LOGINLillian’s POVI spent the entire morning locked away inside the executive office, drowning in a mountain of endless corporate paperwork. My hand was starting to cramp up from signing my name on countless contracts, financial reports, and legal agreements for the pack’s company. The lines of text were beginning to blur together before my eyes, making my head spin. Realizing that I wasn't actually absorbing any more information, I finally decided to put my pen down and take a much-needed break for lunch.I ordered a simple meal to the office and sat by myself at the table near the window. I picked at my food listlessly, completely lacking an appetite. My mind simply refused to stay quiet. No matter how hard I tried to distract myself with business, my thoughts kept drifting back to the day I took Celeste to the stylist’s shop. I kept replaying that exact moment in my head, remembering how the man’s voice had dropped to a careful, low whisper just to reveal a hidden secret to me. ‘Every
Dorian’s POV"That's absolute nonsense," I said, my voice cutting through the growing murmurs around the stone table like a sharp blade. I leaned forward, forcing my expression to stay completely frozen, even though my chest was tightening with every passing second. I couldn't let these men see a single crack in my armor. "If a lethal pack like Shadow Creek was genuinely mobilizing a full army against Fangshade, my outer border sentries would have caught it immediately. Nothing like that happened. My territory is secure."The Alpha who had spoken just looked at me, his expression frustratingly calm and steady. He didn't blink under my intense stare. "The rumors aren't fake, Alpha Dorian. I wish they were. The old Alpha of Shadow Creek is dead. He was found slaughtered along with his vanguard. His oldest son just took over the title days ago, and from what my scouts tell me, the boy is desperately scrambling to put back together what's left of his pack's broken hierarchy. They are in t
Dorian’s POVI spent the entire night locked away in the suffocating quiet of my study, staring blindly at the mountains of paperwork spread across the dark oak desk. I tried desperately to piece the puzzle together, rubbing my aching temples as I stared at the messy maps, troop movements, and financial ledgers. Crimson, Aaron, and whoever else was backing them from the dark were playing a brilliant, hidden game, and the board was moving far faster than I could track.I kept looking for the missing connection, the single, hidden thread that tied the sudden financial cash-outs, the rogue sightings, and that mysterious, hand-delivered party invitation together. But the harder I looked, the more the pieces refused to fit, leaving me trapped in a vicious, exhausting cycle of frustration and sleeplessness. Every document felt like a dead end, and every theory I built up over an hour crumbled into nothing the moment I tried to find solid proof.It was long past midnight, stretching into t
Dorian’s POVFor a split second, the air in the room completely vanished. A dark, ugly rage flared up inside me, hot and violent, and it took everything I had not to lose my mind right then and there. I stared at the elder standing before me, my claws itching to break through my skin. The sheer nerve of this man, standing in my council room, screaming at me about a party after everything we had just done to clean out the traitors.I leaned forward, my voice dropping into a low, lethal growl that made the air vibrate. "You have exactly three seconds to remember who you are speaking to," I said, my eyes locking onto his. "Say another word, and I will strip you of your title, denounce your family, and make sure you never set foot in this territory again."The elder’s face drained of color. The anger that had fueled him seconds ago evaporated, replaced by pure terror. But I wasn't in the mood to wait for an apology.I stood up, crossed the distance between us before he could even blink,
Lillian’s POVThe urge to ask Aiden about what I had just seen in the hallway was pulling at me, but I hesitated. I stood there watching him, the question sitting right on the tip of my tongue, but I forced myself to hold it back. It wasn’t my place to pry into whatever was happening between him and Alanna. Besides, if anyone was going to get the real truth out of him, Alanna would be a much better person to ask than me.Aiden was still staring blankly at the wood of the door, completely checked out. It was like he was looking right through the solid oak to a completely different world.I snapped my fingers right in front of his face.He blinked hard, the blank look vanishing as he was suddenly dragged back to reality. He looked at me, a faint flush of embarrassment hitting his cheeks. "Sorry," he muttered, shaking his head to clear the fog. "Blacked out for a second there."He reached out, turned the heavy brass handle, and pushed the door open for me. I stepped through, and he fol
Lillian’s POVI opened my eyes the next morning and lay there for exactly three seconds before the full weight of yesterday’s mess hit me.From somewhere down the hall, I could hear Celeste trying to explain to one of the maids why she absolutely had to bring her new remote-control car to breakfast, and why the breakfast table was actually a perfect racetrack. That was the exact remote-control car Dorian had bought her, completely ignoring the fact that she was five years old and lived in a house packed with expensive things. He'd also bought her a matching helmet, an art kit with about four hundred different pieces, a giant stuffed bear that was almost as tall as she was, and a bunch of other bags I hadn't even gone through yet because I decided to go to sleep last night before my head exploded.I had specifically told him not to overdo it.Dorian was already awake next to me. He clearly heard the toy car drama unfolding in the hallway, which was why he was wisely pretending to be
Lillian’s POVI stood at the window watching Dorian’s car disappear down the driveway, a hollow feeling settling in my chest as the distance between us grew. A week felt like an eternity right now, especially with everything that had happened with the elders and the strange threats I’d been receiv
Dorian’s POVI sat in the private conference room with three of the most senior elders, Carter, Marcus, and Patricia their expressions ranging from disapproving to outright hostile as we continued the argument that had started in the full council meeting days ago. “You do not have the right to dic
Dorian’s POVI woke up the next morning with Lillian still wrapped in my arms, her hair spread across my chest and the mark on her neck visible in the early sunlight filtering through the curtains. I felt a satisfaction so deep it made my wolf purr contentedly, knowing that she was finally, truly
Lillian’s POVI lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling while Dorian slept peacefully beside me, his arm draped protectively across my waist. The mark on my neck throbbed gently, a constant reminder of what had changed between us, of the bond that now tied us together in ways I was still str







