The moment I looked into those amber eyes, a sharp pain pierced my head. Memories–buried deep–began to claw their way back.
My mother grew visibly tense.
“Harper,” she whispered urgently. “Close your eyes. Don’t think. Don’t go there.”
“This has nothing to do with you. It’s all my doing.”
I stepped back, instinctively. But the werewolf detective advanced steadily, not stopping until I hit the wall behind me.
Then he drew a silver dinner knife from his coat. It shimmered under the moonlight, marked with familiar etchings.
It was Alina’s.
She’d taken it from our home the night of her mating ceremony–her “something borrowed.”
It was mine. The one I always used.
After her death, it had been sealed away as evidence.
My heart pounded. The truth was so close, just out of reach. I could feel it circling me, but it refused to take form.
The harder I tried to grasp it, the more intense the pain grew. I collapsed to the floor, curled into a shaking ball.
My mother’s lips trembled as she watched me writhe in pain. She let out a long, tortured sigh.
“Let her go,” she said hoarsely. “If it’s answers you want, ask me.”
The werewolf detective backed off and turned to her.
“Then tell me who killed Alina?”
My mother’s eyes closed. Tears rolled silently down her cheeks.
Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, she said, “It was the former Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack.”
“Alpha Troy… and Luna Daisy.
Her words hit like a lightning strike.
Luna Daisy went pale.
Finn looked like the ground had vanished beneath his feet
“My mother?” he choked “That’s not possible”
“What the hell is going on tonight? Has everyone lost their minds?”
My mother looked straight at Finn, and there was nothing but hatred in her eyes
Chapter 7
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“Do you even remember the night you first met Alina?”
He blinked, confused.
“That night… I’d been drinking. I was happy. I overdid it.”
“I passed out. Someone helped me upstairs. And when I came to–she was already dead. Her body was… twisted. I didn’t understand.”
“And then you told me it was suicide. I believed her. I didn’t know…”
My mother’s voice trembled as she faced the crowd. “Alina loved Finn since she was a pup, dreaming he’d be her mate. But on her coming–of–age, she learned she wasn’t his fated one. Still, she didn’t care. Knowing Finn’s days were numbered, she chose to be his Luna, to stand by him for whatever time he had left.”
Her words hung heavy. “But on the night of the mating ceremony, Alpha Troy, drunk out of his mind, tried to force himself on her.”
Alina had fought back, clutching a hidden silver knife. But she’d been no match for Troy’s strength.
In the struggle, she’d accidentally driven the knife into her own chest. She’d died on the spot.
Luna Daisy had been furious–not at Troy’s betrayal, but at Alina. She’d accused her of seducing him.
To vent her rage, Daisy had ordered the former Beta to desecrate Alina’s body in a brutal, unthinkable way.
My mother had demanded justice, but the pack had turned on her, threatening my life. “Hadn’t your husband begged you to protect your daughters before he died?” they’d taunted. “Funny, Alina had said the same thing as she bled out.”
“She’d pleaded for us to spare you, Harper. Begged for you to live a safe, happy life.”
“Naomi, your little girl’s fate had been in your hands.”
My mother had burned with rage, desperate to fight, but she hadn’t dared risk my life.
Back then, the Blood Moon Pack’s power had been absolute. Killing a pack doctor and her daughter? It would’ve been
nothing to them.
Heartbroken, she’d given in.
She’d swallowed her pain, helped them stage the scene, and made it look like suicide.
She’d sworn Alina had lost her mind, broken by the mate bond.
“I failed Alina,” my mother suddenly choked out. “I can’t face her or your father. But I had no choice.”
“You’re all I have left, Harper Alina had loved you so much if she knew her death put you in danger, she’d never rest in peace.”
Tears streamed down her face as she collapsed, sobbing for Alina and my father My chest felt crushed, pain stealing my
breath
Chapter 7
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No wonder she’d changed after Alina’s death–her mood swings, her distance. She’d been carrying this unbearable secret
alone.
Tension rippled through the room–then Luna Daisy exploded. “Lies! Complete nonsense!” she shrieked. “We’re the Alpha
and Luna of this pack! How dare you accuse us of such filth?”
“I’ll take this slander to the Alpha King himself!”
She lunged at me, claws out, but the werewolf detective stepped in, blocking her with ease.
He turned to my mother, voice steady. “Keep going. Your story’s not done.”
“What about the other seven?”
