เข้าสู่ระบบ꧁ LYRA'S POVThe community center had come together faster than I expected, three months of careful planning finally taking physical shape in the converted training hall Grace had helped me secure — long tables stacked with donated supplies, a corner set aside for the tutoring program I'd been building for pack children who fell through the cracks the way I almost had, growing up without real standing in my own family.I wore simple green that afternoon, practical rather than ceremonial, and felt more at ease in my own skin than I had at any formal event since arriving at Greyson territory. This wasn't politics dressed up as generosity. This was the thing I'd actually wanted to build, finally taking shape in front of me.Selene arrived an hour into the event, dove gray again, unhurried and warm the way she always seemed to be, and something in my chest lifted at the sight of her. I'd started looking forward to her presence in rooms like this one, the particular ease she brought that f
꧁ ASHER'S POVIdris arrived at my study without ceremony, Grace trailing behind him with the particular brisk energy she carried whenever a piece of investigation finally moved somewhere solid instead of circling scattered fragments."Ownership records," Idris said, setting a thin folder on my desk. "Took longer than the week I promised, but I wanted it airtight before bringing it to you."I opened the folder, scanning the property registration he'd flagged, the same address Grace's earlier financial trail had connected to Whitfield and Cross's original incorporation filing. My gaze caught on the registered owner, and something in my chest tightened, recalibrating fast."A household trust," I said. "Not Marcus directly.""Correct." Idris tapped the page, his expression dry, unimpressed by my surprise. "Registered under the Greyson household trust structure, which technically covers property held for the extended family rather than any single individual's personal assets. Doesn't clear
꧁ AURELIA'S POVSelene chose her private sitting room this time, not the discreet tea room where we'd first properly met, and something in the shift felt deliberate the moment I stepped through the door — fewer eyes, fewer ears, the particular privacy reserved for conversations that actually mattered."Sit," she said, warm as always, gesturing to the chair across from her own. "I think it's time we discussed the full shape of what happens once this succeeds."My heart quickened at that, some old, careful instinct still bracing for another deflection, another vague promise wrapped around an instruction I didn't fully understand the purpose of. Months of Whitmore's careful evasions had trained me to expect exactly that. Selene's directness, when it came, still managed to catch me slightly off guard."I'm listening," I said."Once the documentation surfaces and Lyra's claim to William's inheritance collapses under scrutiny, the estate reverts to proper succession." Selene said it plainly
꧁ SELENE'S POVPeople always assumed warmth had to be a mask for something colder underneath. I found that assumption almost quaint, honestly, sitting in my private sunroom that morning with a cup of tea slowly cooling beside me, watching the light move gold and unhurried across the garden below.I genuinely liked people. I always had. I liked Aurelia, specifically, more than perhaps I should have allowed myself to, given everything I was asking of her. There was something in her — sharp, hungry, dangerously capable — that reminded me of myself at that age, before I'd learned to fold ambition into something quieter, more patient, more effective. I didn't manipulate her the way a colder woman might have, extracting warmth as a tool and discarding it the moment it stopped being useful. I actually enjoyed her company. I simply also understood, clearly, precisely, that her usefulness and my genuine fondness for her could exist side by side without either one canceling out the other.That
꧁ JAXON'S POVThomas called me into the study after dinner, Eleanor trailing in behind him with a folder pressed against her chest like something precious, and something in the careful way they exchanged a glance before either of them spoke told me this conversation had been planned before I ever sat down."I think it's time you actually saw this," Thomas said, sliding the folder across the desk toward me. "The full scope of your grandfather's will. Not the vague version we've all been dancing around since he died."I opened it slowly, the weight of the paperwork inside heavier than I expected, page after page of itemized holdings laid out in precise, formal language. I'd known, in the abstract, that William left everything to Lyra. I hadn't known what "everything" actually meant until I started reading.The commercial properties downtown, three separate buildings I hadn't even known he owned. Controlling shares in two manufacturing companies that supplied half the region. Investment
꧁ LYRA'S POVTwo threads, one firm, and still nothing solid enough to act on. I sat with that frustration for a long moment, staring at the same stack of notes I'd been rearranging for days, Grace's financial diagrams tangled beside Jaxon's ledger discrepancy, Rowan Whitfield's name sitting unresolved at the center of all of it.I was good at patience. I'd built this entire investigation on patience, refusing to let old instinct rush me into conclusions the evidence didn't yet support. But patience without the right tools just meant staring at the same fragments longer, and I understood, sitting there in the records room, that I'd reached the edge of what Grace and I could uncover alone."I need someone who actually knows how to read this properly," I told Grace that afternoon, gesturing at the tangled diagrams spread across the table. "Someone trained for exactly this kind of thing. We're good, but we're improvising. I want an expert."Grace considered that a moment, something calcul
꧁ LYRA'S POVMy head was pounding.I groaned, pressing my palm against my forehead as consciousness slowly returned. The sheets beneath me were impossibly soft, far nicer than anything I owned, and they smelled like cedar and winter and…Oh god.Memory crashed over me in waves. The club. The dare.
꧁ ASHER'S POVI stared at the woman sleeping in my bed, and for the first time in fifteen years, I felt something.Actually felt something.It should have been impossible. The curse which had turned me into the famous ice king was very clear…you will never feel for anyone…not until you find your m
Oh.My God!This wasn't like any kiss I'd ever experienced. In fact calling this a kiss had to be some sort of crime because a kiss isn’t supposed to feel like fire and electricity pulsing through every nerve ending and making my body come alive.Or was it?What did I know?His other hand found m
The bass thrummed through my chest as Maya pulled me through the entrance of Midnight Den, the most exclusive club in our pack territory. "I still can't believe you actually wanted to come out tonight!" Maya shouted over the loud music, her dark curls bouncing as she led me toward the VIP section.







