Chapter 3

The moment the woman laid eyes on that moonstone bracelet, tears streamed down her face.

"Alaric, when the Crescent Moon Pack was besieged on all sides and you were pushed to the very edge of death, I buried this bracelet at the bottom of the lake."

"I had worn it since childhood. I offered it to the Moon Goddess and begged her to lend me her fortune to keep you safe."

"I lay in a coma for seven days and seven nights. That was the price I paid for the Crescent Moon Pack's victory when all hope seemed lost."

Alaric went rigid, his eyes flooding with tenderness. He bent down and gathered the woman carefully into his arms.

"Felicity. I'm the one who wronged you."

Coralie saw her opening and seized it, thrusting a finger in my face.

"What do you have to say for yourself now?"

"You abused Alaric's trust and threw the entire Crescent Moon Pack into chaos. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?"

Even Ethan and Lucius exchanged a glance, their eyes clouded with conflict and doubt.

The bracelet was indeed a treasure Felicity had carried out of the orphanage.

Whoever was behind this had planned with terrifying depth, unearthing something so old and so personal just to muddy the waters.

I stared at the moonstone bracelet in cold silence, my fingers moving slowly across the tarot cards in my palm.

"A trinket proves nothing. It is hardly ironclad evidence."

Coralie's composure snapped entirely.

"Someone remove this witch before she poisons anyone else with her lies!"

Several warriors began to move. Alaric stepped in front of me again.

"Coralie. I have said it before. Without Nova, I would have died ten years ago."

"If she wants to search, I will turn the Crescent Moon Pack upside down to let her."

The two pups swiftly returned to my side and fixed the surrounding warriors with cold, steady stares.

The woman sat in her wheelchair, her expression layered with patience and quiet sorrow.

"Nova, I know your gift is real. But even the stars can be clouded by dark energy sometimes."

"If you still aren't satisfied, I have one more way to prove who I am."

She turned to look at Coralie.

"Go to the nearest lottery outlet. Buy an entire booklet of scratch cards."

Coralie didn't understand, but she sent someone immediately without question.

Fifteen minutes later, a brand-new booklet of scratch cards lay on the stone table.

The woman picked up a coin and scratched the first one open without any particular ceremony.

"Jackpot. One million dollars."

The moment the warrior read the number aloud, the entire crowd drew a sharp breath.

She didn't stop. She scratched open five cards in a row. Every single one was a major prize.

That staggering, heaven-defying magnetism for wealth was identical to Felicity's, down to the last detail.

Ethan and Lucius both exhaled with visible relief, the wariness draining from their eyes as they looked at the woman again, replaced by the old familiar trust.

I watched her performance in silence. The cold in my eyes deepened with every passing second.

Without hesitation, I bit down on the tip of my tongue. Blood sprayed across three cards.

My vision darkened at the edges. Blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.

Alaric lurched toward me in alarm, reaching out to steady me. I drove him back with a sharp command.

The blood-soaked tarot cards erupted in a dark radiance invisible to ordinary eyes, and it pointed with absolute precision to the abandoned old palace deep within the altar grounds.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. My voice was ice.

"The rear courtyard of the old palace. The dry well."

The color drained from Alaric's face the instant I said it.

That well had been sealed for decades, filled with nothing but layers of rotted silt and refuse.

My Felicity. How could she have been left in a place like that, sunless and forgotten?

Alaric broke into a run toward the old palace, not even stopping to bring warriors with him. Everyone rushed to follow.

A massive stone slab had been laid over the mouth of the well. Warriors pried it loose with iron rods, then lowered safety ropes and began digging.

Alaric gripped the edge of the well with both hands, his entire body trembling beyond his control.

Half an hour later, a shout rose from the bottom.

"Alpha. We found something."

A skeleton wrapped in black mud was slowly hauled to the surface.

On the right shoulder blade, there was a distinct and unmistakable gap in the bone.

Alaric's legs gave out beneath him. He dropped straight to his knees in the mud.

He reached out a trembling hand, then stopped just an inch from the bones, unable to bring himself to touch them.

"Felicity."

Both children's eyes went red. They clenched their jaws and held the sound inside, refusing to let it break free.

I stared at the skeleton with absolute focus.

Something was wrong.

The impression was faint, and the energy surrounding the bones was far too tangled.

I spun to face Alaric.

"Get your best Healer here. Analyze these bones. Now."

Alaric snapped back to himself, a thin thread of hope reigniting in his eyes.

"Call them. Tell the Crescent Moon Pack's head Healer to come immediately."

Thirty minutes later, the Healer arrived carrying precision instruments, and conducted a full series of examinations on the remains.

"Alpha. The pelvic structure of these bones is narrow and deep."

"Based on the full range of skeletal anatomy present..."

The Healer swallowed hard. Even their voice was unsteady.

"These... these are the remains of an adult male werewolf."

Silence crashed over the scene.

These were not Felicity's bones at all.