The Warning They Buried.

Rebecca’s POV

I stared at the folded document on the table, unable to ignore the pressure building in my chest.

Only minutes ago, Harper had admitted that the story I remembered from my first life was incomplete. Now, she expected me to believe that a piece of paper could explain why Davis had chosen me, why our marriage had fallen apart, and why I had died believing I was nothing more than a convenient alliance.

Davis reached for the document, but I placed my hand over it.

“Let me read it first,” I said.

His eyes moved from my hand to my face. “Rebecca, I only want to see what it says.”

“I know. But I spent my entire marriage being the last person to understand what was happening around me. I won’t do that again.”

Davis went quiet. Then he pulled his hand back.

“Fine. Read it first.”

There was no argument, no attempt to take control. He simply moved closer so he could see the document when I opened it.

For some reason, that small act unsettled me more than if he had argued.

I unfolded the paper carefully.

The report was several pages long, with official markings at the top and a date from before Davis had publicly rejected the possibility of accepting his bond with Harper. I scanned the first page, trying to understand why such a document had been kept away from the wider pack council.

“What is this?” I asked.

Harper pulled a chair closer but didn’t sit down.

“It was an investigation into an unusual reaction between Davis’s wolf and a potential mate.”

My fingers tightened around the paper.

Davis leaned over my shoulder to read the first paragraph. His arm brushed mine, and I became painfully aware of how close he was standing.

I shifted slightly, but he didn’t move away. His eyes were fixed on the report.

The strange pull I had felt whenever we touched stirred inside me. I hated that my body could still react to him when my mind remembered everything he had put me through in my first life.

“Keep reading,” Davis said quietly.

I glanced at him. “I’m reading.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “I noticed.”

“Then stop breathing down my neck.”

He straightened immediately. “Sorry.”

I looked back at the document before he could notice the strange effect his simple apology had on me.

The report described a reaction that had raised concerns among the investigators. Davis’s wolf had shown unusual behavior toward a potential mate, but the findings warned that forcing a bond before its nature was properly understood could destabilize the relationship between the two packs.

I read the paragraph twice.

It didn’t say I was Davis’s confirmed mate. It didn’t prove Harper had lied about being his fated mate, either.

But it proved that someone had investigated the bond.

And someone had decided the results should remain hidden.

“Davis,” I said, pointing at a line near the bottom of the page. “Look at this.”

He leaned closer again, careful not to touch me this time. His gaze followed my finger until he reached the name recorded beside a private meeting.

His expression changed.

“That’s my father’s name.”

I looked up at him. “Your father received this report?”

“He was part of the private meeting.” Davis took the document from the edge, holding it beside me so we could read the next section together. “I never heard anything about an investigation into my bond.”

“Are you sure?” Harper asked.

Davis turned toward her. “Do you think I would be standing here asking questions if I knew?”

Harper lowered her eyes.

I studied the report again, trying to make sense of what I had just learned. Orvayn Draven had received a warning before our families began discussing their future alliance. He had known there was a problem, yet he had never mentioned it to Davis.

Anger rose in my chest.

But beneath it was something worse.

Fear.

Had Orvayn encouraged the marriage because he believed I was right for Davis? Or had he needed something from my family badly enough to ignore a warning that could affect both packs?

I had trusted the people around me in my first life. I had believed our marriage was necessary, that my sacrifices would protect my family, and that Davis might eventually learn to love me.

I had been wrong about too many things.

“Why are you only telling us this now?” I asked Harper.

She looked at me, and for once, she had no confident answer ready.

“I didn’t know about the report when your marriage began to fall apart,” she said. “I found out later.”

“Later when?”

“After you and Davis were already having problems.”

“And you kept it to yourself?”

Harper swallowed. “I wanted to tell you.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I was afraid that exposing the investigation would reveal information that could endanger both packs. I didn’t know who else was involved or why the report had been sealed.”

I stared at her.

In my first life, I had died without knowing any of this. I had spent years blaming myself for failing to become the kind of wife Davis wanted, never realizing that people around us might have known something important and chosen to keep it from me.

“You had time to tell me,” I said. “You had every opportunity. I died believing I was the problem, Harper. Do you understand that?”

Her lips parted, but no words came out.

I looked away from her before I said something I couldn’t take back.

Davis stepped closer to the table. His hand rested beside mine, close enough that our fingers nearly touched.

“Who ordered this report to be sealed?” he demanded.

Harper shook her head. “I don’t know. The document contains the warning, not the reason the investigation was stopped.”

“Then what exactly do you know?”

“That the report was never presented to the wider council. I only found out because I came across a record connected to the investigation.”

Davis dragged a hand through his hair.

“My father knew about this, and he never told me.”

His voice was controlled, but I could see the tension in his jaw. For the first time, I wondered whether he was as lost in this situation as I was.

I knew how much Davis valued his father’s judgment. Discovering that Orvayn had kept something this important from him was bound to hurt.

I wanted to comfort him.

The thought came so naturally that I immediately pushed it away.

He wasn’t my husband anymore. He wasn’t even my boyfriend. And whatever strange connection existed between us, I couldn’t allow it to make me forget the life I had already lost.

I returned my attention to the document.

“Wait.”

Both of them looked at me.

I turned to the final page and examined the authorization section. A signature appeared beneath the words confirming that the report had been sealed.

It wasn’t Orvayn’s.

I leaned closer, trying to make out the name, but a thick strip of black ink had been drawn across it.

“Someone covered the signature,” I said.

Davis came around the table and stood beside me. “Let me see.”

I handed him the page.

Our fingers brushed.

A familiar jolt passed through me, sharp enough to make me pull my hand back. Davis paused too. His eyes lifted to mine, and for a brief second, neither of us looked away.

There was something in his expression I couldn’t explain. Surprise, perhaps, or the same confusion I felt whenever our bodies reacted to each other without permission.

“Did you feel that?” he asked softly.

“Davis, not now.”

He held my gaze for another moment before looking down at the paper.

“Okay.”

I hated how easily that answer made me feel guilty.

He hadn’t argued. He hadn’t demanded anything from me. He had simply accepted my boundary, even though I could see that he wanted answers as badly as I did.

His phone rang before either of us could speak again.

Davis glanced at the screen, and his expression hardened.

“It’s my father.”

Harper went still.

Davis answered and put the call on speaker.

“Dad?”

Orvayn’s voice came through immediately.

“Has Harper contacted you?”

My entire body froze.

Davis looked at Harper, then at me.

We hadn’t told Orvayn that Harper was here. We hadn’t mentioned the report or the warning hidden inside it.

“How do you know she’s contacted us?” Davis asked.

“Answer my question, Davis.”

“She’s here,” he replied. “But that’s not what I asked. How did you know?”

Orvayn ignored him.

“Whatever Harper has shown you, Rebecca must not be allowed to take that report to the council.”