Third POV

The headline made Asher’s blood run cold.

“BLACKMOON PACK ANNOUNCES NEW LUNA—FORMER ALPHA’S DAUGHTER RETURNS TO CLAIM INHERITANCE”

His fingers moved frantically across the screen, scrolling through the article.

The Blackmoon Pack was one of the most powerful neighboring territories. Any leadership change there would send ripples through every surrounding pack, including Moonveil.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Moonveil Pack was already in a precarious situation with all the deal fallout. This might make things even worse for their small pack.

Asher’s phone buzzed as more and more comments began to stream onto the post with each new refresh. It seemed like any werewolf that had a social media account right now was online to view the article, and each one of them had something to say.

“Did the Blackmoon Pack really just select a new Luna? What about an Alpha?”

There had to be hundreds of replies under each comment.

“Wait, the Blackmoon Pack? The ones who could crush half the region without breaking a sweat?”

“Apparently, Alpha James’s long-lost daughter just inherited everything. I can’t believe that Alpha James favored her rather than his adopted son! He raised Benedict as an Alpha, and now, everything will be passed down everything to his long-lost daughter instead?”

“What if she’s a fraud?”

“I was patrolling near the Blackmoon territories earlier. They had a council meeting in the morning, and the security was insane! I think they tripled their guards for the event. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Asher’s eyes combed through each and every comment. Every time he was finished with one, a new comment would surface. It was endless.

“My goodness! This sort of luck is insane!”

“What’s she like? Do you think she has found her mate yet? Maybe I should introduce myself.”

There were a couple of replies right under that comment, turning into a full-blown conversation.

“In your dreams. I caught a glimpse from right outside the pack when I patrolled nearby. She has this presence that’s unreal. Black hair, light blue eyes, standing there like she owned the world. She makes every she-wolf look ordinary.”

“Come on, where are the photos? You have to share!”

“It’s impossible to get any pictures... The amount of security present was insane.”

Asher quickly scrolled up to the top of the post again to look at the article. There were a few shots available, but all of them were still loading.

Ignoring the comments, he began to read the actual article itself.

There wasn’t much revealed, only that the Blackmoon Pack had selected a new Luna. The previous Alpha candidate, Benedict Harper, was no longer in the running. He wasn’t even selected as the new Beta.

As for the Alpha, the Blackmoon Pack had yet to announce one. In the article, it was reported that the Alpha would be selected by the Luna. But until then, the Luna would be the sole leader of the Blackmoon Pack.

Asher scrolled down further until he finally spotted a photo that had properly loaded.

The quality was terrible, taken from too far away, with features completely obscured. But the silhouette could still be seen. The woman had a slim figure with elegantly styled hair, a delicate jawline, and the graceful arch of a neck.

Asher couldn’t place his finger on it, but the figure looked awfully familiar.

Then, it struck him. Estelle.

He looked at the image again, trying to zoom in on the photo to see if he could get any other clues. He didn’t know why, but the woman in the picture made him think of Estelle.

Come to think of it, Asher never knew her last name. She couldn’t remember it either, and as such, in every official document, she was named “Estelle Daniels”.

But how could this woman be Estelle? He thought back to the Estelle that he was familiar with—a small, subservient smile, a slight hunch, and a haggard appearance that was a result of stressing about the pack. She was the furthest thing away from this glamorous woman, even if the photo was awfully pixelated.

Asher shook that thought out of his head. Estelle was beautiful, admittedly, but they were not the same.

Nevertheless, that conclusion didn’t help the uneasiness that was building in Asher’s chest. He began to scroll down the article again, trying to find more photos. When he failed, he turned to the internet to search for more images of the new Blackmoon Pack’s Luna.

Unfortunately, every photo was more or less the same blurry mess. Asher’s brow furrowed hard.

He scrolled back to the original article, desperate to see clearer images. There were some at the start of the article that hadn’t loaded. By all means, the reporters should’ve used the best images at the front of the article.

When he found the article again, the photos were still loading, showing only gray placeholders where pictures should be.

Asher refreshed the page. The loading icon spun endlessly.

He tried again, tapping refresh repeatedly. Finally, the page reloaded, but instead of the article, he was met with a blank screen and an error message.

“Content no longer available.”

The entire article had been taken down.

Asher stared at his phone in disbelief. Someone with serious influence had scrubbed that story from the internet within minutes of publication. The kind of power that could make news disappear that quickly was terrifying.

He tried searching other news sites, but found nothing. Whatever had been published was now completely gone, as if it had never existed.

***

Estelle’s POV

I stared at my phone screen, the cursor blinking in the empty message box.

My last conversation with Zayne had ended with me accepting his proposal to be his Luna. Since then, our chat had gone silent. He’d read my message but hadn’t replied.

His profile showed he’d been online just minutes ago.

Was he deliberately ignoring me?

I couldn’t stop thinking about what Caleb had said. He had heavily implied that it was weird for an engaged couple to hardly exchange a few words with each other, and I agreed to an extent. Even if we couldn’t be lovers, being friends would make our partnership much more enjoyable.

I typed and deleted several messages, unsure what to say. Part of me wondered if I’d made the right choice. After all, I barely knew the man. However, his help would be immeasurable, especially if Helena and Benedict still had supporters in the Blackmoon Pack.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard.

I glanced at the clock. It was getting late. Perhaps I would drop him another message tomorrow.

Just as I was about to set the phone aside, it rang.

The sudden sound startled me so badly that my fingers slipped. Without thinking, I swiped to answer.

“Hello?”

“Estelle.” Asher’s voice came through the speaker, warm with relief. “I’m so glad you picked up!”