When we got back to the pack, we went straight to Luke’s house, but I paused <i>for </i>a moment to nce at the progress on our own house that was still under construction. They were making real headway with it. I had a strong sense that we’d be moving back in within the next couple of days.


    As soon as we stepped inside Luke’s ce, Elias went straight to theputer and began sifting through


    his own files. Thankfully, Luke had kept backups of everything the Alpha had worked on, in case anything


    ever got destroyed. That way, there was always another copy avable.


    I noticed Elias digging into some really old documents–stuff that dated back to the time when he had still been living with his father. It looked like files he wasn’t supposed to have, maybe stolen from his dad, but I


    didn’t say anything.


    While he was locked in and fully focused on what was on theputer screen at the kitchen table, I


    started preparing something for us to eat.


    I saw him highlighting bits and pieces on the screen–things that clearly seemed significant to him. And honestly, I was a little scared to ask what he was discovering.


    We ended up eating together in silence, and afterward, I cleaned the kitchen before heading off for a


    shower.


    Once I’d changed into my pajamas, I sat on the bed and began looking through all the things I had taken


    from the packhouse.


    I was trying hard to make sense of it all, but at the moment it just looked like a chaotic collection of clues. I knew there was something critical I wasn’t seeing yet. Something essential to the bigger picture.


    My mom had been having my dad followed. He was holding secret meetings. He had used her of cheating. He’d even had meetings with Elias’s dad. He murdered her the moment he realized she intended to use her powers against him rather than for him. She had been trying to protect me. So he locked me away in order to harness my powers for his own gain.


    What the hell am I overlooking?


    There was a gap in the logic. Something wasn’t adding up no matter how I looked at it.


    I went back to Finn Corwin’s file and started scanning the ces where my father had supposedly tracked him. But then it struck me–what if my dad hadn’t been tracking him as an enemy? What if he had actually been monitoring his movements because Finn was working for him?


    I asked Luke if I could use hisputer, and he agreed. So I took it and typed in the name “Finn Corwin.”


    Luke told me that I’d need to get onto the dark web to find anything real. I admitted I didn’t know how to do that, so he did it for me. If I was trying to locate a werewolf, the dark web was the only ce to look.


    Once he got me in, I typed “Finn Corwin” into the search bar, and results came up instantly. Tons of them.


    Turned out that name was just an alias.


    More Rewards


    I kept digging, trying to find anything else on Finn Corwin. From what I could tell, he was pretty wealthy. Donating to lots of charities,ing off as a model citizen in the human world.


    But no matter how much I searched, there were no photos <i>of </i>him anywhere, and that was driving me


    insane.


    Then someone else logged on to the dark web and sent me a private message through a separate link.


    FOREBODE28 – Why are you investigating Finn Corwin?


    ME- That’s my business.


    FOREBODE28 – You should be careful with what you’re digging into. If you open this can of worms, you


    might not like whates out.


    ME – Do you know him or not? If you don’t, stop wasting my time. I already know Finn Corwin is a fake


    name. I need his real one.


    FOREBODE28 – He’s got some very powerful friends.


    ME- I’m trying to take one of those powerful friends down.


    FOREBODE28 – That’s a huge mistake.


    ME – It’s either I take him down first, or he kills me. I need to find him to survive.


    FOREBODE28 – Are you the daughter that escaped?


    ME – What daughter? What the hell are you talking about?


    I motioned for Elias toe over to the couch, needing him to see what was unfolding on the screen. Someone was talking to me about Finn–and more disturbingly, about a daughter. I had to y dumb, acting like I had no clue what he was referring to. I couldn’t risk revealing that I was that daughter, not when there was even the slightest chance they could trace our location. Even though Luke’sputer was packed with encryption and spyware protections, I wasn’t taking any chances.


    FOREBODE28: His friend’s daughter escaped. They’ve been trying to find her. She’s in serious danger. If you’re digging around, you need to be extremely careful.


    ME: Who is Finn Corwin?


    FOREBODE28: Den Wolfe.


    I froze. That name hit me like a brick. I looked over at Elias.


    “That has to be wrong,” Elias said immediately.


    “It actually makes sense,” I replied. “I couldn’t find a single photo of Finn anywhere.”


    “But… it said your mother was having an affair with him. Your father believed Finn was your real dad.”


    24


    CHAPTER GE


    “Well, let’s pray to the f*****g goddess that he was dead wrong,” I muttered,


    “He was wrong.” Elias growled, voice sharp and trembling. “There’s no f*****g way I’m mated to my sister.”


    Elias shot up from the couch and stormed out of the room, mming the bedroom door behind him so hard that I jumped. Honestly, I was surprised he didn’t tear it right off the hinges.


    “He’s not just mad about the fake name,” Luke said quietly. “He’s pissed because his father had a second


    life.”


    “That’s generous of you,” I said tly. “But we both know that’s not the real reason.”


    I shut theptop, then grabbed Elias’s phone off the table. I called Dr. Eris immediately


    “I need a DNA test,” I told her. “As soon as possible.”


    She promised to be here first thing in the morning.


    Luke, running on almost no sleep for days, headed off to bed not long after. But I didn’t want to go into that room with Elias–not when he was in that state. The energying off him was vtile, too angry to


    deal with right now.


    So I quietly grabbed my jacket and slipped out the back door, making sure not to alert anyone.


    I wandered a short way into the woods. Not far enough to reach the patrolling warriors, but far enough


    that the house couldn’t see me.


    I sat on the forest floor, legs crossed, hands on my knees. I inhaled deeply, focusing on steadying my


    breath. <fn034d> Th? link to the orig?n of this information r?sts ?n Find_Novel(.</fn034d>


    “Noir,” I called softly. “Are you there?”


    “I’m always here, Lyra,” came her voice, calm and reassuring. “Elias wille around. The mate bond is too strong. He won’t reject you.”


    “I don’t want to talk about that,” I said firmly.


    “I’m here for whatever you need,” she offered gently.


    <i>“</i>You know what powers I have. I need to learn how to control them. All of them. In both forms–human and wolf. Can you help me with that? Because right now, I don’t have anyone else.”


    “Of course,” she said. “I know everything you’re capable of. I’ll help you master it.”


    “Good. I want to start now. I need something to keep my mind busy.”


    “All right. We begin with meditation. Clear your mindpletely. Don’t think about Elias, or his father, or


    yours. Not even your mother. Let it all go. Deep breaths.”


    I followed her instructions, closing my eyes and focusing solely on my breathing–slow and steady. My thoughts began to slip away, one by one, until I was floating in stillness. It was like falling into a waking sleep. Peaceful. Empty.


    < CHAPTER 46


    More Rewards


    “Open your eyes,” Noir said atst.


    I did. And there, standing before me, was a luminous white wolf with a ck star marking her chest.


    “Noir,” I whispered, stunned.


    “That’s right<i>,” </i>she said–out loud, with her actual voice, not through the mind link.


    “We’ve separated,” I said slowly.


    “Yeah,” she replied, smiling. “Another thing you didn’t know we could do.”


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