Third Person’s POV
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The night was heavy, clouds swallowing the moonlight whole. Inside the riverside lodge, tension thickened like a storm waiting to break.
Freya stood off to the side, her wolf restless beneath her skin. She had said little, yet her presence alone gnawed at Aurora’s carefully woven mask. Aurora’s smile faltered every time her gazended on Freya. And tonight, that mask was about to shatter.
Kade shoved Lee forward, boot colliding hard against his back. The rogue staggered and hit the ground, spitting curses.
“Not even a greeting?” Kade’s voice was cold ironced with mockery. His wolf’s eyes gleamed. “Strange. You and Aurora were friendly enough to share a lodge room just now. Care to exin that?”
The word lodge struck like a spark.
Caelum stiffened. The Alpha turned sharply toward the woman beside him. “Aurora,” he said, voice darkening, “what is he talking about? You and this man…”
Aurora’s face drained of color. She forced a tremblingugh, clutching at his sleeve as if his touch could anchor her. “He lies! Caelum, I don’t even know this man. It’s Freya–she and her people staged this to frame me. Don’t listen to them.”
The man on the floor–Lee, scarred and furious–snorted, coughing blood onto the floorboards. “Frame you? Don’t twist this, bitch. You think I’ll take the fall for you?”
He dragged himself upright, fury burning through his humiliation. His words cracked through the room like a whip.
“You promised me fifty million. Said I’d get my cut once thest transfer cleared. And what did you do? You sent the money, then called the enforcers on me. used me of fraud and extortion. If I hadn’t run fast, I’d be rotting in a cell right now. You wanted me locked away so you could have your precious secret all to yourself!”
Aurora’s breath hitched. She had rehearsed this lie a hundred times, but Kade’s intervention had smashed her timing. Now the pieces scattered.
Caelum’s brow furrowed, confusion tangling with suspicion. “Fifty million?” His voice edged low, dangerous. “Extortion? Aurora, you told me you were broke. Where would you find that kind of money?”
<b>O </b>
<b>7:59 </b><b>Thu</b>, <b>Sep </b><b>18 </b>
Aurora’s pulse raced. Her mind wed for excuses, but the words tangled.
“I–I only-”
*
<b>91 </b>
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Caelum’s wolf surged, connecting threads she had prayed he wouldn’t. His voice cracked like thunder.
“The loan. The fifty million I transferredst week. You said your uncle required a capital verification, that the funds had to be frozen for seven days… Don’t tell me―”
Sweat beaded across his brow. If those funds had not gone into SilverTech’s reserves, if Aurora had funneled them elsewhere–then the lifeline for his crumbling enterprise had vanished into dust.
“No!” Aurora blurted, eyes wide, desperate. “He threatened me, Caelum! Lee forced me to move the money first. But it doesn’t matter–hemitted extortion. Once the enforcers finish the investigation, the credits will be returned to us. There will be no loss. I swear it.”
Her wolf cowered beneath the weight of his re.
Kade’sugh was a de. “A moment ago you imed you didn’t know him. Now he’s suddenly threatening you? Which is it, Aurora?”
Aurora’s cheeks burned, her excuses unraveling.
Caelum’s voice lowered, heavy with ice. “What leverage would he possibly have over you, Aurora? What could he hold that would make you pay him such a sum?”
Lee’s lips twisted into a vicious grin. His life was already ruined; if he couldn’t have his share, then he would tear hers apart.
“Why? Because she’s no savior, Alpha.” His words rang out like a death sentence. “She never pulled you from those waters that night. She’s a fraud. She bought my silence. She gave me fifty million to keep my mouth shut, so you would go on believing her lie–that she was your rescuer. But she wasn’t. She’s been living off a stolen story all along.”
The air turned to stone.
Aurora clung to her role, voice breaking as she pleaded. “Caelum, no! He’s lying. Freya’s behind this, can’t you see? They’ve bought him to smear me. You’re my mate. You know me- you trust me!”
Caelum’s throat tightened, his wolf snarling at war inside him. His gaze, tortured and searching, slid past Aurora… andnded on Freya.
O
8:00 Thu, Sep 18
His voice cracked. “Freya… you never saved me. Did you?”
Freya’s lips curved into a cold smile. Her eyes, stormlit, held no mercy.
<b>91 </b>
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“Caelum Grafton, do you realize howughable you are? You raised Aurora onto a pedestal, called her your white moonlight. For her, you betrayed vows, tore your own bond to shreds. You excused her crimes, shielded her from judgment. All because you believed she once saved your life.”
Her words cut deeper with every syble.
“But if that foundation crumbles, if she never rescued you at all–what then? Who is Aurora to you now?<b>” </b>
“No,” Caelum whispered, shaking his head like a man drowning. “It can’t be. It was her. It was always her.”
“Test it.”
The new voice was a growl, rough as iron. Ss Whitmor, Alpha of the Irond Coalition, stepped forward, his power rolling like thunder through the room.
Before Aurora could react, his hand mped around her throat, lifting her as though she weighed nothing. Her feet scrabbled against the wooden nks as he drove her back, pinning her against the river’s stone embankment just beyond the window. Moonlight spilled over his bared teeth.
“Drop her,” Ss snarled, his eyes burning molten gold, “and we’ll see if she can swim. We’ll know if she ever saved anyone from drowning.”
Aurora’s scream tore into the night, mingling with the roar of the river below.