LOGINMAYA"Wow, that was fun! Can we do it again?"A child's cheerful voice cut clean through the tension still hanging over the street.Every head turned. I stood there holding the little girl safely in my arms, both of us untouched."Nina!"An old man rushed over, unsteady on his feet, the fear finally draining out of him now that he could hear her voice."Grandpa, that was amazing! Felt like flying!" she chattered, still clinging to me. "Miss, can we do that again?"I stayed quiet."Nina, you scared me half to death. If your grandmother ever hears about this, she won't forgive either of us." He looked at me, eyes wet with gratitude, hands trembling as he gently lifted her out of my arms. "Miss, thank you. Thank you so much.""Pretty lady, I want to play again!" she said, reluctant to let go of my hand.I glanced at her, then at the ruined cake nearby, and shrugged. "Shame. I was going to give you that.""Go buy the child another cake," a deep voice said behind me.I turned. A tall man s
MAYAMy eyes went dark hearing that. "Caleb!"He stuck his tongue out, grinning. "Just kidding, Mum! Look at me, all sweet and innocent. Would I ever do something like that?"My expression settled into something more serious. "The more Nathaniel tries to box me in, the more I'll prove I can build a life he has nothing to do with."I opened my laptop, sorted through the replies again. I skipped past the ones tied to Cole Industries, hopeless now. The rest were small firms, too afraid to cross an Alpha, which meant they wouldn't be offering interviews either.Nathaniel was trying to corner me. Did he honestly think I'd come crawling back?Not a chance.Forget design entirely, even if I switched fields altogether, he'd probably find some way to smother that too. Who did he think he was? Alpha of the strongest pack in the country didn't make him ruler of everything else.I set those options aside and started searching for companies outside his reach.Blackstorm's business arm was a giant
NATHANIELI slammed my fist against the car door. The bang made Donovan jump, though he glanced back and stayed quiet.I rolled the window down. The cool air helped clear my head some. Maya had been gone days now. The transfer had hit her account the same afternoon the divorce finalised.Was she already spending it all?I pulled up her number, nearly called before I remembered. Nora had said her old line was dead the day she left.She really did know how to make a clean break of things. This whole playing hard to get act had gone well past reasonable.She made her choice. If she ended up with nothing left, that was her problem now, not mine.I stared at the number a second longer, then deleted it."Donovan, find out what Maya's doing these days."He paused. "Sir, about Luna Maya—""Sir?" My voice came out sharper than I meant it.He caught himself. "Right away."I leaned back, shut my eyes, dozed a little the rest of the way. By the time we reached the healing wing, the hangover had m
NATHANIELMy voice rose louder than I meant it to. "Why didn't you call her? You could've asked her to come make it herself."Nora had always been so steady, but something about her today felt off, and her awkwardness rubbed me entirely the wrong way."Alpha," she repeated, firmer this time, "she doesn't live here anymore. She moved out.""You—" I started to snap at her, and then it landed properly. Maya was really gone.She'd divorced me. She'd left.And somehow, some part of me had just assumed she'd still be here, managing things the way she always had.For a second I nearly laughed at my own reaction. Nora watched my expression shift and said, careful, "Alpha, all those breakfasts before, Luna Maya put real thought into them. Noticed the smallest things. We don't know her methods, so we just make things the ordinary way."Before I could answer, she added, "Since she left, her old number's disconnected. If you have a new one for her, I could call, ask how she made it, see if there'
Maya, that border settlement nobody with neither standing nor influence, had just walked away with a hundred and eighty million. How absurd. Should Delphine call her naive, or simply foolish?The title of Luna, mate to the Alpha of the strongest pack in the country, was worth more than any sum could measure, and yet the girl had settled for a fraction of what she could have claimed. Perhaps to someone raised the way she'd been raised, a hundred and eighty million felt like more wealth than she'd ever imagined owning.Then again, how much had a wolf from the borderlands ever actually seen in her life. That figure had probably sat somewhere beyond her wildest dreams, which explained why she'd spelled it out so precisely in the agreement.Delphine had the staff help Nathaniel, still thoroughly drowsy, back to his room to rest. She stayed on the sofa herself, anger simmering, unable to settle."Mrs Cole, please, don't upset yourself further. Have some tea." Elise prepared a cup herself an
The hundred and eighty million had always been rightfully hers. The whole of her mother's inheritance, funds that belonged to her regardless of anything that happened afterward.When she mated Nathaniel, Edmund had needed exactly that sum to secure a territory acquisition for Blackstorm. She'd handed it over willingly at the time, and it had sat inside the pack's accounts ever since.Now, with the divorce, all she wanted back was what had always been hers to begin with."Nathaniel, you and Maya are divorced now. Your mother's waiting for you at home. Perhaps you should go speak with her," Elise suggested softly, watching him stare at the transfer documents.He ignored her. After a moment, he made the call without hesitating, instructing the treasurer to move the full sum into Maya's account immediately.Once the order went through, he shot a glare at the lawyer still standing there, patient as ever. "Satisfied?"Vincent offered a polished smile, leaning forward slightly before steppin







