Chapter 61 AN ALLY

Chapter 61 AN ALLY
Maya's POV

I locked the door the second Aria stepped inside.

“Don’t touch anything,” I said quickly, crossing the room to pull the curtains shut. My hands moved on instinct, bolt the window latch, and check the second door.

Sera slipped in a few seconds later, closing the door softly behind her. “No one followed me,” she whispered.

“Good,” I said, though my chest was tight.

Aria leaned against the table, one hand braced on the wood, the other pressed to her stomach. “You said it was urgent. What did you find?”

I didn’t answer immediately. Instead, I moved to the cabinet and pulled out the folded papers I’d hidden beneath a stack of medical charts. My fingers tightened around them for a second before I turned back.

“I found something,” I said, holding them up. “About your father’s complaint.”

Aria straightened, her expression sharpening. “What kind of something?”

“The kind that gets people killed,” I replied, stepping closer and placing the papers on the table. “Sit. Both of you.”

Sera obeyed immediately. Aria hesitated for half a second, then lowered herself carefully into the chair.

“What is it?” she asked again, her voice quieter this time.

I unfolded the document and slid it toward her. “Your father didn’t just file a complaint.”

She frowned, already scanning the first page. “What do you mean?”

“He had proof,” I said.

The room went still.

Aria’s eyes moved faster now, jumping from line to line. Numbers. Dates. Account references. Names.

Her fingers started to shake.

“This…” she breathed. “This is—”

“Detailed,” I finished for her. “Every transfer, every discrepancy. He tracked it for months.”

Sera leaned closer, her brow furrowing. “I don’t understand. What am I looking at?”

“Alliance funds,” I said. “Money that was supposed to go to joint pack operations, defense, infrastructure. Instead, portions of it were redirected. Quietly.”

“To where?” Sera asked.

I met her eyes. “Private accounts.”

Her face paled.

Aria swallowed hard, flipping to the next page. “These names…” Her finger stopped on one line. “Marcus Blackwood.”

Silence dropped like a weight.

“And this one,” she added, her voice tighter now. “Elder Thorne.”

Sera sucked in a sharp breath. “No.”

“Yes,” I said quietly. “Your father documented both of them. Years of it.”

Aria’s grip on the paper tightened. “This would destroy them.”

“It would’ve,” I corrected. “If it had ever gone public.”

She looked up at me, her eyes wide but burning. “It didn’t.”

“No,” I said. “It didn’t.”

I tapped the bottom of the page. “See this? The submission date.”

She glanced down. “One week before… before they died.”

“Yes.”

Her throat worked as she swallowed. “And this report?”

“Was never processed,” I said. “Never logged into official records. It vanished.”

Sera shook her head slowly. “That’s not possible. Everything gets logged.”

“Everything that’s allowed to exist,” I replied.

Aria’s gaze snapped back to the paper. “Then how did you find it?”

“It was misfiled,” I said. “Buried under unrelated documents. Wrong section, wrong year. Someone hid it, but not well enough.”

“Or they didn’t expect anyone to look,” Sera added quietly.

Aria let out a shaky breath, her shoulders tense. “They killed them.”

The words hung in the air.

No one argued.

“They didn’t die in a rogue attack,” she continued, her voice gaining strength despite the tremor. “They were silenced.”

“Yes,” I said.

Her jaw clenched. “Because my father had this.”

“And because he was about to expose it,” I added.

Sera pressed a hand to her mouth. “Oh my God…”

I watched Aria as the truth settled in. Her face didn’t crumble. It hardened.

“They took everything from me,” she said, her voice low and steady. “My parents. My life. And now they want my child too.”

I felt something twist in my chest.

“I knew them,” I said before I could stop myself.

Aria looked up.

“Your parents,” I continued, my voice tighter now. “Your mother was my friend. We trained together. We worked shifts side by side. She trusted me.”

Sera glanced at me, surprised.

“When they died…” I paused, my throat closing for a second. “Something didn’t feel right. The report was too clean. Too convenient.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” Aria asked.

Because I was a coward.

“I was scared,” I admitted. “Marcus was alpha. Thorne backed him. Anyone who questioned them… didn’t last long.”

Sera’s eyes flicked to the document. “Like the others on that list.”

“Yes.”

I looked back at Aria. “So I stayed quiet. I told myself it wasn’t my place. That I didn’t have proof.”

My hands curled into fists at my sides. “I failed them.”

Aria didn’t speak.

“I won’t fail you,” I said, my voice firm now. “Whatever you need to expose them, I’ll help.”

Aria nodded slowly. “Good. Because I’m not stopping.”

“I know,” I said.

Sera shifted in her seat, anxiety written all over her face. “You both realize what this means, right?”

We looked at her.

“If we expose this,” she said, her voice trembling, “Marcus and Thorne won’t just sit back and accept it. They’ll retaliate.”

“They already are,” Aria replied flatly.

Sera shook her head. “No, I mean fully. They’ll kill us. All of us.”

The words landed heavy.

I didn’t deny it.

“She’s right,” I said. “If we move against them, we have to assume they’ll try to eliminate us immediately.”

Aria leaned back slightly, one hand still on her stomach. “Then we don’t give them the chance to silence us.”

Sera frowned. “How?”

Aria’s eyes sharpened. “Insurance.”

I felt a flicker of understanding. “You mean—”

“Something that goes public if anything happens to us,” she finished.

Sera’s eyes widened. “A dead man’s switch?”

“Yes.”

I nodded slowly. “That could work.”

Aria looked at me. “Can you do it?”

I took a breath, already thinking through the logistics. “I have contacts. Healers from other packs. A few journalists tied to the council’s information network.”

“Would they listen?” Sera asked.

“If I send them this,” I said, tapping the document, “with the right context? Yes.”

Aria leaned forward. “Then do it.”

I nodded. “I’ll make copies. Encrypt the files. Set up a timed release. If I don’t check in regularly, it sends automatically.”

“How often?” Sera asked.

“Weekly,” I said. “Any longer gives too much room for interference.”

Aria nodded. “Good.”

Sera still looked uneasy. “And if they find out before then?”

“They won’t,” I said, though even I wasn’t fully convinced.

Aria met my eyes. “They’re already suspicious. Thorne confronted me today.”

My stomach dropped. “What?”

“He knows I’ve been in the archives,” she said. “He didn’t say it directly, but… he knows.”

Sera let out a shaky breath. “That means we’re already on their radar.”

“Yes,” Aria said. “Which means we move faster.”

I nodded. “I’ll start tonight.”

“And the original document?” she asked.

I hesitated. “We can’t leave it here.”

“No,” Aria agreed. “It’s too risky.”

Sera looked between us. “Where do we put it?”

Aria’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Somewhere they won’t think to look.”

Before I could respond, something shifted outside the window.

A shadow.

It moved fast—too fast to be a trick of the light.

I froze.

“Did you see that?” I whispered.

Aria’s head snapped toward the window. “What?”

“Outside,” I said, stepping closer slowly. “Someone was—”

The space beyond the glass was empty.

Sera stood abruptly. “Was someone there?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, my pulse spiking. “But I thought I saw—”

Aria pushed herself to her feet, wincing slightly but ignoring it. “Check.”

I moved to the window and unlocked it carefully, pushing it open just enough to look out.

Nothing. But the unease didn’t leave.

I turned back slowly. “There’s no one there.”

Sera hugged her arms around herself. “That doesn’t mean no one was there.”

Aria’s expression darkened. “Someone could’ve been listening.”

Sera’s voice dropped to a whisper. “If someone heard… they’ll go straight to Marcus.”

Or Thorne.

Or both.