Chapter 318
Chapter 318:
She froze, scrambling to gather them. “The Parrish-Davenport alliance is all we have left! Our stocks p>
I pulled the financial report from my drawer and stepped close enough to cage her against the window. “Your family has been embezzling Silvermoon trust funds. One call to the Council, and you’re Rogues. Your father rots in a human prison.” Her jasmine scent curdled to acrid panic, flooding my senses.
She clutched my arm, tears streaming. “Jase, I love you. Remember the vault? I was the one you saved from that silver hell p>
My Inner Wolf snarled. I wrenched free, looming over her. “I know. It was Adelina p>
Her expression shattered — pupils blown wide with terror. She staggered back, collapsing against the desk.
“Sign,” I growled, sliding the platinum pen across. The door opened; my Warriors crossed their arms, blocking her escape.
Trembling, she scrawled her name, then fled sobbing.
𝗝𝘰𝗶𝗻 tho𝘂𝗌𝖺𝘯ds 𝘰f 𝘧a𝗻ѕ оn ѕ.с𝘰𝗆
Alone, exhaustion crashed over me. I unlocked the safe and pulled out the faded velvet box. Inside gleamed the ring I had designed for Adelina — an eternal promise, now dust. Kain’s mockery, Father’s indifference, Blake’s scorn, Adelina’s ice… they swirled through my mind. My Inner Wolf let out a final, anguished howl, then fell silent.
Dead quiet.
Carmella POV
Rain hammered the floor-to-ceiling windows of my executive office at The Wolfe Hotel, mirroring the storm in my chest. At 10:00 a.m., my private line rang—Eleanor Hawthorne, my mother. I answered, expecting complaints about my “human job p>
Her scream pierced the line, hysterical and choking. “Carmella! I touched an antique jewelry box—my skin’s burning! I can’t breathe p>
Silver. In our world, that meant only one thing: agony and death. My blood turned to ice, seven years of buried trauma—the crash, the loss—flooding back in an instant. “Mom, don’t hang up! Where’s the Pack Doctor p>
The line went dead.
I snatched my Porsche keys and bolted from the office. Tires screeched as I merged onto the Long Island Expressway, weaving through traffic at breakneck speed. My knuckles whitened on the wheel, my heart slamming against my ribs. Not her. Not silver. Not again.
Gravel crunched under my tires as I skidded into the Hawthorne Estate driveway. I burst through the massive oak doors into the formal living room. No medics. No acrid burn of silver poisoning. Just Eleanor, serene on the velvet sofa, sipping from a porcelain teacup. Her soft rose scent was cloying and manipulative—not a trace of pain anywhere.
“You faked it?” I gasped, fury igniting in my chest. “I nearly crashed on the highway p>
Eleanor set her cup down, wholly unimpressed. “Dramatic as always, Carmella. Your tense city scent is ruining my Persian rug. Sit. We have a guest p>
Before I could storm out, Alpha Alistair Finch rose from an armchair. He circled me slowly, his rusty iron and stale leather scent turning my stomach. His eyes raked over me like livestock at auction. “Scent’s faint—almost wolfless. But Hawthorne assures a pure bloodline. Good bone structure for strong pups. You’ll make a suitable Luna p>