Billionaire Alpha's 99 Deadly Games

Chapter 12

That evening. Aria lay in bed aggressively refreshing job boards and submitting applications to dance companies, her laptop casting a blue glow across her determined face in the darkened bedroom

The application process for elite werewolf dance companies was far more demanding than before. Applications required submission at least three months in advance, followed by a grueling series of auditions and technical assessments spanning weeks.

Only after clearing every hurdle could one secure even the most junior position.

Despite her legs not being fully rehabilitated, Aria began what her mother called her "application blitz." simultaneously developing a punishing practice regimen in the small dance studio they'd installed in the townhouse basement.

Though Lucas's systematic revenge had prevented her from joining any professional companies during those three years, dance had remained her secret sanctuary. During those years, whenever he would disappear for "pack business" (which she now understood were rendezvous with Leila), she would retreat to a small studio she'd rented off-pack. There, alone with just mirrors and music, she'd maintained her technique through endless repetition of fundamentals.

Dance had been her first love-before Lucas, before everything. She had allowed that passion to be overshadowed, but never extinguished.

Three months later, during her final audition for the Northern Alpine Dance Company, Aria performed with a technical precision and emotional depth that left the judging panel visibly moved.

As she completed her variation with a flawless grand jeté into a controlled arabesque, the artistic director exchanged glances with her colleagues-they had found their new soloist.

When the scores were revealed, she had received straight A's across every category-a feat accomplished perhaps once or twice a decade.

During the feedback session, the senior artistic director studied her with professional curiosity. "Ms. Collins, your technical abilities are extraordinary, but there's something puzzling in your performance history.”

since childhood without breaks. Yet after your junior year at Silver Crescent Academy, there's a complete

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Chapter 12

dancers with your potential would be aggressively building

composed. When she spoke, her voice carried neither bitterness nor regret, just simple

up in a toxic relationship that consumed those years," she

a serene smile. "But that

my career is my only partnership. Dance doesn't lie, manipulate, or betray-it just demands everything, which I'm

her technical prowess. She wasn't running from her past-she

Northern Alpine Dance Company became the talk of the dance world. As the only auditionee in five years to receive unanimous top

“Giselle" that prompted the Alpine Times to

under its dynamic new artistic director, invitations flooded in from prestigious venues across North and Southern Territory-including the historic Moonlight Theatre near The Thornwood Pack. Reviewing the performance calendar in her office, the director regarded Aria with obvious concern. Familiar with the extraordinary circumstances of her "death" and rebirth, she had nearly decided Aria would remain in the Northern territory during the Moonlight Theatre's

this arrangement, Aria interrupted: "I see that look, Margaret.

on the itinerary. Your former life-the people who think you died-it's

the same calm precision that characterized her dancing. "I'll perform wearing the mask and

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Chapter 12

for our modern 'Wolf's Serenade'

and interviews, Zoe can represent as first soloist. I'll be