Chapter 1

When Bloodclaw wolves kicked in the gates of the training grounds, my mate, Gabriel, walked in at the head of his men.

After someone leaked Bloodclaw's revised route for the treaty signing, Gabriel, the pack's Beta, reported me to the Werewolf Court.

Before he arrived, Gabriel texted me.

“Don't worry, Nia. It's just a routine check. We'll look at the roster and your pack's entry and exit logs.”

“Hang in there, Nia. It'll be over soon. Sera's never been through anything this scary. She's not as tough as you.”

“I told them about your foster father. They'll be gentle when they go through his things.”

Reading his messages, I finally relaxed a little.

Elias had been Black Moon's Beta and a former instructor at the training grounds.

He'd died of an illness a month earlier, and as the Alpha Female, I'd taken over his work.

Before he died, he told me one last thing.

“Nia, these training records are my life's work. Keep them safe in the records room. They'll give you something to remember me by.”

After he passed, I was in a dark place for a while. Gabriel was the only one I had left to lean on.

For the past two days, Gabriel had been checking my phone. I'd handed it over willingly and done my best to cooperate with his every request as Bloodclaw's Beta.

I trusted him to clear my name.

But his men kicked in the gates and began insulting the Black Moon warriors the moment they entered. Tempers flared between the two sides.

“Oh, look, you're training? With those scrawny little bodies? You think you can measure up to Bloodclaw warriors?”

“This is Black Moon territory. You think you can come mouth off on our land?”

“Why not? If the Moon Goddess hadn't made them mates, do you think she'd ever be good enough for him?”

Gabriel stood off to the side and watched his people humiliate me. He didn't say a word to defend me.

I held back my anger and let my Alpha aura roll out. Both sides went quiet.

Then I said, “If you're here to search, get on with it. Stop wasting time.”

They stormed into the records room, rifled through my neatly organized files, and smashed open any locked boxes.

The noise made me uneasy, so I went inside to see for myself.

When I saw one of them eyeing the box on top of the cabinet, I stiffened and rushed over to stop him.

“Don't touch that. Those are my foster father's keepsakes.”

The man paused and looked to Gabriel for instructions.

“Keep going. Don't stop.”

After giving the order, Gabriel turned to me.

“Nia, let them search. It's for your own good.”

I grabbed the man's wrist and held on.

“No! These are my foster father's things! You said you wouldn't touch them!”

When Gabriel ignored my protest, the man shoved me aside.

“It's a routine check. We look at everything!

“If you're trying to stop us, there must be something in that box!”

My lower back slammed into the corner of the desk behind me. The pain was so sharp that I bit down hard on my lip as I watched them pull the box down.

They pried the box open and dumped the training records across the desk, sending loose pages into the air.

Some of the precious handwritten pages landed on the floor, where people passing by stepped on them.

When they didn't find what they were looking for in the box, they moved on to search elsewhere.

Fighting the pain, I bent down and picked up the training records. Something about the way they were acting bothered me.

It was as if they'd already decided I was the one who'd leaked the information. Why else would they go to such extremes?

By the time the search was over, the records room was a wreck. Gabriel sent his men off, then turned to me as I was putting things back in order.

“Get some rest. Don't wear yourself out.

“I'll send someone over tomorrow to clean up, and we'll cover the cost of anything they damaged.”

Then he sighed with relief.

“Good thing they didn't search Sera's place. She scares so easily, she wouldn't have slept a wink.”

I looked at him and didn't say a thing.

I knew Sera only by reputation: she was the girl who had grown up with Gabriel.

She was also the woman from his journal. He'd written about her more than once, hinting at feelings he never quite spelled out.

As I watched him walk away, I fought the stabbing pain in my lower back and couldn't help wondering.

Once this investigation is over, will Gabriel and I ever go back to the way we were?