Chapter 5

Gavin POV

The parchment fluttered to the floor, light as a feather, yet it carried the weight of a guillotine.

A sound tore from my throat-not human, not even a wolf's howl, but the raw, bleeding shriek of a shattered soul. The Alpha power inside me, usually a tightly coiled spring of control, violently snapped.

I grabbed the edge of the massive mahogany dining table. With a surge of monstrous strength, I flipped it. Crystal shattered, silver clattered, and the heavy wood splintered against the stone floor. But it wasn't enough. My inner wolf was thrashing, demanding blood, demanding her.

I stormed into the grand foyer, a wounded beast seeking a target. My claws elongated, turning obsidian black as I slashed at the century-old tapestries, shredding the Blackwood crest into unrecognizable ribbons. The air grew thick and suffocating with my distressed, destructive pheromones.

Just as my sanity was about to be entirely swallowed by my wolf's inferno, a mind-link pierced my skull. It wasn't a pack member. It was an Alpha's frequency, cold and dripping with absolute hatred.

"Blackwood." Alpha Thorne's voice echoed in my mind. "My daughter's body was found at the border river. Your patrol wolves saw the Rogues drag her into the water. I will have your blood for this."

The link snapped shut.

My knees hit the cold marble. The void where my Mate-bond used to be screamed in agony. I frantically mind-linked my Gamma. Status report!

"Alpha..." Gamma Jaren's voice trembled. "The Thorn Pack warriors found her first. They're claiming we orchestrated the attack. The body... it's too damaged for scent identification, but the silver necklace you gave her-"

I cut the link. Piper's doing. That silver necklace with Aidan's initial was planted evidence.

"EVERYONE IN THE FOYER! NOW!" I roared, my Alpha command shaking the chandelier above.

The manor staff scrambled into the ruined hall within seconds. Their terrified scents curdled the air.

"Who delivered her Rejection papers?" I snarled, pacing before them. "Who helped her escape after I ordered her confined to the west wing?"

The staff whimpered against the walls until a calm figure stepped forward.

Bastian. The butler who'd served three generations of Blackwoods.

"I did," he said, his voice stripped of deference.

I dismissed the others with a jerk of my chin. When the doors closed, I seized Bastian's collar. "You betrayed your Alpha."

He didn't flinch. "You betrayed your Mate first."

My grip tightened. "Watch your-"

"Moonflowers on your anniversary?" Bastian's eyes burned with contempt. "I picked them. The six-hour feast for your wolf? I cleaned the untouched plates. And when she begged to check on your pup at the clinic-" His voice broke. "You were too busy fucking Piper to notice her bleeding thighs."

Every word was a silver blade to the gut. I released him, stumbling back.

Bastian reached into his pocket. The silver pocket watch engraved with our crest gleamed in his palm. "I won't serve the monster who drove his Luna to suicide-by-Rogue."

The click of the watch hitting the table echoed like a gunshot.

As the oak doors thudded shut behind him, the truth detonated in my chest:

Elara hadn't been murdered.

She'd walked straight into those Rogues' claws.

And I'd handed her the map.