•• Victoria’s POV •••
“So, are all the Palemane Claws Pack members currently at the perfume company?” I asked Felix.
“Yes.” He nodded. “Since we currently don’t have any place, they all gathered at the company.”
This time, I was the one who nodded. It was understandable. Palemane Claws Pack had no space like other packs, so the members would most probably feel the most comfortable at the company rather than being outside as rogues.
After I made sure Felix and Cathy had finished with their drinks, I stood up. “Let’s go to the company now. I need to meet them.”
Felix and Cathy quickly stood up, and we went to Felix’s car, where he drove us to the perfume company.
When we reached the company, I felt my eyes becoming misty because finally I got all my pack members back in one place.
“Hello, everyone,” I
•• Victoria's POV •••The Werewolf Council chamber was cold and kind of suffocating. Every Elder looked intimidating.It was lucky I wasn't the one being judged today. A shudder ran through me. If I hadn't been able to prove my innocence and if Damien and Luna Astraea hadn't believed me, if they trusted Diana instead, I would have faced the judgment instead of Diana in this cold place.The chamber’s vaulted ceiling loomed above, lit by a dome of silver-tinted moonstone. The air carried the faint scent of old paper, aged wood, and politics. My fingers twitched in my lap. I tried not to let the tightness in my chest show. I hoped everything went well today and Diana would receive the punishment she deserved.Damien sat beside me, his presence comforting, especially when he took my hand, as if he could sense my nervousness. Whether he knew it or not, he’d always been my anchor ever since the da
•• Damien’s POV •••"She doesn’t love me," I said quietly. "She doesn’t feel the bond.""Because she can’t," my mother reminded me. "Her wolf is still asleep."I closed my eyes. The memory hit fast and brutal.My throat tightened. I thought of Victoria, of how cold her body was when I carried her out of the shed and how silent she was, no matter how many times I tried to wake her up.I asked Eros to help reach her wolf, but Lya was also silent. I had never heard Eros sound so devastated as that time. He cried out for her. Mine, mine, mine—over and over again, pleading her to open her eyes, to feel us, to feel our bond—but she didn’t hear it.She had never felt the pull of our matebond and might never feel it.Victoria didn't know it, but I never left her side. For days, I sat by her bed, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest. I wiped
•• Damien’s POV •••"Those pictures are fake! They’re photoshopped!"Diana’s voice shrieked through the chamber, bouncing off the stone walls like the last desperate cry of a cornered animal. Her hands trembled as she shoved the stack of printed photographs back toward my mother. "You expect me to believe you’d fall for this crap?"Mother didn’t flinch. Her expression remained steady, calm as marble. She sat on the couch like the Luna she was - a Luna who’d heard enough lies to last a lifetime.I didn’t move either. My fingers still clutching some of the pictures, my spine straight, jaw clenched. I believed my mother.There would be no way she faked those images, especially because she used to favor Diana. She had no reason to frame her.“I’ve already had the images verified by two members of the High Circle,” my mother said evenl
•• Damien’s POV •••I took my phone from my suit pocket and scrolled through the media folder until I found the proof I needed: a recording of my conversation with Alpha Martin.“Diana, I gave my invitation to Diana.” Alpha Martin’s voice came through my phone speaker, and I saw that Diana’s face had started to turn pale.“Are you sure about it?” Noah’s voice came next.“Yes, I’m sure,” Alpha Martin replied.“Diana, my sister?” My voice came next.“Yes,” Alpha Martin’s voice was heard again, this time sounding confused. “Was there anything wrong? She said she needed the invitation, and since she’s your sister, I didn’t think of anything by giving it to her.”“You didn’t hear the news?” Noah asked.“Diana gave the invitation to my fian
•• Damien’s POV •••I stared at Victoria’s retreating back. Her cold gaze and the way she seemed as though she didn’t want me to touch her, the way she yanked her hand away from mine, made me feel panicked and miserable.What had happened? Last night she still initiated to be intimate with me. But then a thought entered my mind. Her forced laugh when she asked if I still didn’t want to ever bond with a she-wolf, which I nodded as an answer.She might have thought I didn’t know her laugh was forced, but I knew her. I knew her laugh, I knew when she felt sad or happy. I knew her, although she didn’t know that.She was my mate, of course, I knew her. I knew everything about her, even though I couldn’t feel her emotions through our matebond, yet I had watched her closely, so closely, whether from afar or when we were together, some people might have called me a cree
•• Victoria’s POV •••To hide my trembling fingers and my feelings, I placed my teacup on the table and pretended to choose the cute, small cakes to eat.Luna Astraea didn’t seem to sense my mood shift because she acted like nothing had happened, and we chatted about the newest fashion, and she also asked about my new perfume line.I was happy to provide her with the answers until I felt tired, not because of how boring the conversation was, but because I still hadn’t fully recovered, and this time, she saw the shift in my mood.“Oh, I’m sorry to keep you for so long, dear,” she apologized. “You must still be feeling weak. Do you need a doctor to check on you?”She looked so worried, so I had to reassure her with a smile, “I’m fine. I just still need to recuperate.”This time, she looked guilty, and I didn’t feel upset