Chapter 4

Scarlett’s Pov

The Spring Gathering was exactly as I heard it’ll be. it.

The Valley Wolf pack’s grand hall was loud and filled with different celebrities and all the Alphas from different packs brought their Luna.

Killian had barely finished greeting me at the door before he went off and started socializing with other Alphas. I stood with a glass of champagne and watched as everyone was buzzing and spreading fake news.

“Did you hear?” A Luna nearby was practically buzzing. “The Lycan King is here tonight. Dominic actually came to the Spring Gathering.”

“I know, I have been looking everywhere for him,” another woman beside her said. “They say he is incredibly handsome. I just want to see him in person at least once.”

“I heard the same thing,” the third woman chimed in. “Nobody has ever seen him in person. They say he is the wealthiest and most powerful werewolf alive and every seat on the council answers to him. The entire country runs through his hands and nobody even knows what he looks like.”

Dominic? Who’s that?. I repeated the name over in my head. I’ve heard it before in passing but never paid much attention. Killian beside me had gone very still, his eyes scanning the room and murmuring something like he was rehearsing a speech.

Then something, well someone pushed me from the side. I already knew before I turned around, it was the bane of my entire existence.

Tiffany!

She stood beside Killian, squeezing herself between us and grabbing his arm with both hands.

“Killian, I was so worried about you. I just had to come and make sure you were alright.” She pressed herself close to him, her voice dropping into something soft and sweet. To her anyway. To me it just sounded annoying.

Killian’s expression went through several things in a few seconds before landing on that helpless look he always had for her, somewhere between annoyed and completely unable to say no.

Tiffany looked slowly over her shoulder at me, and then a smug smile appeared on her lip.

I picked up a fresh glass of champagne from a passing tray and walked away to find better company.

I spent the next twenty minutes moving through the room, introducing myself to Alphas and their partners, asking the right questions, and listening carefully. As the future head and Alpha of Moonlight pack, I needed to understand who was aligned with who and what everyone wanted. Information was its own kind of currency.

Then someone shouted in surprise. “Moonlight Pack….!” The man was staring down at his phone. Then simultaneously everyone started turning on their phones. “They found their long-lost Alpha heiress. It is official, they just released the announcement.”

The news spread faster than I could track it. Within minutes every phone in the room was lit up and the conversations had changed entirely. Moonlight was one of the most powerful packs in the region, blessed directly by the Moon Goddess, their Alpha bloodline carrying natural healing abilities that no other pack could match. Finding their lost heiress was not a small thing. Every Alpha in that room immediately started calculating what a relationship with Moonlight could do for them.

“I actually know her.” Tiffany’s voice cut through the noise nearby. “The heiress and I have been close friends for years. Very close.”

The crowd around her shifted immediately, people turning toward her, trying to get closer.

I sipped my champagne.

“That is interesting,” I said loud enough so everyone heard. “Since when?”

Tiffany turned to look at me, her smile tightening slightly. “Excuse me?”

“Since when have you been close friends with the Moonlight heir?” I kept my voice completely even. “I am just asking because I have known you for years and I have never once heard you mention her.”

“You spend all your time in a lab like a lab rat,” Tiffany said, her voice sharpening. “What would you possibly know about anything?”

A few people laughed quietly while others watched with interest.

“You are right, I do not get out much,” I said. “So help me understand. Moonlight members carry very specific markings that identify them. Every pack member has one. Do you happen to know where the Alpha heir’s mark is?”

Tiffany did not miss a beat. “On the back of her neck. Everyone knows that.”

Murmurs of agreement moved through the crowd. People nodded. I saw a few looks thrown my way that said clearly I had overstepped.

Then someone stepped out from the back of the crowd.

Usher walked forward calmly, hands clasped behind his back, and stopped a few feet from Tiffany and looked at her, he didn’t interact with me just as we agreed earlier.

“I am Beta Usher of the Moonlight Pack,” he said to the room. “And she is lying.” He turned to address the crowd directly. “Every Moonlight member does carry a moon mark, that part is correct. But the Alpha bloodline mark sits on the shoulder, not the neck, and it is surrounded by roses. That is not common knowledge outside of Moonlight.” He looked back at Tiffany. “Claiming friendship with our heiress is an offense against the pack.”

The crowd had gone very quiet now.

Tiffany’s face was full of anger.

“And who the fuck are you exactly?” she demanded. “Moonlight members barely appear in public. You come out of nowhere claiming to be a Beta and I am supposed to just accept that?” She turned to the nearest guard. “Remove him.”

But nobody moved.

Then Alpha James, host of the Spring Gathering and head of the Valley Wolf Pack, stepped forward from the crowd. Tiffany’s shoulders relaxed slightly, clearly expecting him to handle it.

James walked straight past her and stopped in front of Usher.

“Beta Usher.” He extended his hand with full respect. “It has been too long.”

The silence that followed was magnificent, if a pin dropped that moment it’d have echoed.

Tiffany was frozen.

Usher shook James’s hand and then turned back to Tiffany, his voice leaving no room for argument.

“Apologize,” he said, pointing at me. “To this Luna and to me.”

Tiffany spun toward Killian. “Killian, are you going to let them speak to me like this?”

Killian looked at me. “Scarlett, you know Tiffany did not mean any harm. She gets carried away sometimes. Can you let this go?”

I looked at him for a long moment.

“No,” I said. “I want her apology.”