บททั้งหมดของ Alpha VS Omega' Twin VS Twin (A Dark Werewolf Romance): บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

POV: Cormac BrennanLocation: Various Locations, LondonTime: Present DayI'm reviewing territory expansion proposals when Beta Declan interrupts. "You have a meeting. Beta Killian from the Docklands pack. He's waiting in the receiving room."Killian. I know that name. His Alpha was rivals with Father for thirty years. Territorial disputes, resource competition, political maneuvering. They hated each other with the careful civility that pack politics requires."What does he want?""Didn't say. Just requested meeting with you personally." Declan's voice is cautious. "Could be trap. Could be legitimate business. Docklands pack has been expanding too.""Set up the meeting. Standard security protocols." I close the territory files. "And stay in the room. I want witness to whatever's discussed."Ten minutes later, I'm facing Beta Killian across my father's desk. My desk now. Killian's maybe fifty, scarred from decades of pack enforcement. He's got the hard look of wolves who've done necessa

POV: Rachel (Minor Character)Location: The Crimson Room, SohoTime: Same Night as Chapter 33I've been a thrall for three weeks. That's not long enough to forget what it was like to be human. To have free will. To make my own choices.But it's long enough to understand that I'll never be human again.My name is Rachel. I'm twenty-six years old. Three weeks ago, I was a graduate student at King's College studying literature. I had a thesis advisor, a small flat in Islington, and a future that didn't include slavery.Now I'm property. Addicted. Owned by Lord Silvain Mordaunt and serving in his flagship blood club.The Crimson Room is exactly what it sounds like. Every surface is red. Red walls, red furniture, red lighting that makes everyone look like they're bleeding. It's deliberate aesthetic. Vampires enjoy the symbolism.I'm standing in the corner of the main floor holding a tray of blood-wine. My job is to circulate among the guests, offer drinks, and be available if any vampire wa

POV: Callum BrennanLocation: Prison Gates, then RookeriesTime: Release DayThe prison gates open at dawn. I walk through them carrying nothing because I own nothing. No money. No clothes beyond the prison jumpsuit they're letting me keep. No identification. No pack status.Just scars. Trauma. And eighteen months of survival experience.The guard at the gate hands me a document. "Permanent packless status. Don't return to pack territory. Don't approach pack members. Don't attempt to rejoin any pack. You're exiled for life. Understand?""I understand.""Good. Get out."I walk away from the Cage. From eighteen months of hell. From silver poisoning and fighting pits and watching wolves die. I'm free.Except I'm not free. I'm packless. And packless wolves have no freedom in supernatural London. We're the lowest status. The ones everyone else exploits.But at least I'm alive. That's more than most wolves who enter the Cage can say.London looks different from outside prison. I've been lock

POV: Alternating - Valentina, Sibyl, TomLocation: Various, RookeriesTime: Same WeekVALENTINA CORVINOI'm running messages through the Rookeries when I smell the blood club vampire following me. Not the first time. Won't be the last. Being dhampir makes me valuable target for vampire recruitment.Dhampir means half-vampire. One parent vampire, one human. We're rare. Daywalkers. Stronger than humans, faster than full vampires in sunlight. Parliament wants us controlled or eliminated.I choose neither. I run messages, stay independent, survive.The vampire's been following for three blocks. Time to lose him.I duck into an alley, climb the fire escape, cross rooftops. The vampire tries keeping pace but sunlight weakens him. I'm faster in daylight. Always have been.I lose him near Bethnal Green. Drop down into another alley and catch my breath.My name is Valentina Corvino. I'm twenty-four years old. My mother was killed by the Crimson Parliament when I was twelve. Her crime? Falling i

POV: Callum BrennanLocation: The RookeriesTime: Two Weeks After ReleaseThe package arrives at Derek's flophouse addressed to me. No return address. No indication of who sent it.Derek hands it over. "Package for you. Came by courier. Paid delivery."I take the package to a corner and open it carefully. In the Rookeries, unexpected packages are either opportunities or traps. You never know which until you look.Inside is a manila folder stuffed with documents. The first page is a handwritten note."From someone who keeps records. Use wisely."I flip through the documents. What I'm seeing makes my heart stop.Bank records. Real bank records. Showing transactions from Cormac's personal accounts to offshore accounts. Payments to Mrs. Blackwood, the vampire accountant. Payments to witnesses. Payments to guards. Every transaction documented with dates and amounts.The embezzlement trail wasn't mine. It was Cormac's. He paid Mrs. Blackwood to create false records and plant them in my name.