Freya’s POV
65
s
I sat hunched over the console, the glow of the screen burning into my tired eyes. The military’s drone footage had arrived from the Iron Fang Recon Unit earlier that morning, and I’d been working ever since to restore it. Line by line, pixel by pixel, the blurred shadows resolved into clearer shapes. My ws tapped impatiently against the desk as the software sharpened another frame.
And then–movement.
A figure stepped into view. The silhouette was indistinct, the face hidden in fog and shadow, but a sudden spark red across the screen. My breath caught. A tiny sh–like the strike of a lighter.
If that glimmer was the ignition of a cigarette, then the smoker in the footage would be the one I was hunting. The true figure behind the fire that had haunted me.
The Iron Fang drones weren’t crude machines; they carried the Coalition’s best optics. If <b>I </b>could fully restore the video, I would know who had been there that night. I would have a face. I would have proof..
I worked until the sun bled low across the horizon. The room smelled of overheating circuits and my own fraying nerves. Just as my ws flexed toward anothermand, my WolfComm rang sharply, vibrating across the desk.
“Busy, little wolf?” Ss’s voice rumbled through the line, calm and deep, the steady weight of the Irond Alpha I’de to lean on. “Do you want me toe pick you up?”
I rubbed my temples, exhaustion making my shoulders ache. “No need. I’ve done enough for today. I’ll drive back myself. You waiting for me at the apartment?”
<b>“</b>I’ll be there,” he said simply.
“Good.” I ended the call, packed up the files, and forced myself out into the night.
The roads were quiet, the hum of the engine a steady rhythm as I drove toward the Irond district. My WolfComm buzzed again. This time, it was Lana.
“There’s something you should know,” she said without preamble. “Kade’s digging unearthed something ugly. Aurora’s been tangled in dealings with some bastard named Lee. ckmail. Payments. She imed to be Caelum’s savior, but fate’s repaid her lies with chains of her own.”
<b>10:17 </b><b>Tue</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>16 </b>
65
s
I clenched the steering wheel tighter, leather creaking under my grip. Aurora–her name itself was venom. “So the liar’s finally cornered. She wanted the world to believe she was the one who pulled Caelum from the river. But the gods don’t ignore false oaths. If the footage shows her with that lighter…”
I didn’t finish. My wolf was already snarling inside me, teeth sharp in my chest.
“Maybe this is only the beginning of her rot,” Lana muttered. “But whatever Kade’s nning, it won’t be a quiet ending for her and Caelum.”
“Good,” I whispered, though the sound was more a growl. “But I’ll find the final piece. When the video clears, if it proves what I think it will–Aurora will have nowhere left to hide.”
We spoke a little longer, but my mind was already on the hunt. By the time I pulled into the gates of Ss’s high–rise territory, the shadows of my thoughts had sharpened into cold focus.
I parked, stepped out–and froze.
Jocelyn was waiting near the entrance. My cousin. The pride of the Metropolitan branch of Stormveil Pack, her posture arrogant, her eyes calcting. She saw me at the same time I saw her. Her face twitched with surprise, then hardened into steel as she strode toward me.
“I’ll call you back,” I told Lana curtly, ending the line.
I slipped my WolfComm into my pocket, raised my head, and let my gaze cut into Jocelyn like frost. “What do you want?”
“I came for Ss,” she said, chin tilted in that familiar, disdainful angle. “But since you’re here, there are things you and I should discuss.”
“I doubt that.” My tone was sharp, my patience frayed. I brushed past her shoulder, refusing to indulge her games.
Her scent red hot behind me as she hurried to block my path again. “You think you’ve won, don’t you? Wrapped Ss Whitmor around your finger? But tell me, Freya–what happens if he betrays you? Will you still stand by his side?”
I stopped. Slowly, I turned my head, letting my eyes lock with hers, cold and unyielding. “If Ss has something to confess, he’ll tell me. It won’t be you delivering his sins to me.”
Herugh was sharp and brittle. “Do you really believe that? If a wolf like him wanted to hide something, he could bury it for a lifetime. You’d never know. And when you finally did, it would break you.”
I gave her nothing. Not a word. Not a flicker of reaction. I simply stepped forward, brushing
<b>10:17 </b><b>Tue</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b>16
past her again.
:
65
s
Her voice chased after me, shrill and poisonous. “Freya! If he did betray you<b>, </b>could you truly stay with him? You’re too hard, too sharp, too unforgiving! No Alpha can stand a mate like that. He needs a woman who will love him blindly, who will forgive every sin, who will defend him no matter the crime. He needs someone like-”
“What I need,” a new voice cut in, low and dangerous, “is not for you to speak for me.”
Jocelyn froze. I felt it–the ripple of fear in her wolf, the sudden stiffness of prey sensing a predator’s shadow.
I turned and saw him. Ss.
He strode toward us, tall and broad–shouldered, the authority of an Irond Alpha radiating from every step. His handsome face was set in a mask of ice, his blue eyes glinting like steel in moonlight.
He came to stand at my side, his hand closing firmly around mine, grounding me. His gaze never left Jocelyn. “So tell me,” he said softly, the softness of a de’s edge. “What is it you think I’ve done to betray Freya? What is it you believe I’ve hidden?”
Jocelyn paled. Sweat glistened across her brow. Her wolf shivered under his stare, and I knew she wouldn’t dare speak the truth she’d sniffed at the borders of the past. Not tonight. Not while Ss’s wrath hung in the air like a de suspended above her throat.
If she revealed her knowledge now, she wouldn’t leave these grounds alive. She knew it. I saw it in her trembling lips, in the way her ws dug against her palms.
“Ss, I–I only meant…” she stammered, twisting her words into a fragile shield. “If, one day, you falter, Freya will never forgive you. She isn’t soft. She won’t look the other way. She’ll cut you down for the smallest betrayal. I only meant–you need someone who can endure you, who can stay at your side through everything, no matter what.”
Ss’s jaw clenched, the muscle twitching. His grip on my hand tightened just enough to
tremble.
I tilted my head up at him, catching the flicker of unease in his eyes. Jocelyn’s insinuation had struck somewhere raw, something buried deep that Ss didn’t want unearthed. My wolf pricked her ears, sensing it.
But this was not the ce for weakness. Not with Jocelyn circling, hoping for blood.
I squeezed his hand in return, steady, firm, grounding him as he had grounded me. My gaze snapped back to Jocelyn, my voice low and lethal. “Whatever lies you’ve pieced together,
10:17 Tue<b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>16 </b>
…
:
<b>65 </b>
s
whatever venom you think you can spit–you won’t bring it here. If you speak again, cousin, it won’t be words you leave with. It’ll be broken bones.”
Her eyes
widened. Her skin paled further. For a moment, I thought she might still try to push. But then the fire dimmed. She faltered. The bravado drained from her shoulders.
“You’re threatening me?” she whispered.
“No,” I said, my voice as sharp as a fang. “I’m promising you.”
The silence that followed was heavy, dangerous. And Jocelyn, for all her pride, took a step back.