The media is eating up the press that Perry created. Videos of the Packland’s Treasury getting broken into are circling the web at the speed one would expect. A lot of things were taken from the treasury to cover up what Perry was really after. Knight established a new security team around me and the twins. A proper investigation is taking place under the Alpha King’s orders. I would feel bad if he wasn’t such an asshole. He returned the dresses I made for Melody, covered in black dye. Ayrie thought it was cool and asked for more so she could be a Maleficent kind of fairy princess.
So, here I am watching the news talk about the City of Phoebs launch and the thieves who robbed the Alpha King blind while wearing my street chic attire. The fashion channels are eating it all up. Edits and praise are going off, along with conspiracy theories that aren’t too far–fetched.
“You surprised me.” Mr. Knightly says, dropping a file on the coffee table before me.
I poke the needle I’m using into my needle cushion and reach for the mini scissors. I had to adjust Melody’s dresses to fit Ayrie. Ayrie is a little bigger than she is. Until I can get my hands on another batch of materials for the streetwear line, I’m focusing on the kids stuff and trying to get one of the Quick Howl girls who makes shoes to get on team City of Phoebes.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Here I thought you were a good girl in a shitty situation. You’re just as fucked as the rest of us,” he sits down beside me and takes one of the finished dresses.
“What is that?” I repeat, finding what he said hilarious.
“That is your juvie record. Maria and Elliot took over the Golden Moon Pack. Xochtl covered up a lot for you. She saw potential, and then you gave her the greatest gift she could ever have: potential heirs. She named you and Ayrie heirs of the pack in her will. Which means that Royal Threads is officially yours.”
I place the dress on the table and take the file.
“What the fuck? Why would she do that?” I ask. He doesn’t answer me.
I flip through the first few pages to see my school records, including grades and daily reports from when my attendance was court–ordered. I get to the second folder to find medical records. Things that Knight has shown me since we met as we tried to piece together where the hell I had come from. But the dates on here are a lot older. They date back to when I was in college. Way before I had met her. It’s a profile on me.
“She knew,” he confirms. “It’s a common practice among alphas. It’s kind of how I was sold to the vampires. Your father, or the man pretending to be your father gave your information to her when she got her hands on this dress.” he flips through the pages until he gets to my prom dress. “She wanted to know where it had come from.
“My guess is that she saw the conditions that they kept you in, and he told her his deal with your mother. She promised that she could protect you, and she had been grooming you to take over for her. They had already done the damage to your psyche and body.”
“She was going to set me up to a sire or an alpha to trigger my shift the way Knight did when he marked me.” I conclude.
“It was likely going to be Ruin. You were brought back here for that. The pups would have shifted by the time you were ready to take over fully. She was going feral and was on a schedule. You and Ayrie were the perfect heirs to the empire she built. Was there ever any sign, favoritism, or compromise that she didn’t give others?”
“She was a lot harder on me than the others. She made me take certain business classes and she would get mad when I didn’t express interest in certain things. I would always do them because I thought she was helping me.”
“In a way, she was. The same way the vampires were helping me reach my full potential. The investigation is now more than just the conditions of your upbringing. They go against our slavery laws, especially now that your sister has completely altered them as the Wolf Bait bridge between us and the Lycans. We’re talking a public execution.”
“I don’t want that.”
“Phoebe-”
“Mr. Knightly, you know exactly what this is like. To be caught in a fucking nightmare we can’t escape. We put on a good face, we try to make the best of what we have in front of us, and we live. It’s not going to make me feel better to see them die, just like you know that staking your sire isn’t going to help. You know that because, after all this time, you’re still the kid who was rejected by his mate and humiliated by the people he trusted the most.
“That’s why you do all the things you do. You want to prove to yourself and everyone else that you are more than worthy to have been what they denied you. Killing them didn’t help no matter how fucking good it felt in that moment. I don’t want them dead. They’ve taken enough from me. Giving them a place in my head lets them win.”
“Phoebs, there’s no way to ignore this or dismiss it. Your mother was the alpha of Silver Moon and an active member of the council. If she were alive, she would also stand trial. What happened to you is common among our kind.
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“There are other kids like us out there. Lost and suffocating under some fucking asshole that wants more power. Little kids. like Ayrie and Aizen are being sold or given away because of what they can potentially be.
“With the upgrades in wolf tech what makes us different can now be identified and you see shit like what was done to me and Ayrie all the time. It’s how I identified Maria as the best candidate to have an heir who can withstand the alpha command like mine, if it ever came down to a challenge. There are others out there.”
“I don’t want to be the poster child for this shit, Arnold. I’ve been running away from all of this since I could stand on my own and if you guys want to put them on trial and shit, fine. But I want nothing to do with it. It was hard enough to have been through it. I don’t want to relive all of that. I grew up being the freak of the tribe. Don’t make this life just a fucked as that one.”
“Okay,” he nods. “What do you want to do with the rest of it?”
“What do you mean? What’s the rest of it?” I ask annoyed with all of this. He flips to the last folder in the file and hands it to
- me.
“While the pack now belongs to Elliot Blake, the company belongs to you. All eight branches. She doesn’t have anyone else. There is no next of kin. She was the very last of her bloodline.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? So, what? I’m just supposed to sit in this chair that this woman carefully curated for me and do what she always expected of me?” I scoff. I turn my glare to him. “She Arnold Knightly–ed me.”
“What?” he laughs.
“She did to me what you did to
“It’s not that simple,” he rolls his eyes.
“Oh, it was that simple. The only thing that’s different is that she was way better at it. I didn’t even know. She made me feel grateful, while you made Knight resent you for it.”
“I’m going to choose to ignore that because you seem distraught,” he huffs.
“If it helps you sleep tonight, I’ll pretend I didn’t say it,” I laugh. “I don’t know if I want to take her place. This is the legacy of the bitch that almost killed my daughter. I had never prayed in my entire life until I had to sit beside my baby for weeks while they were feeding her poison.”
“So take it apart,” he shrugs. “It belongs to you now. Or rebrand it. The way I see it, someone already did the work you’re trying to do now for you. You know these people. They know you. They want to continue working on this and you are the solution to them keeping their jobs. Sleep on it, and when you drop off the twins at school in the morning, come to my packhouse and we’ll talk about this with lawyers present.”
“Mr. Knightly-” I stop him before he walks away. He stops but doesn’t look back at me.
“Things happen the way they should, Phoebe. You know better than most that we can pretend to be in control of our destinies, but the truth is that we’re just playing to the sound of fate.
“I set up the tools Nathan needed to become who he is now. In the same way, she did yours. I’m not talking about Xo. I’m talking about your mother. You are her daughter, start fucking acting like it. She died protecting the one thing she loved the most. She would be proud of you now. I know I am,”
