2. THE HEAVEN’S GATE

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW 

“Alpha,” Austin cleared his throat, carefully watching Finn as he flipped through the murder case file he had tossed aside earlier. But Finn’s attention wasn’t on the gruesome details of the murdered Alpha, it was on the widow Luna herself. 

“Did you let Luna Vivica go because she’s… innocent?” Austin asked cautiously. 

Finn’s hand paused mid-flip, the paper brushed slightly under his fingers as his mind drifted back into her beautiful face and rosy lips, “Because she is the one who murdered the Alpha,” he said, his voice low, deliberate, almost detached, yet carrying a note that made Austin shiver.

“She is the murderer?” he could not believe his ears, because if Finn stated that she was the killer then she had indeed killed him. 

However, earlier when Vivica looked directly into Finn’s eyes Austin thought she lost her chance to go home alive, let alone a chance to stand for a trial. He thought the verdict for her case would be decided right there and then. But when Finn let her leave the meeting, everyone was caught off guard. 

But it turned out she was allowed to leave not because she was innocent but…because she was guilty! The order was completely flipped and made no sense to him! 

Austin stared at Finn, completely dumbfounded. “Then… shouldn’t she be punished?”

“That’s why she remains free… ” Finn murmured, his dark gaze finally lifting. The shadow of the wolf beneath his eyes flickered like fire. “For now.”

Austin swallowed, his mind racing. Nothing made sense. The Council Head’s reasoning, his sudden interest in the widow Luna, defied logic. So he decided to do what he was best at, “Then… what are your orders, Alpha?”

“Have you already started the background check on her?,” Finn’s tone dropped, low and absolute. 

“Yes, Matty had been working on it for days already. I will bring it to you shortly….”

“Dig up everything that is not recorded in this file,” Finn cut him off, finally meeting his gaze, “I even want to know how many times she cried since her birth.” 

Austin could not breathe at that point. Why did the Alpha need a record of a woman's tears?! It had nothing to do with the murder case! For the first time in his life Austin felt that he was about to go crazy. Yet, the command carried an almost magnetic weight that he could never disobey. 

He accepted the request and turned to hurriedly exit the Alpha’s office while mind-linking Gamma Matty to meet him urgently. 

Finn’s eyes lingered over Vivica’s details, each line of her file almost cinematic in its clarity. She was only twenty-two, married just two months ago to thirty-five-year-old Alpha Basil Gilbert.

His thumb traced the edge of the page slowly, almost absently, as his gaze devoured the timeline. Two months ago, the realm had shifted irrevocably, Seraphina was crowned as Alpha Queen, Vivica marrying shortly after that. Every detail about Vivica was from after the marriage; her past, before the union, was pristine, unnervingly clean. Innocent. Until his eyes landed on her maiden surname.

Vivica Dawson.

Finn’s dark blue eyes flicked over the name, a small, calculating curl forming at the corner of his lips. The latent bloodlust that had shimmered in those beautiful brown eyes now made sense. The flicker of danger, the thrill, it all resonated with him; igniting his wolf, drawing it closer with an almost predatory hunger.

The silence of his office shattered as Austin burst in, panic written across his features. “Alpha… this widow Luna…” he gasped, disbelief cutting through every word. “She—she is the daughter of…”

“Elder Milton,” Finn murmured, almost casually, closing the file but letting his gaze linger on the words.

Austin’s eyes widened in shock. “Yes! She is the sixth child of Elder Milton, but illegitimate!” He dropped the background check papers onto the desk, hands trembling, breath uneven. “I don’t know how this murder case reached you, Alpha, but it’s no coincidence. I think—I think Luna Vivica orchestrated all of this.”

“I know,” Finn said, crossing his legs with deliberate calm, closing the file completely.

Austin’s mouth fell open. “Y-you know? You know she’s… trying to approach you?” His words faltered as Finn’s calm, unreadable expression sank in. A thought struck him suddenly. “Wait… could it be that day she is the one who—”

Finn’s lips curved into a slow, dangerous smile. “Tried to kill me.”

Austin froze, realization dawning. Finn had known all along. That day in the meeting room, he had already seen her, already understood the blood lust and the allure. That was why he had been so intent on her background, so absorbed in her history.

Austin shook his head, putting the pieces together. “She is the daughter of your dead enemy… and she already tried to kill you. I think she wants revenge.”

“Revenge, huh?” Finn mused, lighting a cigarette, his dark eyes lingering on the small puff of smoke he exhaled where he found her brown eyes staring back at him. His wolf stirred violently at the memory, as the beast between his legs stirred up. 

He leaned back in his chair, exhaling a ribbon of smoke, voice low and smooth, edged with hunger. “Now that she wants it… she will get it.”

In the Black Moon Pack, Vivica stepped out of the large bathtub, rose petals clinging to her skin, water dripping from the cascade of her long brown hair.

“Luna,” Ace called from outside the draped bath area. “A letter from the Council has arrived. You’re scheduled for a private trial… by the Head of the Council himself.”

Vivica’s fingers slowly wrapped the soft bathrobe around her, the corner of her lips curling in a faint, knowing smile. A private trial, an impossibility in the rigid council structure. Yet here she was. The Council Head’s reach was vast, far beyond what most could imagine. She had anticipated that he had already done a background check on her.

“When?” Her voice was soft, melodic, almost teasing as it drifted through the steam.

“Tomorrow evening,” Ace replied, hesitant.

“And where?”

Ace fell silent. Vivica stepped through the drapes, the damp fabric of her robe clinging lightly to her form, and met his gaze. “Where is the trial, Ace?”

He handed her a beautifully embossed invitation card. “The Heaven Gate.”

Vivica’s brows rose as her gaze fell on the elegant card. Finn’s dark blue eyes, the ones from their first meeting, flashed before her, mixing with his impossible handsome face “Heaven, huh?” 

She walked past Ace into her bedroom and pinned the invitation on the wall among the countless photos of Finn. 

She dropped the bathrobe on the ground and blinked at his handsome face, “Since you are giving it to me…I will take it.”

The next evening, she arrived in front of the place called The Heaven Gate.

Strangely, there were no guards. Her gaze traced the massive wooden doors, intricately carved with symbols that seemed almost otherworldly, demonic even.

Then the doors began to open on their own. Almost as if it knew she arrived. Vivica stood still, until the doors swung fully open, as if inviting her inside. From where she stood everything seemed dim inside. She walked forward with her back straight, high heels clicking softly against the polished floor. Each step carried a measured grace, but when she reached the center she got to see everything in the room before her. She froze. 

It was nothing like heaven.

The space was a decadent chaos of lust and desire. Werewolves moved in intimate clusters, some in groups, others in pairs, naked bodies entangled in pleasure, moans and whispers blending into a symphony of indulgence. The lavish décor, the intoxicating scent of perfume, and sweat, mixed with the overwhelming scent of sex.

And in the center of it all… sat the Council Head. Finn. Dressed entirely in black, his legs crossed, posture perfect, every inch the predator. His dark blue eyes, cold, emotionless, yet magnetic, locked onto her alone. 

Time seemed to slow. Every nerve in Vivica’s body hummed with awareness as a single, undeniable truth struck her.

Her private trial with him… was in this hell.