Chapter12
Kael’s POV
Three days after Clara’s death, Kael began his investigation.
Not into the rogues, but into the media who had swarmed his villa that morning.
“How did you know to be at my villa at that exact time?” Kael sat in the interrogation room, facing the reporter he’d had
brought in.
The crushing weight of his Alpha presence made the man tremble.
“Someone… someone gave us a tip…”
“Who?”
“I don’t know her real name… but she said she was from the Red Fang pack…”
Selene.
It was always Selene.
“What did she tell you?”
“She said Luna Clara would be going out that morning and might be involved with… something unsavory,” the reporter stammered. “She told us to wait at the villa gate, that there would be a big story…”
Kael’s wolf roared in his chest.
That viper.
She knew in advance that Clara was going to see the dark witch, so she arranged for the media to be there, all to utterly destroy Clara’s reputation.
“What else? Tell me everything you know!”
“She… she gave us other tips, too… about the online posts questioning the rune design. She told us to stoke the flames…”
“What do you mean?”
“To post comments on the forums supporting her and questioning Luna Clara… she paid us a lot of money…”
Kael’s fist slammed down on the table, the wood splintering under the force.
In the following days, Kael used every resource of the Silver Moon pack to investigate.
The results were devastating.
Almost all the online accounts that had attacked Clara were trolls hired by Selene.
New witnesses also came forward about the night of the party when Clara was pushed into the river.
“I saw it…” a low–ranking janitor confessed under Kael’s pressure. “It was Alpha Selene who pushed her. But she threatened us… said she’d have our entire families exiled from the pack if we ever told the truth…”
“What else?”
“The rumors about Luna Clara going insane… Alpha Selene told us to spread those too… She said it was to protect the alliance…”
Every truth was another knife in Kael’s heart.
1/2
For three years, he thought he was protecting an innocent Selene.
In reality, he was helping a venomous snake destroy the person he should have been guarding with his life.
And Clara, his moonlight girl, had silently endured all the pain and humiliation, until she finally left this world in despair.
Kael held the most lavish memorial service in the history of the North American packs for Clara.
All five Alphas of the great packs attended, and even some reclusive ancient families sent representatives.
The memorial hall was filled with white moonflowers, the traditional flower of mourning.
A giant portrait of Clara hung in the center of the hall.
In the photo, she was serene and beautiful, her eyes still holding the innocence she’d had when they first mated.
Looking at it, Kael’s heart felt like it was being shredded.
“Today, we mourn a she–wolf who was misunderstood by us all,”
Kael stood on the stage, addressing the hundreds of guests. “The Luna of the Silver Moon pack, Clara. She possessed not only a pure bloodline and a kind heart, but she was also a genius we allowed to be buried.”
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
“The design works we all believed belonged to the Red Fang heir were, in fact, all created by Clara,” Kael’s voice echoed through the hall. “And I, as her Alpha, not only failed to protect her but became an accomplice to her torment.”
The murmurs died down, and everyone listened in silence.
“But today, I will get justice for her.”
Kael’s gaze swept over the crowd, landing on Selene, who was seated in the back.
She wore black mourning clothes, her face a mask of sorrow, looking like a sister grieving for her lost sibling.
But Kael knew what she was really thinking.
She thought that with Clara dead, she was safe.
She thought she could continue her lies.
She was wrong.
“Selene,” Kael called her name directly. “Please come to the front.”
A stir went through the crowd.
Selene’s face went white, but she couldn’t refuse an Alpha’s command at a memorial.
She rose slowly, each step heavy.
As she reached the front, Kael snatched her from the crowd and dragged her before Clara’s memorial stone.
“Kneel,” he commanded, his Alpha power crashing down on her like a physical weight.
“Kael… there are so many people…” she pleaded in a whisper.
“I said, kneel!”
The immense pressure buckled her legs, and she was forced to her knees before Clara’s stone.
