LOGINAurora.
The heavy, dead silence that followed Adrian’s brutal confession felt as though all the air had been sucked straight out of the service tunnel.
Roland stood entirely frozen beside me, his jaw slack and his golden eyes staring at his father like the concrete floor had dissolved right out from under his boots. Everything he had believed about his duty, his family and the terrifying shadow of Magnus hunting us all season had just been expos
Aurora.The heavy, dead silence that followed Adrian’s brutal confession felt as though all the air had been sucked straight out of the service tunnel.Roland stood entirely frozen beside me, his jaw slack and his golden eyes staring at his father like the concrete floor had dissolved right out from under his boots. Everything he had believed about his duty, his family and the terrifying shadow of Magnus hunting us all season had just been exposed as a grotesque performance staged by his own blood.My phone vibrated violently against my palm a second time, the sharp buzzer cutting through the thick shock like a rusty blade.I looked down at the pale screen, reading the text twice before the words actually registered in my numb brain. It wasn’t a threat, nor was it another cold demand from Victoria’s usual contact number. It was a precise set of geographic coordinates followed by a t
Roland.The sharp, rhythmic beep of the disconnected line echoed in my ears louder than the words Victoria had just spoken.For the first time all night, the true threat facing us wasn’t a shadowy stranger hiding in a subterranean parking garage, nor was it a smooth-talking monster like Magnus making empty speeches in a service tunnel. It was the sickening possibility that my own father... the man who had built our territory, raised me to lead and dictated every law I lived by... was the monster we actually needed protection from.I slowly lowered the smartphone from my ear, my knuckles turning white as I turned my body around to face Adrian directly.“What did she mean, Dad?” I asked, my voice dropping into a raspy, dangerous register while my wolf growled low in my chest. “What have you been hiding from us?”I watched my father’s face closely
Roland.I snatched the phone straight out of Aurora’s hand before her fingers could press the answer icon. Some raw, primal instinct inside me refused to let Victoria’s voice reach her directly without me standing between them first.I took a deep breath, fighting down the hot rage surging beneath my ribs and slid my thumb across the screen. I put the caller on speaker, holding the device between Aurora and me while my father and Arthur closed in around us in absolute silence.“Victoria,” I said, keeping my tone smooth and even, forcing a quiet composure I didn't feel in the slightest.“Roland! Thank goodness you finally picked up,” Victoria’s voice floated through the small speaker, bright, warm, and entirely normal. “I’ve been trying to reach you and Aurora for twenty minutes. The media outlet just dropped a draft of the morning press release an
Aurora.I read the signature three times, half-expecting the blue ink to blur and rearrange itself into the name of a total stranger.Victoria.It made zero sense. Victoria was my literary agent and Roland’s senior publicist. She was the sharp woman who had spent the entire season orchestrating our fake relationship, standing right beside us through media leaks, press conferences, and endless scandal damage control.She had brought me hot coffee during three-in-the-morning deadline crunches and held my hand in the hospital waiting room when Roland got hurt during pre-season training. The image of her standing in a shadowy Council facility, issuing death threats against Roland’s mother, felt like a bizarre glitch in reality.“Victoria?” Roland repeated, his body going completely rigid beside me as if he had just been struck by lightning.
Aurora.I watched Roland’s hands tremble as he slowly unfolded the small piece of thick cream parchment, his knuckles turning chalk-white under the harsh, buzzing overhead lights.A single dark red smear caught the dim reflection near the corner of the paper, making my stomach drop into a dark, bottomless pit before he even read a single syllable out loud.I moved instinctively closer to his side, sliding my arm through his and pressing my shoulder firmly against his ribs, needing to absorb whatever shockwave was about to hit us. He didn’t pull away; his fingers twitched against the page, clinging to my presence like a lifeline in the middle of a collapsing storm.“Read it, Roland,” Adrian demanded, his voice strained and hollow as he stepped up beside us, his massive frame radiating a dangerous, frantic heat. “What does it say?”Roland swallowed hard, his throat working as his golden-tinged eyes swept back and forth across the crisp curs
Roland.My mind flashed instantly to my mother sitting at the head of the dining table three weeks ago, laughing under the chandelier, soft and entirely unguarded.She had been teasing me about my media interviews, completely unaware of how close the danger was to her own front door... or perhaps hiding the weight of her own ancient secrets behind fine china and silver trays.A brutal wave of guilt slammed into my chest, hitting me harder and deeper than any bullet or Council operative ever could. I had brought this storm into her life. My public fake relationship, my refusal to obey pack protocols and my relentless pursuit of the truth had drawn Magnus directly to her doorstep.I took two steps forward, ignoring the fierce throb in my side as I grabbed Arthur by the shoulder.“Details, Arthur! Who took her? How long ago did the call cut out?”“It was three minutes ago,” Arthur stammered, his fingers trembling as he held the open flip phone between us. “The transmission was scrambled







