Chapter 14 Chapter 14
Ava's POV
The air in the room became thin, charged with a new, terrifying silence. Marcus stared at my phone, his face a mask of cold fury. The warmth that had been in his eyes moments before was gone, replaced by the diamond-hard glitter of a predator who has just scented his true enemy. He slowly lifted his gaze from the screen to me.
“This wasn’t me,” he said, his voice dangerously quiet. He scrolled up, his jaw tightening as he read the string of cruel messages. “None of this was me.”
Without another word, he pulled out his own phone and dialed. “Kael. Someone is spoofing my number and sending threats to the Luna. They know things they shouldn’t. This is a tier one priority. I want a full trace. I want to know who is behind this, and I want it done yesterday.”
He hung up and looked at me, his expression a complex mixture of anger and a strange, protective guilt. “He’s real. My brother. He’s not just a rumor.”
The confession was a quiet surrender. He finally believed me. The revelation didn’t bring the relief I expected, only a deeper, more profound sense of dread. The monster was real, and he knew things about my mother.
The next few days were a blur of heightened security and suffocating tension. Marcus was a shadow at my side, his guards a constant presence. He was fiercely protective, but also distant, lost in a war being fought on servers and in encrypted files. The question about my mother hung between us, an unexploded bomb. I asked him once what the text could have meant.
“Your mother was a beloved member of this pack,” he’d said, his tone dismissive, but his eyes were troubled. “He is trying to get in your head, Ava. Don’t let him.”
He was wrong. It was already too late.
We were in the back of his armored town car, heading downtown for a meeting with the pack’s investment bankers. The city blurred past the tinted windows, a concrete and glass jungle. I felt restless, my wolf pacing at the edges of my consciousness. As we turned onto the main avenue of the financial district, a low growl rumbled through my chest. It wasn't a thought, it was a physical sensation, the hair on my arms standing on end.
Luna was agitated.
Ahead of us, a new skyscraper clawed at the sky, a magnificent, twisting tower of silver glass and black steel that dwarfed everything around it. It hadn’t been there a year ago. It was sleek, predatory, and alien.
As we drew closer, the growling in my soul intensified. A cold dread, sharp and acidic, flooded my senses. Luna’s voice was a frantic whisper in my mind. Danger. The Shadow is here. He watches.
“Stop the car,” I gasped, my hand shooting out to grip Marcus’s arm.
The driver glanced in the rearview mirror, but Marcus gave a short nod. The car glided to a smooth halt at the curb, directly in front of the silver tower.
“Ava, what’s wrong?” Marcus asked, his voice laced with concern.
I couldn’t answer. I could only stare at the building, at the thousands of dark windows that felt like a thousand watching eyes. “He’s here,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “The Shadow. My wolf… she can feel him. It’s cold.”
Marcus followed my gaze to the skyscraper. I saw the name etched in discreet chrome letters above the massive entrance, Silvercrest Tech. Nathan’s company.
Marcus’s expression softened with a frustrating, clinical pity. “Ava,” he said gently, taking my hand. His was warm, but it couldn’t chase away the ice in my veins. “Listen to me. This is the heart of the corporate world. It’s where Garry worked, where all the betrayals happened. You’ve been through an immense trauma.”
“This isn’t trauma,” I insisted, looking from the building to his face, pleading with him to understand. “This is different. This is real.”
“It is real,” he agreed patiently, as if speaking to a frightened child. “It’s a trauma response. Your wolf is trying to protect you. She senses a threat, but she’s associating the memory of Garry’s betrayal with this place, with these buildings. It’s a phantom pain, Ava. There is no one in that building watching you.”
His logic was a cage, closing around me. He didn’t believe me. He didn’t trust my instincts, the very instincts that made me a Luna. To him, my wolf’s warning was just a symptom of a broken mind. He thought I was fragile.
“Let’s go,” he said softly, signaling the driver to move on. “We’ll be late.”
Defeated, I sank back against the leather seat as the car pulled away, leaving the silver tower behind. I felt utterly alone, more isolated than when I thought I was hallucinating. His disbelief was a wall between us, thicker than any contract.
As the tower began to recede in the distance, I took one last look back. On one of the highest floors, in a corner office, a figure stood at the window, a dark silhouette against the afternoon light. It was too far to see a face, but I didn’t need to. I knew.
My phone, clutched tight in my hand, buzzed with a notification. It wasn’t a text from his spoofed number. It was from the original, unknown number that had first threatened me.
I opened it, my heart pounding a sick, frantic rhythm.
Your wolf is smart. You should listen to her more often. Your husband only trusts what he can see.
I read the words, and a cold wave of nausea washed over me. Then, a second message appeared, and the world tilted on its axis.
By the way, ask your father about the billion-dollar transfer. Then ask him what he bought with it. Her name was Livia.