Chapter 182
182
Finished
Third Person’s POV
So it was no surprise that Alabic Ebonclaw’s eyes, gleaming with greed, locked onto Zara like a starving wolf eyeing prey.
All the assets he had managed to smuggle out–the gold, the artifacts, the pack holdings–were either under his own name or that of the Ebonclaw estate. But Zara’s personal holdings? He hadn’t touched a single silver coin of them.
She still held shares in the Council–regulated Northern Territories Trading Syndicate, not to mention a hidden vault of pure moonstone and the ancient Ebonclaw manor–officially registered under her name.
Selling those alone would easily raise the five million he needed to buy Scarlett’s way out of the Lycan Tribunal’s clutches.
What a perfect opportunity.
He would save his precious daughter and bleed that cold–hearted woman dry in the process. Let her know what it felt like be used and discarded–just as she had done to his pride years ago.
Alabic’s expression darkened further as he recalled his humiliation.
to
He had once been a brilliant young warrior–valedictorian of the Ebonclaw Academy, top of his class in strategy and combat, destined to ascend through the ranks of the High Court and carve his name into the history of the packs.
But that dream was shattered when the elder of his pack had demanded he marry into the Ebonclaws. Not as a free Alpha, but as a consort. A glorified servant.
A male Luna.
The shame of it still burned.
If Zara had truly loved him , she would have offered herself with dignity and gifted the Ebonclaws her lands, her title. But instead, she had demanded he bend his knee. Submit.
He could never forgive that.
And that was why he’d done what he had to do–why he had ensured the old Ebonclaw ruler died suddenly, “accidentally.” It was the only way to break the chains.
His eyes flickered with venomous satisfaction.
For years, he had tolerated Zara, played the dutiful husband. He’d even endured her arrogance,
But now that Scarlett was in danger, it was time she repaid him–for everything.
He schooled his features into a pained grimace, let his shoulders sag just so, and when Zara entered the room, he pitched his voice low and strained, full of grief and helplessness.
“My love you’re finally here.”
In the past. Zara would have rushed to his side the moment she saw his weary eyes. She’d always been weak to his act
Today, she didn’t move.
She stood there gripping a few sheets of parchment–documents Riley had delivered earlier–and her eyes were cold. Frigid. Like the heart of a dead glacier.
Alabic frowned, confused by her silence, thinking her mood sour from her injury.
fhe sighed dramatically and continued, “Scarlett’s been arrested. By the Tribunal”
He rubbed his temples as though the weight of the world rested there. “Zara, our daughter can’t survive in a dungeon like that She’s never even been outside the manor without an escort. Can you imagine het in a cell? With rogues? With comunals?”
3:52 PM P P .
182
He shook his head, feigning anguish.
Zara’s eyes burned red. But it wasn’t sorrow.
It was fury.
Scarlett couldn’t handle prison?
And Riley could?
She swallowed the bile rising in her throat. “And what,” she asked coldly, “do you intend to do to save Scarlett?”
Finished
Alabic stiffened. There was something off in her tone–too formal, too detached. She never called their daughter “Scarlett.” She used to say “our pup.”
Now she said her name like she was a stranger.
He narrowed his eyes.
The bitch is getting bold.
Let her. Once he wrung her dry of her holdings, she’d be nothing. Just a broken old she–wolf with no title, no children, no wealth, and no allies. When that day came, he’d toss her to the rogues. Let them do as they pleased.
He nearly laughed at the thought–Zara, former Luna of Ebonclaw, reduced to a gutter plaything.
Instead, he kept his face smooth, voice soft.
have your holdings. A few shares in the trade guilds, your vault… and that old manor from your father.”
“Zara,” he began, “the Ebonclaw accounts have been frozen. Lucien Duskgrave’s dogs made sure of that. But winter mirruzufferies Muer
you still
He took a deep breath, as though the words pained him. “We could sell those. Gather what we can. Use it to buy Scarlett’s freedom.”
He smiled faintly, playing the concerned father to perfection. “Money comes and goes. But our family–us, together–that’s worth everything.”
He thought his performance flawless.
But the greed in his eyes betrayed him. His hunger was visible in every twitch of his jaw , every flicker in his gaze.
And Zara saw it all.
Saw through him like she had finally removed the veil from her eyes.
She understood now.
Alabic wasn’t asking. He was planning to strip her of everything and then toss her away like she never mattered.
There was no family in his words.
No love
Only profit.
Only schemes.
She tightened her grip on the papers in her hand, knuckles white.
She’d thought losing her daughter once was the worst pain in the world.
She had been wrong
It was realizing that the wolf she had loved, trusted, and handed her entire life to had never loved her back.