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Chapter 207
~Valerie’s POV~
The guards tried to hold her back, but the raw power in her voice crackled like fire.
Uncle Zade didn’t flinch. Instead, he let out his alpha aura, forcing everyone—even —to still.
"Behave, Solstice," he growled, using her real na. "You’ve already caused the entire Golden Claw Pack enough worry."
He turned, his sharp gaze briefly resting on before he gave the order.
"Get her in. We are heading ho."
The guards nodded. Solstice didn’t resist. Her eyes didn’t leave until she disappeared into the car.
Principal Whitmore and Ms. Heart got into their cars, left without another word, but not before Whitmore gave Dristan a slight nod of approval.
Then they drove off with the official pack vehicles trailing behind.
And then... silence.
I stood there, alone. Empty. A heaviness settled on my shoulders as my knees shook, my fingers trembled, and my heart boiled with rage.
Dristan turned to again, expression tense. "Valerie—"
I backed up, eyes burning. "How... could you?" My voice cracked as I spoke, barely louder than a whisper, but it hit harder than any slap.
Dristan stepped forward, reaching out. "Val—"
And heartbreak.
He stepped closer, reaching out. "Please. I was trying to help—"
"Don’t touch !" I snapped, recoiling. My voice finally found its strength, thick with fury.
His hand froze mid-air. His mouth parted as if to explain, but I didn’t want his words.
"Valerie, please—" his voice broke, as his hand hovered near again. "I didn’t know it would happen like this—"
Tears stread down my cheeks, falling faster than I could wipe them.
"You betrayed her!" My voice rose. "You betrayed ."
Dristan stepped closer to while the others watched us like a movie. "Valerie, I swear—"
I backed away. One hand pressed to my chest, as if trying to hold myself together. My heart was fracturing.
"Here’s my answer to your question," I hissed, venom coating every word. "The one you asked about earlier."
Dristan’s brows furrowed. "Val..."
"A big N, and a big O." My voice was sharp now, loud and sure despite the tears. "NO. I won’t be your girlfriend."
Dristan staggered back slightly, like the words had physically hit him. He exhaled shakily. "Val..." and he reached again.
I dodged, wiping my face. "Don’t."
And I walked away from him, from all of it, but not before I heard Kieran’s cold, amused voice drift behind him.
"Well," he murmured with a dry smirk, "he dood himself without trying. That’s one mate down."
My steps faltered, just for a second. I looked sideways at Xade.
His face was a picture of confusion and worry—eyes pleading, body half-turned toward , unsure whether to co after or stay.
But I didn’t wait.
I didn’t want to choose between their versions of pain right now.
So I ran and I didn’t look back.
"They’d all made their choices. Now it was my turn to make mine."
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~Dristan’s POV~
Valerie had bolted like a spark to a fuse, and in all the ti I’d known her—through the fire and ice and storms between us—I had never seen her like that.
Feral. Determined. Terrified.
She didn’t shout when Isla said it. She didn’t cry. She just moved. And when she shoved out of the way with those wide eyes and trembling lips, I knew... this wasn’t about a fight or a party or .
It was bigger.
By the ti I scrambled into my car, shirt clinging to my skin inside out, the others had already burst out after .
Isla. Xade. Kai. Erald. No one asked what was happening—they just followed, because when Valerie moved like that, you didn’t ask questions.
You chased her.
The engine roared as I tore down the road behind her, watching her taillights swerve ahead, fast and reckless. She was driving like she had nothing to lose.
And sothing about that scared the hell out of .
My grip tightened around the wheel.
Who was Silver... no Solstice, whichever her real na was, to Valerie, really? What wasn’t I seeing?"
We reached PSA’s gate just seconds behind her. I barely stopped the car before throwing the door open and running toward the entrance—then I froze.
Valerie stood by the edge of sothing I couldn’t fix.
Her chest rose and fell like a trapped animal’s. Her eyes were wide, stunned. She wasn’t running anymore. She was breaking.
And then I saw Solstice.
Dragged. She wasn’t struggling.
And in front of her, standing like judgnt itself, was her father, Alpha Zade.
The Golden Claw himself.
I’d seen powerful alphas before—my father was one—but Zade wasn’t just powerful. He was in control. Precision. Ice, wrapped in iron just like his best friend and late brother-in-law, Alpha Snow.
His stare alone made still.
But it was the way Valerie looked at him that gutted like she was a kid again. Like she’d disappointed a god.
And when her eyes t Solstice’s?
I swear I felt sothing shatter.
Because she looked like she’d failed soone she couldn’t afford to lose.
Then ca the strike.
"Thank you for reporting her, Dristan Alexander."
I barely heard it at first. But the words hit the crowd like a thunderclap.
Wait... what?
No. No, no, no.
I didn’t report her like that. I was... I only gave a tip to Principal Whitmore to check her background thoroughly when I saw the letter and reviewed the information.
But Principal Whitmore must have forgotten or was too busy to see it.
And she grew too close to Valerie. Unfortunately, a picture of the Golden Claw Heiress wasn’t really out there, just like how the Late Mrs Zara Zephyr didn’t have her younger picture out there.
As a result, no one knew who she was.
All I did was check in on her, and the background information given to PSA had so loopholes.
And after what happened with my father and the simulation the other ti, I wasn’t sure I could trust soone with unknown origins around my mate.
I couldn’t afford for Valerie to get hurt. Soren would kill , and I would ntally kill myself.
So I sent her picture to Alpha Zade along with the letter to check. Then he sent one with her, and himself along with her real na... Solstice Aura Gold.
By the ti I knew she wasn’t a bad person, it was too late. He already knew where she was.
I never knew she was Solstice until it was too late, and that was where I failed — never once confronting her with it. I simply removed her from Valerie’s side, and it seed as though she had grown on Valerie a lot.
This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. She wasn’t supposed to get dragged out like so criminal. This wasn’t...
"FUCK YOU, DRISTAN!"
Solstice’s scream cracked through the air like a whip, and suddenly, everyone was looking at .
Her. Valerie. The Alphas. The Lycans. Even Kieran.
I couldn’t speak, not because I didn’t want to but because I didn’t know what to say.
Valerie looked at like I’d just driven the dagger myself.
She was crying. I’d seen her cry once, maybe twice before—but this wasn’t a tear that slipped past her defences. This was heartbreak. Betrayal. Grief. And all of it aid at .
When I reached for her, she flinched like I’d burned her. She said no to my earlier question, one from my heart, but I couldn’t complain even though it hurt like hell.
A tear slid down my cheek at her rejection, and I knew without being told that I had lost her.
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