LATER THAT DAY CALLUM “I found a digital contract with your parent and Cora, it was clearly a rip off but your parents still signed it. It’s either she had something on them or they were just plainly oblivious of the whole arrangement, which I clearly doubt the former,” Nolan said to me as he walked into my office, took his seat across from me on the table and stretched out his tablet to me. “Where did you find this?!” I asked him as I gently took his tablet from him and looked through it. “Yeah, I was going to tell you, I found this safe in your father’s previous office and it contained a flashdrive, unfortunately this was the only document in the drive,” he said. I sighed and slowly reclined in my chair, “Scarlett keeps saying I should leave everything concerning Cora to her and focus on apprehending Kayden, but the truth is I think she’s starting to take on more than she can bear,” I said to him. “Well I think if we hand over all we’re able to find against Cora to her, it’ll
SCARLETT 10: 30pm “Woah! This is crazy!” I whisper yelled with my eyes wide open as I scrolled through my laptop. My phone was beside me on the table connected to my earbuds as I checked the file Annabeth sent to me on my laptop. “Scarlett, Crazy is an understatement!” “The whole time, the account we’ve been tracking is a fake account? It was created in Kael’s name but it wasn’t his,” she said, I exhaled deeply and shook my head slowly. “Do you think Kian did this?!” I asked reducing my voice lower than a whisper, she exhaled at the other end of the phone, I slowly turned to my phone and picked it up. “At this point Scarlett, I’m very suspicious of him,” she said. I dipped my hands into my hair and moved it backwards as I slowly leaned into the chair I was sitting on by the pool.“Is there a way we can confirm all this once and for all? And find out if he’s behind this or not and find who is actually behind this,” I said to her. “There’s only one thing we can do. We need ac
CALLUM FEW MINUTES LATER “Seth, lead a portion of the warriors and go this way. Make sure you cover the entire surroundings,”“Nolan and I will lead the rest inside the building,” I ordered as soon as we arrived at the six-story abandoned building. “Yes, sir!” Seth howled, nodding firmly with a small bow. Without wasting any more time, Seth and his group moved away to cover the entire surrounding, while my group proceeded into the building. “Let’s split up so we can cover this place quickly. We mustn’t give anyone a chance to escape!” “If you find anything, even the littlest unusual thing, communicate with the rest of us! Everyone should put down the walls of their mind link! I don’t want any excuses!” I briefed them hurriedly, and the moment I was done, we all turned in different directions in the building. I moved stealthily through the dark hallways, lit up by a small torch in my hand. My senses on high alert as I advanced in my search. The scent of dust, mold, and stal
SCARLETT “Scarlett!” I heard Callum’s voice as soon as I walked into the Packhouse and my heart unintentionally skipped a beat. I paused in my tracks as he made his way towards me, grabbed me by my shoulders lightly and began to look me over. My eyes followed his hands in confusion as he looked through my body as if checking for injuries. “Are you okay?”“Did anybody try to hurt you? Did anybody approach you today or anything?!” He asked all in one breath, I grabbed his hands almost immediately to make him stop. “Honey! I’m okay, what’s going on?!” I asked. He exhaled deeply and shook his head slowly. “Nothing, I just thought something bad had probably happened to you,” he mumbled, I slowly took my lower lips into my mouth and shook my head slowly. “I’m okay,” I said to him and he nodded slowly. “Where did you go?!” He finally asked. His question caught me off guard almost immediately like I didn’t see it coming. I raised my brows and pressed my lips against each other.“Hmm?”
Scarlet.I glanced down at my wristwatch for what felt like the hundredth time. 6:00 PM. That was when Alex promised to pick me up. Now, it was past eight, and I was still sitting outside. He’s coming. He had to be.Alex had never disappointed me like this before. Not once.But then why hasn’t he called?I reached into my pocket and checked my phone—again. No messages. No missed calls. Nothing.The evening had slipped into night, and my excitement— The excitement of finally getting recognized as the Crown’s alpha Mate, which once bubbled inside me, flickered weakly, sinking lower and lower inside my chest.I rubbed my arms, trying to shake off the cold—and the ache spreading through me, while still convincing myself that he was probably just running late.Finally, I exhaled slowly, He’s not coming.My shoes clicked softly against the pavement as I made my way back into the house.The ceramic mug I had chosen for Alex’s parents sat on the center table, waiting patiently like I had. It
SCARLET10:30pm. Home."You know… staying here is going to be hard. People aren’t going to forget what happened." My father said to me. His voice cracked slightly,“I have spoken to a few people in the Shadow Flake Pack. Maybe... It's time to think about leaving. I want you to start over.” My chest tightened, I wiped my face with the sleeve of my hoodie, my heart thudding painfully in my chest. Great, even my family doesn’t want me around them."You want me to leave," I said quietly, not really a question but more like a confirmation of what I just heard."I don’t want you to suffer, Scar. Not more than you already have. It’s the only way for you to find peace."For once, he wasn’t hiding behind Mom and Alyssa or avoiding hard decisions. It was just him, sitting here with me, offering me the one thing I hadn’t expected from him—an out.And I hated that part of me was considering it.NEXT MORNING, 5:30am.My father pulled me into a tight embrace, his arms wrapping almost too tightly ar
SCARLETBranches scratched my skin as I darted deeper into the woods, lungs burning, heart pounding. I knew nothing about the land I was racing through—only that it was a place no one sane dared to venture.The wolves had stopped at the border, pacing but unwilling to cross. That should’ve been a relief, but it wasn’t.Still, I kept running. I ran until my legs screamed in protest and air almost dried up in my lungs. I stumbled to a halt, leaning against a tree, my heart hammering in my chest.Had I lost them? Hopefully I have.I looked around, my body trembling from exhaustion and fear. The forest was quiet, scaringly too quiet.Something moved in the distance, it sounded like the soft ripple of water stirring in the silence. I darted behind a tree, pressing my back against the rough bark. My heart thudded violently in my chest as I peeked out, scanning the river ahead.And then he appeared.A man stepped out of the water, slow and deliberate, like a predator confident in its territo
SCARLET "Callum, just this morning you told us not to bother you about finding a mate," one of the pack elders said, his voice obviously echoing with disbelief. I realized then, that I didn’t even know his name, I just referred to him as their Alpha, My captor.We were seated side by side on grand, throne-like chairs. Callum’s posture was relaxed, like he was so used to this, like this was nothing to him. But I on the other hand could barely breathe, with the number of gazes on me, I felt suffocated. “How did it happen?” another elder asked. “It just did,” Callum replied curtly, his tone was dismissive. The elders exchanged glances, nodded as though they understood, and left us alone. “L-Luna? W-what’s going on?” I whispered, my voice barely audible as I turned to him, I hadn’t gotten the chance to ask and I might never, so the moment I got a chance, I asked. He didn’t even spare me as much as a glance.“Would you rather die?” he asked coldly, his gaze still on the dance perfo
SCARLETT “Scarlett!” I heard Callum’s voice as soon as I walked into the Packhouse and my heart unintentionally skipped a beat. I paused in my tracks as he made his way towards me, grabbed me by my shoulders lightly and began to look me over. My eyes followed his hands in confusion as he looked through my body as if checking for injuries. “Are you okay?”“Did anybody try to hurt you? Did anybody approach you today or anything?!” He asked all in one breath, I grabbed his hands almost immediately to make him stop. “Honey! I’m okay, what’s going on?!” I asked. He exhaled deeply and shook his head slowly. “Nothing, I just thought something bad had probably happened to you,” he mumbled, I slowly took my lower lips into my mouth and shook my head slowly. “I’m okay,” I said to him and he nodded slowly. “Where did you go?!” He finally asked. His question caught me off guard almost immediately like I didn’t see it coming. I raised my brows and pressed my lips against each other.“Hmm?”
CALLUM FEW MINUTES LATER “Seth, lead a portion of the warriors and go this way. Make sure you cover the entire surroundings,”“Nolan and I will lead the rest inside the building,” I ordered as soon as we arrived at the six-story abandoned building. “Yes, sir!” Seth howled, nodding firmly with a small bow. Without wasting any more time, Seth and his group moved away to cover the entire surrounding, while my group proceeded into the building. “Let’s split up so we can cover this place quickly. We mustn’t give anyone a chance to escape!” “If you find anything, even the littlest unusual thing, communicate with the rest of us! Everyone should put down the walls of their mind link! I don’t want any excuses!” I briefed them hurriedly, and the moment I was done, we all turned in different directions in the building. I moved stealthily through the dark hallways, lit up by a small torch in my hand. My senses on high alert as I advanced in my search. The scent of dust, mold, and stal
SCARLETT 10: 30pm “Woah! This is crazy!” I whisper yelled with my eyes wide open as I scrolled through my laptop. My phone was beside me on the table connected to my earbuds as I checked the file Annabeth sent to me on my laptop. “Scarlett, Crazy is an understatement!” “The whole time, the account we’ve been tracking is a fake account? It was created in Kael’s name but it wasn’t his,” she said, I exhaled deeply and shook my head slowly. “Do you think Kian did this?!” I asked reducing my voice lower than a whisper, she exhaled at the other end of the phone, I slowly turned to my phone and picked it up. “At this point Scarlett, I’m very suspicious of him,” she said. I dipped my hands into my hair and moved it backwards as I slowly leaned into the chair I was sitting on by the pool.“Is there a way we can confirm all this once and for all? And find out if he’s behind this or not and find who is actually behind this,” I said to her. “There’s only one thing we can do. We need ac
LATER THAT DAY CALLUM “I found a digital contract with your parent and Cora, it was clearly a rip off but your parents still signed it. It’s either she had something on them or they were just plainly oblivious of the whole arrangement, which I clearly doubt the former,” Nolan said to me as he walked into my office, took his seat across from me on the table and stretched out his tablet to me. “Where did you find this?!” I asked him as I gently took his tablet from him and looked through it. “Yeah, I was going to tell you, I found this safe in your father’s previous office and it contained a flashdrive, unfortunately this was the only document in the drive,” he said. I sighed and slowly reclined in my chair, “Scarlett keeps saying I should leave everything concerning Cora to her and focus on apprehending Kayden, but the truth is I think she’s starting to take on more than she can bear,” I said to him. “Well I think if we hand over all we’re able to find against Cora to her, it’ll
SCARLETT Next Day. 10:00am.A small knock came on my door, I slowly looked up at it and got up to my feet, Callum left for the office few hours ago. I adjusted my knee lenght floral dress and asked whoever was at the door to come in. The door slowly went open, Kaitlyn poked her head in a little bit before walking in fully.“Luna, I’m so sorry. I did everything to wash it but the stain just isn’t coming off,” She said. I sighed and rolled my eyes to the back of my head.“Kaitlyn, I already told you this before, forget about it, just dispose it, it’s not that big of a deal,” I said to her, she bit on her lower lips and bowed slightly. “I’m sorry, really,” she whispered.“Stop being dramatic Kaitlyn,” I said to her as I slowly picked up my bag on the bed and looked up at her.“It’s fine, I was just about to step out. Also, when I get back, I’ll like to have just meat, and make sure it’s well done,” I said to her, she nodded immediately in response. I grabbed the door knob and walked
SCARLETT Later that night …“Since I don’t have anything important doing, I’ll be visiting the orphanage often, Annabeth would join me whenever she’s chanced,” I said to Callum as I looked up to look at him through the mirror. I was seated in front of the dressing mirror applying face moisturizer.“Are you sure that’s convenient for you?!” He asked, I moved my head backwards almost immediately and I finally turned around to face him.“Convenient for me?! That’s my job! I should be doing it,”“Besides you guys are so busy looking for Kayden, I should be able to put things in order at the orphanage so this doesn’t happen again,” I said to him and he nodded slowly, turning his gaze back to the tablet he was working on. “Any progress though?!” I asked and he shook his head slowly.“No at all, just that Kayden apparently had the same pair of shoes as Kian,” he said, I slowly took my lips into my mouth and nodded slowly.“Any efforts on getting the lost footage files?!” I asked and he s
MEANWHILE TWILIGHT ZONE ALEX “Are you really going to behave like you didn’t stand there and let Scarlett beat me up?!” Alyssa said to me as soon as we walked in and she slammed the door shut heavily behind herself. I slowly turned to her, she had an irritated scowl on her face with her hand gripping her waist firmly. I rolled my eyes to the back of my head with a small sigh as I turned and walked further into the living room. “Did you just ignore me?!” She snorted angrily as she stomped towards me.“She asked you to stay back and you did?! Since when did you start listening to people much less Scarlett?!” She snorted,“Have you fallen in love with her?!” She asked, stepping even closer to me. I scoffed and shook my head at her.“I think the question should be, have you fallen in love with me?!” I queried raising my brows at her. “Our relationship is purely contractual and open, you and your mother needs me in your lives just as much as I need you both in mine, so don’t go aro
SCARLETT “Kian?!” I slowly unlocked the driver seat, pushed the door open and slowly stepped out. His eyes followed my movement and slowly landed on my face as soon as I stepped out fully and slammed the door shut. I saw the corner of his eyes twitch and his lips slowly stretched into a smirk that wiped off immediately, almost as if I was hallucinating and he didn’t smirk. “Scarlett?!” He whispered as he slowly dropped his hands, removing the gun from my face. I slowly stepped away from the car and walked towards him. “W-what a-are you doing?” I asked in a stutter, my voice barely above a whisper. His eyes slowly left my face and landed on my car.“I-I - must have made a mistake,” he muttered as he slowly returned the gun to his back pocket, he dipped his hands into his side pocket and took out a definely cut peice of paper.“Apparently, Kayden’s number plate and yours are similar, just the last two digits are different, I was so desperate to find him, I didn’t realize it wasn’t
SCARLETT Next Morning, 8:20am “Scarlett!” Myla exclaimed lowly as soon as she stepped out of the kitchen in her apartment and saw me walking inside. “You didn’t have to come here, I don’t want your mother to be suspicious at all,” she said wiping her hands with the back of her dress. “It’s fine, I’m leaving already,” “I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to listen to the meeting with Arthur yesterday, what did they talk about?” I asked. She exhaled deeply and slowly folded her hands across her chest. “Alyssa and Alex will get married still. Something about Veto power, the Alpha gets what the Alpha wants,” she said her face downcast with a small sigh. “I thought this would be the way to finally show everyone who they really are,”“But guess who turned the whole thing around, all under the disguise of being in love, what nonsense love!” She snorted as she slowly folded her hands under her burst. I reached forward and gently placed my hands in her shoulders.“It’s fine, they’d fall into your