Victoria
"Not just took him," Carson said from the doorway, where he’d been examining the blood spatter patterns. "They want to start a war. This was ticulously planned—the timing, the evidence, the ssage. Soone wants our packs to destroy each other."
"But who benefits from that?" I asked, my mind racing through possibilities. "If both Shadow and Howlthorne weakened each other..."
"A third party could move in to claim both territories," Leo finished, his voice ice-cold with rage. "It’s an old tactic. Create chaos, then sweep in as the ’peacemaker’ once both sides are decimated."
Carson moved closer, lowering his voice. "Alpha, I’ve analyzed the blood patterns. Sothing doesn’t add up. The volu and spatter suggest injury, yes, but not enough for a fatal wound. And the drag marks leading to the bathroom are inconsistent—as if they were created deliberately rather than from an actual body being moved."
"You think this was staged?" Leo asked.
"Parts of it, yes," Carson confird. "Soone very clever wanted us to find exactly what we found. No more, no less."
A chill ran down my spine as I realized the implications. If this was staged, then whoever took Enzo was several steps ahead of us already. They had planned this ticulously, knowing exactly how we would respond.
Leo seed to reach the sa conclusion. "We need to secure the Howlthorne Pack house imdiately. Jackson, call an ergency eting of all ranking pack mbers. We need to get ahead of any rumors before—"
A heart-wrenching wail from downstairs cut him off mid-sentence. The sound of pure maternal grief echoed through the mansion, followed by frantic voices trying to offer comfort.
"No! My son! What have they done to my boy?" The voice was hauntingly familiar, though I hadn’t heard it in years.
My blood turned to ice as I t Leo’s alard gaze. Without a word, we rushed from the bedroom and down the grand staircase, security scrambling to keep formation around us.
In the entrance hall, surrounded by shocked pack mbers, stood a ghost from my past. Her once-lustrous dark hair was now streaked with gray, her face lined with age and hardship, but there was no mistaking those cold, calculating eyes—the sa eyes that had looked at with disgust throughout my childhood.
Aurora Howlthorne,my father’s presud-dead Luna, Enzo’s mother, and my torntor—had returned from the grave.
Her gaze locked with mine as I descended the stairs, and beneath the theatrical grief, I caught a flash of sothing else—satisfaction. As if a carefully laid plan was unfolding exactly as intended.
"You," she hissed, pointing a trembling finger at . "This is your doing. You brought him here!" Her accusation shifted to Leo, standing protective at my side. "Shadow Pack took my son! You monsters killed the true Alpha of Howlthorne!"
The gathered pack mbers murmured uneasily, so casting suspicious glances at Leo and his security team. The tension in the room was palpable, a powder keg waiting for a spark.
"Aurora," I said, struggling to keep my voice steady as I addressed the woman I’d believed dead for years. "Everyone thought you died with my father."
A cold, bitter smile twisted her lips. "How convenient that would have been for you, wouldn’t it? To have out of the way while you plotted to steal what rightfully belongs to my son?"
Leo’s hand found mine, squeezing in silent support as he addressed the room with the commanding presence of an Alpha.
"No one from Shadow Pack has hard Alpha Enzo," he stated, his voice carrying to every corner of the hall. "In fact, we’re here to help find him and bring those responsible to justice."
"Liar!" Aurora shrieked, rising to her feet with surprising agility for soone supposedly overco with grief. "You’ve always wanted Howlthorne territory! Now you’ve taken my son and seduced this half-breed to legitimize your claim!"
The slur against triggered gasps from several pack mbers. Even those who had never fully accepted knew that insulting the daughter of their forr Alpha was crossing a line.
Jackson stepped forward. "Luna Aurora, you’ve been absent for years. Presud dead. Your return raises as many questions as Alpha Enzo’s disappearance."
"Are you accusing of sothing, Beta?" Aurora snarled, showing the first glimpse of her true nature beneath the grieving mother act.
"I’m simply stating facts," Jackson replied evenly. "And the fact is, you appear the sa day your son vanishes, with evidence conveniently pointing to Shadow Pack."
The murmurs grew louder, the pack’s confusion evident. Aurora’s eyes darted around, assessing her audience before switching tactics with practiced ease.
"I’ve been held captive," she said, her voice dropping to a pained whisper that nevertheless carried throughout the hall. "For years. By enemies of the pack who wanted information. I escaped only to find..." Her voice broke on another theatrical sob. "Only to find my beloved son taken by the sa people who imprisoned ."
But sothing didn’t add up. Her clothes were worn but clean, her hair styled despite the artificial disarray. For soone who had supposedly just escaped captivity, she looked remarkably well-put-together.
Leo clearly noticed the sa inconsistencies. "A captive who escaped would contact authorities imdiately," he observed, his voice deceptively casual. "Yet you ca straight here, precisely when evidence was being discovered implicating my pack."
Aurora’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "A mother knows when her child is in danger," she hissed. "I felt it through our bond."
Another lie. Pack bonds didn’t work that way, especially not after years of separation. But it was a claim difficult to disprove, especially to lower-ranking wolves with less knowledge of pack dynamics.
I stepped forward, drawing on a courage I didn’t know I possessed. "If you were held captive all these years, Aurora, then who held you? Where? And why show up now, when I’ve just legally claid my inheritance?"
The calculated flash in her eyes confird my suspicions. This wasn’t coincidence—this was a coordinated attack on multiple fronts. Enzo’s disappearance, the evidence framing Leo, and now Aurora’s miraculous return... all designed to destabilize both packs at once.
"You dare question ?" Aurora advanced toward , teeth bared in a snarl. "You, who have no wolf, no right to call yourself pack?"
Before she could take another step, Leo moved between us, his eyes glowing amber with his wolf’s fury. "Careful," he warned, his voice a dangerous rumble. "That’s my mate you’re addressing. My Luna."
The tension in the room reached breaking point, wolves on both sides shifting uneasily, sensing the imminent clash of dominant energies.
Beta Jackson intervened. "This accomplishes nothing. Alpha Enzo is still missing. Accusations won’t find him." He turned to the gathered pack mbers. "Secure the periter. Double the patrols. No one enters or leaves without authorization."
As the crowd reluctantly dispersed, Aurora’s gaze locked with mine one final ti. "This isn’t over," she whispered, just loud enough for to hear. "You should have stayed in your place, little human girl."
With that ominous promise hanging in the air, she allowed herself to be led away by concerned pack mbers, playing the role of devastated mother to perfection.
Leo’s arm circled my waist, pulling protectively against him as we watched her retreat. "I don’t believe in coincidences," he murmured into my hair. "Aurora returns the sa day Enzo disappears and evidence is planted implicating Shadow Pack?"
"She’s working with soone," I agreed, a chill running through despite Leo’s warmth. "But who? And what do they really want?"
"That’s what we need to find out." His lips brushed my temple in a gentle kiss that contradicted the steel in his voice. "And when we do, they’ll discover exactly why Shadow Pack is feared throughout the territory."
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