Se connecterThird Person's POVSeeing that her father had no real counterargument, Vivian's expression softened."Dad, there has to be another reason for this," she said. "Maybe your friend is just trying to scare you. Let's wait a little longer. The advance payment might clear tomorrow."Connor was still uneasy, but he didn't have any other options right now.Over the years, the Davis family had been so spoiled by the Craig Corporation's protection that even the slightest sign of trouble sent him into a panic.He was like a low-ranking, fringe werewolf who had gotten used to living off the scraps of a powerful Alpha—suddenly faced with the threat of exile, he paced around anxiously, wondering if he had done something wrong to piss the Alpha off.After rationalizing it to himself, Connor felt a lot better."Fine. The Craig Corporation's anniversary gala is the day after tomorrow anyway. We'll feel out Mortimer's attitude when we go."With that self-comforting logic, the Davis family finally relax
Third Person's POVVivian stormed back into the living room, her face dark, only to hear her father screaming hysterically, "You're actually sitting around drinking tea?! We're in massive trouble, do you get that?"Vivian was already irritated to the absolute limit, and this sudden chaos pushed her right to the edge.Taking a deep breath, she forced down the urge to scream.She hurried over, putting on a calm front to soothe him. "Dad, just take a breath. What exactly happened?"She poured a glass of water and handed it to Connor. "Calm down."Connor scoffed and sank into the sofa. He downed the water in one gulp before letting out a long, heavy exhale."The advance payment for the Craig Corporation's East City project was supposed to clear this afternoon," he said. "But we've waited all day, and they haven't wired a single cent.""So what? Maybe Craig's finance department just got backed up. It's the Craig Corporation we're talking about—are you seriously worried they won't pay up?"
Third Person's POV"Cancel it. Find someone else," Mortimer said coldly. His voice was so icy and absolute it made you want to shiver.Tade didn't say another word.The Craig Corporation had been propping up the Davis family for years; the contracts were basically just a formality anyway.To avoid putting too much pressure on Everreach Building Materials, they'd even set the penalty for breaking the contract ridiculously low.After all, nobody ever thought the Craig Corporation would be the ones breaking it.Heh. Thinking about how the Davis family had definitely already ordered all the raw materials—and how they were about to be stuck with the bill because of this canceled contract—made Tade incredibly happy.Schadenfreude suddenly felt like a perfectly positive word. "Dare to mess with Dash? You get what you deserve."Still, out of his sense of duty as his beta, Tade felt the need to point out the obvious."Alpha Mortimer, that means the Craig Corporation is going to have to eat the
Third Person's POVA moment later, Seraphina knocked on the director's office door. "Professor, you wanted to see me?""Yes, Sera, come on in."Professor Bauer put down his work and waved her over. "Here's the deal. A few senior professors at the Shadowfang Academy are heading abroad for an exchange program for a while. The administration asked me to find someone to cover their classes, and after thinking it over, I realized you're the best fit."Seraphina was a bit surprised. "You want me to substitute at the Academy?""Exactly. I need you to cover the clinical program for a bit. In a few days, another student of mine is coming back from overseas. He'll be joining the Academy's medical department as a full-time lecturer. Since you're both my students, you can look out for each other."Seraphina thought it over and didn't object.Subbing at the Academy would give her a lot more flexibility with her schedule.That way, she wouldn't need to rely on Mortimer stepping in to help take care
Third Person's POVMortimer knew instantly it was that guy.Before, he had even suspected Dash was somehow connected to him.It turned out that aside from the dog, Seraphina also had a man she was incredibly close with—someone who could make her genuinely smile.Mortimer subtly glanced at her from the corner of his eye.Sure enough, her usually calm eyes had lit up. As she typed her reply, a happy, genuine smile actually tugged at the corners of her lips.Mortimer's hands unconsciously tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.His lips were pressed into a hard line, his mind completely distracted from driving.He wanted to do what he usually did—demand to know why she was chatting so happily with this guy again. But the words just wouldn't come out.Even though he was going crazy with jealousy, he couldn't force a single syllable past his throat.Seraphina looked at the text messages popping up from Caldwell."I'm heading back to the States next weekend.""H
Third Person's POVSeraphina looked straight into Mortimer's panicked eyes, trying to get him to see reality."You're confusing habit with love, and that's the problem. If we keep going based on that mistake, you're just going to regret it later.""'Habit' and 'love' mean two completely different things. Once you mix them up, it changes everything."While Mortimer looked completely lost, Seraphina broke it down for him with total calm."We started off with dignity. For the past three years, I've compromised over and over just to keep things decent. So, when this ends, I really hope we don't turn all my hard work into an ugly mess."She gave him a gentle, friendly smile. "Don't you agree?"Mortimer's lips trembled, but he couldn't get a single word out.It was true. Over the past three years, she had covered up every single one of his awful moves, making their life look picture-perfect to the outside world.He thought they had a happy mating, but it was actually held together entirely
Seraphina's POVJust then, a few healer assistants walked by. When they saw Mortimer, their eyes lit up with instant attraction.They looked at me, grinning and nudging each other. "Seraphina, is this your boyfriend? He's gorgeous. Aren't you going to introduce us?"I felt a jolt of awkwardness and
Seraphina's POVHonestly, I didn't really want to hear his explanation. But out of politeness, I stayed where I was, watching him and waiting for him to finish.Mortimer's gaze shifted away for a second, betraying an undeniable flash of guilt.He cleared his throat. "Tonight at the club, the guys su
Seraphina's POVI stood in the airport pickup zone, my hand resting quietly on the handle of my suitcase."Morty, hurry up! Humphrey said the guys are throwing us a welcome home party at the Wildwolf Club tonight."That voice sliced through the air, and my grip on my luggage tightened.Mortimer and
Seraphina's POVI flipped my phone to airplane mode. The moment the screen went black, it felt like I'd finally severed a dead nerve. I closed my eyes, trying to find some peace in the hum of the jet engines.But the second I drifted off, the nightmare found me.It was pitch black. Freezing. Fear s







