Freya’s POV


    Some dayster.


    s


    The metal door of the detention chamber groaned open, and the sterile scent of silver-tinged disinfectant hit my nose. I stepped inside with Lawyer beside me, the air heavy with the weight of what I was about to do.


    Atst, I was face to face with him-the boy who had abducted Aurora.


    But the sight before me jarred me to my core.


    The youth seated on the other side of the reinforced ss looked nothing like the masked figure whose cold eyes had stared into the camera during the hostage broadcast. That wolf had radiated menace, raw hunger for vengeance.


    This one looked…frail.


    Thin shoulders sloped beneath the drab gray of prison garb. His face was fine-boned, delicate almost, like someone carved from porcin. It was hard-almost impossible-to reconcile him with the image of the ruthless captor who had threatened a Bluemoon Beta’s daughter before half the packs of the realm.


    He raised his head as I stepped into view. His gaze snapped to me instantly, sharp as a de.


    “You asked to see me?” I said, letting my voice carry the calm authority of my bloodline. My Stormveil wolf stirred under my skin, alert.


    “Yes.” His voice was quiet, but it cut straight through the silence. His eyes fixed on me with the intensity of someone who had rehearsed this moment in his mind a thousand times. “I need to know why you’re helping me. I knowwyer Hawthorne is here because of you. Without you, no one would have fought to defend me.”


    I tilted my head, studying him. Luca. That was his name. He had seen me once before-on the isles, and again at the orphanage. He would know that Ss’s packwyers rarely moved without his explicit interest.


    He wasn’t wrong to suspect.


    But what he didn’t know was that I had pushed Ss, demanded he allow Lawyer Hawthorne to intervene on Luca’s behalf.


    “Because you need help,” I answered evenly.


    His lips pressed into a line. Suspicion flickered in his eyes. “What do you want from me?”


    The words were bitter,ced with the wary distrust of someone who had grown up watching adults barter kindness for favors. His scent recked faintly of fear and iron-fear not of me, but of being tricked.


    1 folded my arms, suppressing a low hull from my wolf. “Nothing. I don’t want you to lose your future just because you went digging for the truth in the wrong way.”


    Hisugh was harsh, humorless. “You expect me to believe that? No one helps without wanting something


    1:16 pm P P P s


    s


    in return.” His tone dripped with the cynicism of a boy who had seen charity twisted into spectacle. “Donations to orphans, rescue campaigns, all of it-it’s about reputation. About proving how benevolent they are in front of the packs. What makes you different?”


    I almost smiled. His words carried the sting of raw truth, but I wasn’t here to debate politics.


    “Then don’t believe me,” I said lightly. “Pretend I’m not kindhearted. Pretend one day I might call in a favor from you. Either way-it doesn’t matter until you’re free.”


    I made to turn, but his voice rang out sharply.


    “Wait!”


    I stopped.


    “If you’re really acting out of good will… then help me clear my father’s name.”


    The words struck like a de.


    And then-before I could react-he dropped to his knees.


    The metallic ng of bone on stone echoed in the visitation chamber, and my heart clenched.


    “Stop,” I barked, sharper than I intended. The guards rushed forward, hauling him up. I lifted a hand. halting them with a flick of my wrist. My wolf bristled; my instincts hated the sight of a young wolf forced into submission this way.


    “Don’t ever do that again,” I told him, my voice low. “You don’t need to kneel to me to be heard.”


    He gave a hollowugh. “Direct words mean nothing. I begged once before, and no one listened. Not when I shouted. Not when I begged on my knees. They only drove me out, called me mad.”


    His hands curled into fists, knuckles white. His eyes burned with something I knew all too well-the fire of a soul that refused to let go of the truth.


    “My father was innocent,” he rasped. “The fire wasn’t his fault.”


    The chamber chilled around me. Memories I had buried deep flickered in my mind-the reports I had read, the whispers that circted the packs.


    Five years ago.


    The fire that consumed lives and tore my family apart.


    The fire that stole Eric from me.


    I clenched my jaw. “Everyone knows the ze was caused by a cigarette that wasn’t put out. The first casualty was your father, Vice-Captain James, found near the ignition point. All the evidence pointed-”


    “No!” His voice cracked, and his wolf aura red for a fleeting second before shackles of silver suppressed it. His desperation stung my senses. “He promised me. He had nodules in his lungs. The healers told him he wouldn’t survive long if he kept smoking. He swore to me he would quit. He wanted to live long enough to see me grow. He would never have broken that promise.”


    1:16 pm P P P


    s


    His words carried the iron weight of truth. His scent-sharp with grief, raw with sincerity-hit me like at


    blow.


    “Please,” he whispered, eyes glistening. “Don’t let him die branded a criminal. Don’t let his ghost rot under lies.”


    My chest tightened. His plea tore through me, dredging up the wound I carried from that same fire-the one that had swallowed my brother whole.


    Eric.


    His face shed before me, hisughter, his promise to alwayse back. But he hadn’t. He’d vanished into smoke and silence.


    And maybe, just maybe, Luca was right. Maybe the fire hadn’t been born of negligence. Maybe it had been something else. Something darker.


    If Vice-Captain James wasn’t guilty, then who had set the ze?


    And where did that leave my brother?


    My wolf shifted uneasily, ws raking the inside of my chest. She hungered for the truth.


    “Fine,” I said atst, my voice steadier than I felt. “I’ll dig. I’ll search. But you need to understand-after five years, evidence is ash. Even if there was a cover-up, those who orchestrated it may have buried every trail. I cannot promise you the justice you want.”


    Luca’s eyes shimmered, a spark of hope breaking through his despair.


    “That’s enough,” he breathed. “That someone as strong as you is willing to try… that’s enough.”


    I exhaled slowly, my gaze drifting to the faint scars marring his wrists where silver shackles had rubbed skin raw.


    Five years ago, the fire had stolen everything from both of us. His father. My brother.


    Maybe fate had crossed our paths here for a reason.


    And maybe the truth we unearthed would either set us free… or burn us alive all over again.


    1:16 pm P pp.