need proof from you or anyone else.”


    The air snapped. A single, crisp sound–the subtle crack of inevitability–echoed through the tension, though the movement had not yet begun.


    And then he moved. Ss stepped forward, the sheer weight of his presence crushing the space around Caelum. His wolf surged outward, a storm of shadowed dominance, fangs of instinct and authority glinting in the subtle sunlight.


    In an instant, Caelum’s right hand, the one still trembling with the misguided attempt to seize proof, was broken. The crack was audible, resonating like the shattering of bones and the release of primal energy at once.


    I stood frozen for <i>a </i>heartbeat, wolf instincts humming, muscles tense. The air was thick with pack dominance, a dangerous, electric charge that only Ss couldmand so effortlessly. The lesson was clear: he was the apex, the sto


    and neither


    man nor Beta could challenge him without cost.


    Around us, the crowd held their collective breath, the reporters sensing that this was more than a mere scuffle. This was the collision of wolves, bloodlines, and pride, and I, Freya Thorne of Stormveil’s fifth branch, could feel the tremors of power shifting beneath my paws.


    Ss’s ck eyes met mine for a brief moment. There


    re was no anger in his look for me–only a measured acknowledgment of control and principle. He had intervened, yes, but he had allowed me my dominance, my assertion. Thew of the pack, silent and absolute, had been enforced.


    Caelum crumpled slightly, pain radiating in a way that would not soon be forgotten. Aurora’s eyes flitted between us, doubt and fear warring with her Beta pride. And I? I tightened my grip on the WolfComm, wolf heartbeat syncing with mine, knowing that some truths could not be swayed by fear, coercion, or lies.


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