Chapter 5

Luna Diane slammed the front doors of the Alpha estate so hard the stained-glass windows rattled. She didn’t even bother taking off her coat. She marched straight into the living room, her face twisted in a mask of pure, unadulterated outrage. Elara was on her knees on the expensive rug, wiping up a smear of spilled milk and mashed bananas.

 Her four-year-old pup, Leo, was sitting in his high chair, screaming at the top of his lungs. He was already four, but he refused to feed himself. For years, Lyra had silently cleaned up his messes and coaxed him to eat. Now, without her, the pack house was a nightmare.“Make him stop,” Diane snapped, glaring at the brat. Elara sighed, her eyes flashing with a momentary, ugly disgust before she masked it with a sweet smile. 

She stood up, wiping her hands on a towel. “He’s just tired, Diane. What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”“Worse,” Diane hissed, pacing the length of the room.

 “I was at the butcher shop. I ran into Claudia Sterling. Do you know what she told me?”Elara shook her head, picking up a dirty bib. “Lyra didn’t just leave with her tail between her legs,” Diane said, her voice trembling with rage. 

“She bought the cliffside estate. Lot 14. In Crescent Heights.”Elara dropped the bib. “What? But… that’s the house you wanted, Silas. That’s the house I wanted.”“I know!” Diane shrieked. “Claudia said Lyra traded a downtown penthouse for it. She’s sitting on a massive trust fund. 

She’s an heiress, Elara! She’s been pretending to be a penniless stray this entire time!”Right on cue, Silas walked into the room, rubbing his temples. He had been brooding all morning, the phantom ache of the severed mate bond giving him a migraine. “Why is everyone yelling?”Diane immediately launched into the story, repeating every word Claudia had said. 

Silas stopped dead in his tracks. His golden eyes narrowed. “That’s impossible. I reviewed Lyra’s finances before the ceremony. She had nothing. She handed over her monthly stipend to the pack, and I gave her an allowance in return.”“Exactly!” Elara gasped, her mind catching up. She grabbed Silas’s arm, her nails digging into his bicep. “Think about it, Silas! She handed over her paycheck, acted like she had nothing, and agreed to the rejection without asking for a single dollar of pack severance. She didn’t have to ask for severance because she’s secretly a multi-millionaire!”Silas’s jaw tightened.

 The denial in his eyes slowly melted away, replaced by a dark, creeping realization. Lyra had deceived him. She had sat in his pack house, wearing cheap clothes, begging him for fifty dollars for winter boots, while she secretly owned luxury estates. A slow, dangerous smile curved Silas’s lips. “If she has that kind of wealth… it belongs to the pack.”Elara’s eyes lit up. “Yes! She was your Luna. Her assets were acquired under your protection. You should petition the Regional Alpha Council. 

Claim it as misappropriated pack property.”Silas hesitated. “Petitioning the Council costs a fortune in bribes and legal fees. 

If we lose—”“We won’t,” Elara interrupted smoothly. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number. “Let me call Moris. He’s a liaison for the Regional Council. He owes me a favor.”She put the phone on speaker. After a brief explanation, a slick, oily voice echoed in the room. “An unregistered Luna hiding assets? Alpha Silas, you have a very strong case. The Council despises rogues who hide wealth from their Alpha. File the injunction.

 I guarantee they’ll freeze her accounts while they investigate.”Silas’s hesitation vanished. Greed, sharp and blinding, took over. If he could claim Lyra’s fortune, he wouldn’t just be an Alpha. He’d be a King.

 He pulled out his phone and dialed my number.I was sitting on the hardwood floor of my new mansion, a spreadsheet open on my laptop. I currently had forty-five million in my offshore account. 

The heavy-duty bunker renovations—steel rebar, bulletproof glass, and commercial generators—were going to cost me about five million. Once the remaining properties sold, I’d have another twenty million. That left me with roughly sixty million to spend on pure survival stockpiling. 

I picked up my phone and called Marcus Thorne again. “Marcus,” I said when he answered. “I need you to find me a warehouse. Immediately.”“A warehouse, Ms. Vance? 

I thought we were focusing on the residential properties—”“I need a twenty-thousand-square-foot industrial space in the outer districts,” I interrupted. 

“High fences, no security cameras, and zero foot traffic. I need it rented by tomorrow morning.”“Uh, okay. I know a place in the old shipping yard. It’s been empty for a year. I can get you the keys today.”ok thanks” I needed the warehouse as a blind drop. I couldn’t just have groceries and weapons delivered to the mansion, and I certainly couldn’t let the contractors see me making thousands of boxes vanish into my pocket space.

 The warehouse would be my staging ground. Next, I opened my email and drafted a two-sentence resignation to the logistics firm where I worked to keep up my human cover.

 I hit Send. I was done playing human corporate drone. I closed the laptop, a deep sense of satisfaction washing over me. The fortress was being built. The money was secured. The space was awakened. I was finally ready to start the real work.Then, my phone buzzed in my hand. I looked at the screen. Caller ID: Silas.I stared at the name, my thumb hovering over the green button. 

He was actually calling me. The arrogance of this man truly knew no bounds. I swiped to answer, keeping my voice perfectly flat. “Speak.”“Lyra,” Silas’s voice came through the speaker, dripping with that familiar, condescending authority. “We need to talk about your little secret.”