Ss’s POV
Finished
I could smell her frustration before she said a word. Freya’s wolf bristled, her irritation rolling off her like heatwaves. She hated Aurora with the kind of cold, cutting fury that could peel flesh from bone.
I leaned closer, tilting my head as I studied her. “If you don’t like her, I can end this for you. One word, Freya, and Aurora disappears from the game.”
Aurora was just the Beta’s daughter from the Bluemoon Pack<b>, </b>and even with her shiny new badge as a pilot in the Airborne. Wing, she was nothingpared to me. I could crush her future with a flick of my fingers.
But Freya’s eyes narrowed, ring that dangerous amber glow that made my wolf sit up inside me. “No. The ones I want to deal with–I’ll deal with myself. Aurora doesn’t deserve your hand in this.”
Her words curled like smoke inside me. Pride. Defiance. She didn’t need me to fight her battles. And still… I would tear down the sky for her if she asked.
“Fine;”
“Fine,” I said, lowering my voice, letting a note of promise slide in. “But when you need me, you ask. Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen.”
She gave me a brief look–half grateful, half stubborn–and the matter was closed. For now.
The day of the broadcast came too quickly. I apanied Freya to the Halston Broadcast studios, ignoring the whispers of staff that rippled the moment I stepped through the doors. Wolves and humans alike froze when they saw me walking into a television station like it was enemy territory.
None of them expected me to show. And they sure as hell didn’t expect me to sit down among the mortals like just another face in the crowd.
One brave staffer finally found her tongue. “Mr. Whitmor, are you here… as a guest?”
I arched a brow, letting the weight of my presence bear down just enough for her to sweat. “No. I’ll sit in the audience.”
The girl nearly choked on her own tongue. Audience? They’d probably never let an Alpha of my stature in the front doors without a camera pointed at his face<i>. </i>Now I was choosing to be background furniture. I could see the gleam in her eyes- visions of ratings and headlines already shing in her skull..
Good. Let them salivate.
Inside the studio, Aurora was already perched on one of the couches, all painted smiles and false sweetness. When Freya entered, Aurora’s expression cracked, revealing the snarl underneath before she smoothed it back into a smirk.
“Well, look who finally decided to bask in the spotlight,” Aurora sneered. “I thought you were too noble to seek attention. Turns out, you just wanted your moment under the lights like the rest of us.”
Freya’s reply was sharp as a fang. “At least <b>I </b>saved lives, Aurora, Funny, I can’t recall a single soul you managed to pull from the wreckage. So tell me, why are you even here?”
Aurora flushed, then pasted on a brittle smile. “You should be grateful I didn’t swoop in. My aircraft was right behind yours. If you’d failed, I would’ve stepped in. I was praying you’d seed, Freya. Truly”
My ws itched to tear the smugness off her face. Freya tilted her head, her voice dripping venom. “Ah. So the helicopter frozen in the sky that day–that was you. I thought it was a rookie afraid of the wind currents. My mistake.”
Aurora’s face went crimson.
And then, of course<b>, </b>Caelum Grafton had to open his damned mouth. “That’s unfair, Freya. Aurora was monitoring conditions. If you hadn’t been able toplete the rescue, she would’ve taken over.”
My lip curled. Typical Silverfang arrogance, rushing to defend the Bluemoon darling. Freya didn’t even waste real anger on him–just a cold, cuttingugh. “Believe her if you want, Caelum. You always did.”
3:00 PM
Finished
The host intervened with a cheerful p of hands, pretending not to feel the charged dominance filling the room. “All right, let’s get ready for recording.”
I leaned toward Freya, my voice low. “I’ll head to the audience.”
She nodded once, trusting me without question. And that small gesture–it sank deeper than she knew.
I took my seat in the front row. Caelum slid in nearby, his scent souring the air. My wolf snarled inside me, but I leashed it. This wasn’t the battlefield–yet.
The program started, the hostunching into their rehearsed lines about bravery, teamwork, sacrifice. The cameras panned across the participants, then turned exactly where I knew they would–straight to me.
And Caelum, though he was little more than a side note in the lens.
The big screen filled with my image. I saw the shock ripple across the audience. Most of them didn’t even know my name, but they knew power when they saw it. They knew a predator when one sat among them.
The host turned sly, grinning. “Both of our pilots brought guests today. Gentlemen in the front–may we ask who you are to them?”
The trap was sex. They wanted the reveal, the headline, the spark to send their ratings sky–high.
Before I could open my mouth, Freya beat me to it.
“He’s my boyfriend,” she said, calm, unapologetic.
For a second, I thought I’d misheard her. But the word rang clear, echoing through the studio like a battle horn. Boyfriend. imed. Mine.
My wolf roared in triumph inside me, its tailshing, teeth bared in savage satisfaction. My lips pulled into a smile I couldn’t restrain, <i>sharp </i>and bright.
On the screen above us, I watched my own face shift Alphaposure cracking into something warmer, something unguarded. My eyes gleamed, my mouth curved. And gods, I didn’t care who saw.
She’d given me a ce <i>at </i>her side. Publicly. Before the packs, before the world.
Not as a weapon. Not as a Coalition Alpha. But as her male.
For the first time in years, I felt like I could breathe.
The host gawked, then quickly covered it with professional delight, already imagining the storm this revtion would cause. Ratings, headlines, spection–they could have their feeding frenzy.
All I cared about was the fire in Freya’s eyes when she said it. And the fact that for the first time in her life, she’d let the world see me standing at her side.
<b>Send Gifts </b>
312