opened onto a world
ttering like scattered ice. Furniture that p
my one suitcase suddenly feeling
aid, already walking away
ought, but kept
ueak against marble so polished I could see my own re
e said it. He was already unbuttoning his jacket, already somewhere
" I mu
cond. Then kept walking
old apartment. The bed alone looked like it had n
nd let myself breathe for
one b
e you did not just marry
cracked and a little des
I saw it on the pack registry ten minutes ago. Elara Voss-D
I said. "It's n
hat magically disappeared from your uncle
eyes. "That
of us understood what it meant to be born into packs that saw us as currency instead of p
trust anyone. Not his Beta, not his own cousins. There are rumors his last three advis
's just d
lpha with that much money needed a nobody like you specifically. Rich, powe
that flash of something raw and afraid before he buried it. I ha
reful," I s
ll report - decor, wardrobe, and whether he'
d it felt a little
too quiet. I wandered out of my roo
see more of the place I was
window at the end. I passed a room that looked untouched - a nursery-sized space, em
htened witho
I s
ight spilling from a lap
one he told me
round right then. Ever
n't l
st to be helpful. Just to prove I wasn't the reckless little
ndow. Dozens of folders, most locked,
ept
center of the screen - like someone had be
T MOON
se stu
it. I knew that with to
ked it
- dozens of them, and my stomach dro
ren't s
e pictur
ent - me leaving my pack's house last week, my face caught mid-laugh, mid
linked at the top of an open document, like
und resonance detected at
, the flo
un a
screen behind me - and for the first time since I'd met him, I watched every trace o
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