Nathan’s POV
He froze.
He knew I ant it. In Asterfell, I was one of the very few people you dare not cross.
“It..it is in my safe...I will quickly fetch it for you”, he stuttered. I ordered Collins to follow him to ensure he doesn’t tamper with it.
Soon, the black box hit the table. My wolf paced inside , claws scraping the edges of my mind. We should tear it open, he growled. I agreed.
The lock clicked, tal groaning like it recognized . Inside... there was a single USB. It looked very innocent to the eyes. My fingers trembled, claws threatening to break skin as I plugged it into the computer.
The screen lit up.
And my world ended.
Aria, my mate, pale as moonlight, was giving birth alone in a concrete corner. Blood pooled around her like a macabre offering. Her wolf form flickered under her skin, unable to shift fully because of the silver collar at her throat. I rembered those scars... I rembered not asking.
A growl rumbled from my chest, low, feral, vibrating the air. My vision tinted red.
Mine, my wolf snarled. She is our mate.
The footage continued. Aria, bleeding, screaming for help but she was ignored. Guards walked by like she was nothing more than a stain on the wall. One spit at her, another laughed. The look of terror on her face, even through a screen, hit like a blade to the lungs.
Then, she passed out...Looking lifeless.
Soone dragged her away, cursing her for bleeding on the floor.
I couldn’t breathe.
When she returned, she held a tiny wolf pup, Lana. She was born too early and looked so fragile, exactly as Aria had said. Aria’s eyes had changed. The light was completely gone, replaced by sothing colder, sothing forged in hell.
She stood like a wolf risen from the dead, promising to burn the world before letting anyone touch her or her pup again.
I snapped the laptop shut before I shredded it. My claws were out. My fangs ached. “Why?” The word tore from , more roar than voice.
The warden stuttered, but I didn’t care for what he was trying to say. I lunged forward and in a split second, I grabbed his skull, slamming it into the wall so hard the plaster cracked. His blood sprayed. His screams echoed like music to my wolf.
They let my mate, my Luna, suffer.
They watched and did nothing.
My hand shifted, my fingers becoming claws as they wrapped around his throat. His pulse fluttered like a frightened rabbit against my palm. The other guards reeked of terror.
“Alpha Nathan, you will kill him—!” Collins’s voice cut through the haze, pulling back from the brink. Killing him here would be too rciful.
I released the warden long enough for him to collapse. Then I kicked him across the room. He landed on a couch like a broken doll. Drool and blood sared his chin.
“Who ordered it?” My words crackled with Alpha command, my power filling the room like a storm. Even Collins flinched.
The warden shook, his forehead pressed to the ground. “I...I never t them! They said they acted for you! Said you hated her! They paid —hundreds of thousands of dollars...”
My blood froze. My wolf growled.
Soone had used my na as a weapon against my mate.
I staggered. The room tilted. “It wasn’t . I never...” The words tasted like ashes. No wonder she looked at like I was a stranger. Like I was the monster in her nightmares.
I had abandoned her. And soone stepped in to make sure the world crushed her for it.
“Collins.” My voice left no room for air. “Everyone who touched her, everyone who watched and did nothing in this prison...will pay. Tenfold. Make sure of it”
The prison fell silent, like death itself was holding its breath.
Back in the car, I sat with my wolf simring beneath my skin.
Aria was innocent....I failed her.
Right now, I was done failing.
“Alpha Nathan... are we going to the office?” Collins asked carefully.
My answer ca from my wolf and as one:
“To Shevron Estates.”
Collins blinked, startled. But he turned the wheel.
Dawn kissed the sky when we arrived. The scents of pine, dew, and milk drifted through the air. And then I saw her from where I stood by a tree. She was inside her estate and the gate was open.
Her figure knelt before our daughter as she fed her. The pup suckled weakly, wrapped in warmth Aria never had.
My breath shuddered.
Aria’s POV
A prickle crawled up the back of my neck, an instinct older than thought. My wolf lifted her head inside , ears twitching, nose testing the air. It felt as though soone was watching.
I turned, my eyes sweeping the trees, the yard, the stretch of Shevron Estates. I saw nothing. Maybe fatigue was catching up with ; sleepless nights and corporate battles leave their mark on even the strongest wolves.
These past days, I’d been hunting, not in forests, but boardrooms.
I have been hunting the Darvin Group for my birthright.
Acquiring small shares had been simple, like picking off weak prey. The larger ones fought back, as expected. Then Jonathan’s report dropped like a stone in my gut:
The Hemsworth Group was blocking my moves.
Nathan...Of course.
I braced for war, sharpening my strategy only for shareholders who had rejected before to suddenly fold, offering up their percentages without a fight. It was suspicious and calculated.
I couldn’t tell whether it was a trap.
But I took them. And now... I owned forty percent of the Darvin Group. Enough to crush Patrick and anyone who stood with him. My claws ached with anticipation.
"Alia, did you find anything?" I asked, voice steady, though my heartbeat drumd like war.
"Yes!" Alia’s excitent crackled through the phone. "They’re done. Darvin Group stock tanked. And Patrick—" her voice dripped with disgust, "went to a hotel."
Typical of him. Rats flee to luxuries when their empires burn.
My grip tightened on the phone. A cold smile curled my lips.
“Record everything. Every second. I want him buried in evidence before I bury him in court.”
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