Freya’s POV


    * Finished


    The moment the host leaned toward me, voice brimming with excitement, I knew exactly where his thoughts were heading.


    “So,” he said, eyes bright, “how did the two of you meet, and what made you decide to be together? Could you share a little


    with us?<b>” </b>


    Heat brushed my cheeks, but I forced myself to remainposed. This wasn’t supposed to be about me, not tonight. This stage was for the rescue mission, not for prying into my private life.


    “Tonight’s interview,” I said evenly, <b>“</b>isn’t meant to be about me personally. It wouldn’t be fitting to go into that here.”


    I saw his expression flicker with faint disappointment, but the man recovered quickly, shifting his attention toward the woman sitting opposite me.


    Aurora.


    The Bluemoon Beta’s daughter lounged on the studio sofa as though it were her rightful throne. Her sleek uniform had been tailored to perfection, the gleam of her flight insignia catching in the lights. I’d thought perhaps she would y coy. Instead, her lips curved with a calcted smile.


    “Then perhaps we should ask you, Miss Aurora,” the host continued. “The gentleman who apanied you here–your /friend?”


    Her chin lifted an inch higher, pride burning in her eyes as she gestured toward the front row. “He’s not just a friend. He is the founder and Alpha of SilverTech Forgeworks… and my fiancé, Caelum Grafton.”


    The words hit the room like a thunderp.


    I wasn’t the only one stunned into silence. Caelum himself, the man who had always carried himself with an untouchable certainty–stared at her, his face draining of color. The cameras didn’t miss it. They captured every twitch of his jaw, every unguarded second of his shock.


    My brows drew together. Caelum Grafton, Aurora’s fiancé? Since when?


    The host, thrilled by the drama, seized upon the im. “So Miss Aurora arrives with her fiancé! I heard during the rescue mission he boarded your aircraft as well. He must have cared deeply, fearing for your safety.”


    “Yes,” Aurora replied smoothly, tilting her head toward him with an expression of tender adoration that was anything but genuine. “Caelum loves me very much. Isn’t that right, Caelum?”


    All eyes turned on him.


    I caught it in his gaze that flicker of doubt, of unease. He hadn’t been prepared for this. Aurora had thrust him into a corner with nowhere to run.


    For an Alpha, he looked uncharacteristically small.


    “Yes…” His voice was low, strained. “I love you.”


    A tight smile pulled at Aurora’s mouth. Triumph. She could already see the headlines. Once the episode aired, once her words were broadcast to every pack in the region, her im would be truth. Caelum would be bound to her. A public engagement couldn’t be undone without disgrace, not for an Alpha.


    I didn’t understand. Caelum had always seemed to carry Aurora in his heart, like some treasured ideal. She was his “white moon,” the legend whispered. And yet, the hollow look in his eyes told a different story–that he was already regretting her


    Chains.


    None of it was my concern. Not anymore.


    The host, oblivious to the tension cutting through the room, pushed the interview forward. “Let’s move to the real matter. Can the two of you–our heroic pilots–tell us what went through your mind when you heard lives were in danger? Did the


    1/2.


    Finished


    risks ever make you hesitate?”


    Aurora leaned forward, seizing the moment. “Hesitate? Never.” Her voice rang with righteous conviction. “When lives are at stake, when fate demands courage, it is our duty to act. How could I possibly shrink away?”


    The audience erupted into apuse. Some even rose to their feet, pping fervently as the host looked on with open admiration.


    <b>you </b>were


    “Remarkable. Truly admirable. Miss Aurora, you are not only the Bluemoon Airborne Wing’s new pilot, but I hear also part of the border fire rescue five years ago. A hero then, a hero now! Let’s give her another round of apuse<b>.” </b>


    The ovation swelled again, thundering in my ears. Aurora’sshes fluttered as though she were soaking in the adoration like sunlight.


    My stomach soured. I remembered that border fire. I remembered who had bled and who had burned. And I remembered who hadn’t been there.


    The host turned atst to me. And you, Miss Thorne? How did you feel in that moment, knowing the task was dangerous? Did fear ever touch you?”


    My lips curved in a humorless smile. “At that moment, I only thought of one thing–that lives were on the line. The world doesn’t revolve around Aurora. Pilots aren’t so rare a breed that she should set conditions. She tried to use trapped civilians as bargaining chips, and I refused to allow it. So I flew.”


    A sharp silence fell.


    The host’s eyes


    widened. “What?”


    Aurora shot to her feet, fury staining her cheeks crimson. “Freya, how dare you! That’s a lie, a filthy nder!”


    Her aura red, Beta–born power sparking against mine. But I held her gaze, cold and unyielding, and slowly drew WolfComm from my pocket.


    I tapped the screen, and the studio filled with sound.


    I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed over my chest<b>, </b>and let the truth hang heavy in the air.


    Let them see her for what she was.


    <b>Send </b>Gifts