The sickened luna’s last chance

Chapter 24

Alexander

I followed my Beta into my study, where a man was waiting for us. I recognized the man’immediately as one of the photographers from the press

conference.

“Alpha,” Gabriel said, gesturing to the man, “this guy says a couple came into his tabloid agency to leak the story. He saw them.”

I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms. “Is that so?”

The man nodded. “I–It’s true, Alpha,” he said, wringing his hands. “They came in and spoke to my boss. Well, I didn’t see them, but I did hear them speak.”

“And? Spit it out.”

The photographer fidgeted with his camera strap. “It was an older couple. A man and a woman.”

“An older couple?” I asked, straightening a little. “Did they give names?”

“No, sir. They were careful about that. But I remember what they sounded like.”

“Go on.”

The photographer hesitated. “Well, the man had a deep, gravelly voice. Like he used to smoke. And the woman’s voice was high–pitched, but she drew out her ‘s’s, sort of like a snake.”

I tilted my head slightly, exchanging a glance with Gabriel. The description was vague, but it sounded an awful lot like Sophia’s parents, John and Helen Oxford. Alpha and Luna of Moonshine pack.

John once had a smoking problem, and Helen did speak like that.

But it made no sense. The Oxfords and the pack they led, Moonshine, was a close friend of Ashclaw’s. I’d known John and Helen my entire life. They weren’t the type to do something like this, and even if they were, they had no reason for it in this case. Our packs were allies.

Unless…

Sophia allegedly wanted to break up my marriage to Ella. I always knew she had a crush on me, but perhaps it ran deeper than that.

What if her parents wanted us to get together? Moonshine was a distinguished pack, but they had fallen on hard times over the years. A marriage between our packs would benefit them, just as it had benefited Stormhollow.

do

“Any identifying

shook his head. “No, Sir. I didn’t get a chance to talk to them myself. I just heard them talking to my boss,

that didn’t feel like enough to go off of for a definitive answer. But

said.

photographer nodded and hurried

as we were alone. “I

at the clearing in the forest where the Spring Celebration had been. My lips were still burning, just

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Chapter 24

bonfire had sat the

my lips as I surveyed the clearing where the Bynfira had been held fast day ago, i lingered there cherry blossoms and vanilla,

That kiss.

me down to her like that, hadn’t expected the surge of desire that shot though më sh our

had felt like dragging myself through mud. He was furious with me, em now, begging meth

there was still a chance her pack was involved in my parents‘ deaths. Besides, even if i did want to fall for her, she still wanted to divorce me. The kiss

to check for clues. The grass was still trampled where the crowd had gathered, and the remnants of the bonfire sat in the center of the clearing,

to be evidence–evidence that would either exonerate

Oxfords could be involved in something like this. The girl I grew up with, the one who had been my friend through thick and thin… could Sophia really be capable of doing something like this? Endangering innocent people during her favorite holiday of

Jealousy? Revenge? Was she really that angry that I hadn’t attended the

contract to the press? None of it made any sense. Even if they wanted a union

knew about the contract first, had approached

hayloft. And as the days went on, I began to wonder more and more if Sophia truly had done it on

was nothing around the bonfire. I circled wider and wider until I

my eyes caught on something metallic glinting in the sunlight, half–buried in the dirt near where

a silver chain, partially obscured by leaves and dirt. I brushed the debris away, and my heart sank as I recognized the delicate pearl pendant attached to

Sophia’s necklace.

birthday, and she treasured it. For it to be

innocent explanations. Perhaps she’d lost it while fleeing from

that night perfectly; she had been standing near the bonfire when

in the day, before

hand, I noticed something else; there was dried blood on the clasp. And embedded in the chain were several coarse, dark