CHAPTER 6: Shadows Of The Past

The penthouse was silent, save for the hum of the climate control system and the distant sirens of the city below. I sat at my vanity, the glowing screen of my phone reflecting in the mirror. The grainy photo of my younger, broken self stared back at me.

“See you soon, Luna.”

The title sent a shiver of pure dread down my spine. In the werewolf world, "Luna" wasn't just a rank; it was a biological bond to a pack’s soul. But I was rejected. I was a rogue. No one should be calling me that, unless they knew something about my lineage that even I didn't.

"Marcus," I said into my intercom, my voice steady despite the thundering of my heart. "I need a digital footprint trace on an encrypted email. Now. Use the private servers in Switzerland."

"On it, Sierra," his voice crackled back. "Is everything okay?"

"Just... a ghost from the past trying to rattle my cage," I lied.

I walked over to the children’s room and pushed the door open an inch. They were sprawled out across their beds, exhausted from their day of corporate chaos. Leo was snoring softly, his small hand tucked under his chin. Watching them, the fear transformed into something sharper. Something lethal.

If this mysterious sender thought they could use my past to blackmail me, they were mistaken. I had built an empire to ensure my children would never have to shiver at a bus station again.

I walked to my hidden safe behind a painting of the Scottish Highlands, a reminder of the wild lands I’d left behind, and pulled out a small, velvet-lined box. Inside was a heavy silver signet ring I’d found in my mother’s belongings before she died. It bore the crest of a wolf howling at a blood-red moon. It wasn't a Silverwood crest. It belonged to the Ancient Line, a bloodline thought to be extinct for centuries.

If Kaelen knew his "weak" mate carried the blood of the Originals, he wouldn't just want me back. He would hunt me to the ends of the earth to claim that power for his pack.

The phone on my nightstand chirped. A message from Marcus: “The trace led to a dead end in the Northern Territories. But Sierra... the encryption style is military.

This isn't a rogue wolf. It’s a Pack Alliance.”

The Northern Alliance. The very people Kaelen feared.

I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the cool metal of the safe. The war was no longer just between me and my ex-mate. It was becoming a hunt, and I was the prize.

"Fine," I whispered to the empty room, my eyes snapping open with a glow of silver light. "Let them come. They’ll find out that a cornered wolf is the most dangerous thing in the woods.”

I walked to the balcony, the wind whipping my hair as I looked toward the dark horizon. Somewhere out there, Kaelen was nursing his wounded pride, and a mysterious shadow was planning my downfall. They both thought they knew who Sierra Miller was. They thought they were the predators and I was the prey.

I gripped the cold marble railing until my knuckles turned white. My wolf howled in my mind, a sound of pure, unadulterated defiance.

"Let them come," I whispered into the night. "I've already survived the heart of the storm. A few more monsters won't make me blink."

I turned back into my room and locked the glass doors, but as the reflection of the room shifted in the moonlight, I froze.

My heavy oak bedroom door was slightly ajar. On the floor, a single, fresh Silverwood pinecone lay on the white plush carpet, a scent that shouldn't exist sixty floors up in the heart of Manhattan.

But it wasn't the pinecone that stopped my heart. It was the deep, vibrating growl coming from the shadows of my walk-in closet.

"You always were a bad liar, Sierra," a voice rasped.

Kaelen hadn't gone back to his hotel. He was in my home. And judging by the gold fire in his eyes as he stepped into the light, he had found the nursery.

He stopped dead

Five years ago, he had walked into a nursery and seen three empty cribs, the evidence of a family he had tried to throw away. Now, he was looking at the woman he thought had vanished into the shadows.

"Sierra," he breathed, the name sounding like a prayer.

Sierra didn't look up from her tablet. She sat behind a desk of obsidian, her posture regal, radiating a power that felt ancient and cold. Behind her stood Elias, his hand resting casually on the hilt of a blade, his eyes promising Kaelen a slow death if he took another step.

"It's CEO Miller to you, Alpha," Sierra said, finally meeting his gaze. Her silver eyes were a far cry from the soft brown ones he remembered in the nursery. "And I believe you're here to discuss a loan, not my name."

Kaelen’s eyes flickered to Elias, then back to Sierra. "I saw the nursery that night, Sierra. I've spent every day wondering... are they...?"

"They are mine," she snapped, the air in the room dropping ten degrees. "And they are the only reason your pack hasn't been leveled to the ground yet.”

[The next day]

Sierra paced the length of her marble office, the city lights reflecting in her sharp, silver eyes. "Kaelen Vane thinks I’m a ghost, Elias. He thinks he can walk in here, ask for a billion-dollar bailout, and walk out without realizing whose hand he’s shaking."

Elias stood, his presence filling the room with a protective aura. "He is desperate. The Silverwood pack is hemorrhaging assets. But there is a complication, my Queen."

Sierra stopped. "What complication?"

"He didn't come alone," Elias said, his jaw tightening. "He brought her. The woman he chose to be his Luna when he cast you out."

A cold smile touched Sierra’s lips. This was the "Triple Regret" she had envisioned, not just for the children he didn't know existed, but for the empire he had traded for a lie.

"Let them come," Sierra whispered. "Let them see exactly what a 'weak Omega' can build in five years. And Elias?"

"Yes, Luna?"

"Ensure the triplets are in the garden when they arrive. I want Kaelen to see the future he threw away before we even discuss his past.”