Chapter 189 CHAPTER 189
Evelyn’s POV
I did not sleep.
After speaking with my mother, after reliving the fire and the memories my fox had hidden for years, something inside me refused to rest. My mind kept rearranging the pieces like they would suddenly fit into something less terrifying.
By morning, I knew one thing clearly. I could not carry this alone. I went to Alpha Michael’s house before I could second guess myself. He opened the door himself. He looked like he had not slept either. His eyes searched my face immediately. “What happened?”
“I need to tell you everything,” I said.
He stepped aside without another word.
We sat in his study. The curtains were drawn halfway and the room smelled faintly of coffee and paper. It felt like a war room now. Not a place for affection. Not a place for softness.
“I went through the flame stage,” I began.
His expression shifted slightly. Concern. Surprise. Fear.
“You did that alone?”
“No. Mum was there.”
He nodded slowly. “What did you see?”
I inhaled deeply.
“Calderon was there that night. Not just as an attacker. He came with intent. He wanted Alpha Raymond.”
Michael’s jaw tightened.
“Flora arrive at the house just as he forced his way in. Her interruption gave them time to run. He shot her.”
His eyes widened. “Flora was there?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I do not know if he killed her. They did not see her body. They heard the shot.”
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “And Philly?”
“He knocked her unconscious. Then he made a threat. If we did not give him Raymond, he would kill everyone in our family. Starting with Maya.”
Michael closed his eyes briefly.
“So your mother made a deal.”
“She stalled. She bought time.” I lied. I couldn’t tell him that my mother had taken the deal. She wasn’t wrong to have taken it either.
He looked up at me slowly. “And Jon’s poisoning?”
“She knows nothing about it.”
He studied my face carefully.
“You believe her?”
“Yes.”
Silence filled the room.
He stood and began pacing.
“So Calderon wanted Alpha Raymond politically weakened. Public chaos. A narrative of deception. And then the poisoning escalated everything.”
“Yes.”
“And now my mum is paying the price.”
“Yes.”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“We need proof,” he said. “Not memories. Not instincts. Evidence.”
“I know.”
Before either of us could say more, the television in the corner of the study caught my attention.
A breaking news banner flashed across the screen. Michael grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. The anchor’s voice was sharp with urgency.
“In a shocking development this morning, explicit videos allegedly involving Rosaleen Blackmoon have surfaced online. Sources also confirm that Alpha Roman Reign has confessed to a coordinated effort with Greywood to undermine Evelyn Moon in what appears to be a long standing rivalry tied to business and political influence.”
My breath caught.The screen shifted to blurred images. Headlines. Commentary.
“They plotted to take her down.”
“Financial manipulation.”
“Personal vendetta.”
Alpha Michael muted the television slowly.
“So that is out,” he said quietly.
I felt something cold settle in my stomach.
“Roman confessed?”
“Apparently.”
My phone vibrated in my hand before I could respond. It was my private investigator.I answered immediately.
“Yes?”
“I have something,” he said. His voice was tight.
“What?”
“We tracked a signal from a device linked to Maya’s last known contact. It pinged repeatedly from an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Brooklyn.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Maya is there?”
“We believe so. There is more.”
“What?”
“There are two heat signatures inside. One appears stationary. The other is intermittent.”
My throat dried instantly.
“Flora?” I whispered.
“It is possible,” he answered.
I was already on my feet.
“Send the location. Now.”
Alpha Michael stood when he saw my face.
“What is it?”
“Maya. Possibly Flora.”
He did not hesitate. “I am coming with you.”
The drive felt endless. Every red light felt like betrayal. Every second felt stolen. When we arrived, the warehouse looked exactly like something forgotten. Rusted doors. Broken windows. Silence too thick to be natural. Alpha Michael called for backup quietly. Discreetly. We could not risk noise. The side entrance was partially open. The smell hit me first. Damp metal. Stale air. Blood. My fox stirred immediately. Alert. Focused. We moved slowly through the dim interior, flashlights cutting narrow paths through darkness.
“Over here,” Alpha Michael whispered.
I followed the beam of his light.
Aunt Maya was tied to a metal support column. Her head slumped forward. My chest tightened painfully.
“Aunt Maya,” I breathed, rushing to her.
She stirred faintly when I touched her face.
“Evelyn?” she whispered.
“I am here.”
Her wrists were bruised. Her clothes were torn but not blood soaked. Alive. Thank the gods.
“Flora,” she murmured weakly. “She is over there.”
My pulse spiked again. Alpha Michael moved ahead with the light. And then I saw her.
Flora lay on the concrete floor near stacked crates. Blood had dried along her side. Her breathing was shallow. I dropped to my knees beside her.
“Flora.”
Her eyelids fluttered faintly.
“She is alive,” he said quickly, already reaching for his phone to call emergency services.
Her skin felt cold under my hands.
“Do not sleep,” I whispered urgently. “Stay with me.”
Her lips parted slightly.
“He shot me,” she breathed.
“I know.”
“Calderon,” she added weakly.
The name solidified everything. Alpha Michael knelt beside me.
“We need to move her carefully.”
Sirens echoed faintly in the distance. I pressed my hand gently against the wound, trying to slow the bleeding that had clearly been ongoing for hours.
“Why did he leave you?” I asked softly.
Flora’s eyes flickered.
“He thought I would die.”
Rage burned through me. Aunt Maya began crying softly behind us. I felt split in two. Relief and fury colliding inside my chest. Paramedics rushed in moments later. They worked quickly, placing Flora on a stretcher, stabilizing her. Aunt Maya was untied and wrapped in a blanket. I walked beside the stretcher as they loaded Flora into the ambulance.
Alpha Michael kept a steady hand at my back.
At the hospital, everything blurred into bright lights and clipped voices.
“Gunshot wound.”
“Severe blood loss.”
“Prepare surgery.”
They wheeled Flora away from us.
Aunt Maya sat in a chair in the hallway, shaking. I knelt in front of her.
“Did he say anything?” I asked gently.
She nodded weakly.
“He said this is only the beginning.”
My stomach twisted. Alpha Michael stood beside me, jaw clenched.
Rosaleen’s tapes were airing across the city. Roman had confessed to conspiring against me. Calderon had escalated beyond politics.
But now we had living proof. Flora.
If she survived surgery, she could testify. She could confirm what my fox had shown me. I leaned back against the hospital wall slowly. For the first time since this began, the chaos felt less random.
Alpha Michael looked at me.
“We move carefully,” he said.
I nodded. No one would know Flora and Aunt Maya have been rescued.