Estelle’s POV

I stepped away from Benedict’s touch, his arm falling to his side. The casualness of the gesture didn’t fool me for a second.

“Your concern is touching,” I said, moving back toward the couch. “Is there anything else?”

“Just one.” Benedict chuckled, sliding his hands into his pockets. “It’s not just the agricultural division. There’s a more pressing issue that the council hopes can be resolved.”

He walked back to the desk and pulled out a thick manila folder. The papers inside looked official. He set it down on the coffee table in front of me with exaggerated care.

“I took the liberty of compiling a list,” he said. “As mentioned earlier, there have been some issues with negotiations. These are packs that Blackmoon has been trying to establish partnerships with, like trade deals, alliance agreements, and security pacts—you get the gist.”

I leaned forward and opened the folder. The first few documents were standard diplomatic correspondence, such as formal letters and proposal drafts. Nothing surprising.

But as I flipped through the pages, I saw the pattern. There were plenty of rejection letters, withdrawn proposals, or cancelled meetings. Some were from even prior to James Harper’s death. However, many of them seemed to have happened within the last month or so, after he passed down the position of Blackmoon’s leader to me.

“Unfortunately, I’m sure you have noticed, these deals did not come to fruition even after extended negotiation periods,” Benedict continued. “I have sorted out some of the more pressing ones. If you’re able to handle them, I’m sure the council will have nothing else to do but acknowledge your capabilities.”

“Interesting,” I murmured, not looking up from the papers. “It’s a mystery why they would reject an alliance agreement with Blackmoon,” I offhandedly commented.

“Isn’t it?” Benedict agreed. He seemed genuinely befuddled.

I knew his comment was sincere this time, because among these documents was information on certain collaborations with certain neighboring packs that didn’t go through. Most of which were spearheaded by Benedict’s own team.

Even though a partnership with Blackmoon was highly sought after, these packs did not manage to reach an agreement, and the alliance eventually went cold.

I stopped flipping the pages when I caught sight of a familiar name. I raised an eyebrow. Apparently, the Blackmoon Pack had tried reaching out to the Silverclaw Pack as well for trade.

Silverclaw had been one of Moonveil’s most reliable trading partners. They bought our agricultural products exclusively for years, which may be why they didn’t agree to a deal with Blackmoon previously.

The Silverclaw Pack had many pack members, which meant many mouths to feed. However, they weren’t nearly as advanced or ambitious as many neighboring packs, which resulted in them remaining as a mid-tier pack for the last few decades despite their ever-growing size.

Their land was situated in a mountainous terrain, which made it difficult for them to grow their own crops. Thus, they needed to outsource their food from neighboring packs.

Most of the packs within the area were smaller with fewer resources, which made it difficult for them to spare so many crops to Silverclaw for trade or sale. That was how Moonveil managed to swoop in and secure that deal in the first place. Bigger packs that had the harvest to share were simply too far away and weren’t as conveniently located as Moonveil was.

As such, a lot of Moonveil’s spare crops went to the Silverclaw Pack, and Moonveil profited heavily from it. The relationship only soured when Hazel took over as Beta and completely mismanaged the communication.

I set the papers down and looked up at Benedict. He was watching me with barely concealed amusement.

“This is interesting reading,” I said calmly.

I had full confidence that I could handle this deal with Silverclaw. I knew their Alpha and Beta. Every deal that they had with Moonveil went through me for the last few years. If I hadn’t found out that Asher was playing me for a fool, or if Asher hadn’t chosen to make Hazel his temporary Beta, perhaps Silverclaw would’ve renewed the contract with Moonveil.

“I thought you might find it enlightening,” he said with a clap of his hands. “Shall I tell the council that you’ll be personally handling this?”

“Sure,” I said, meeting his gaze. I smiled. “Go ahead.”

“But of course, they will require fast results,” Benedict reminded. “Blackmoon can’t remain like this for long, lest we lose our reputation.”

“I understand,” I said with a nod of my head.

Benedict held up a finger. “One week. That’s all you have.”

“That’s all I need.”

“And the council will be watching you closely,” he continued.

“I have no issue with that. But Benedict?” I took a step closer to him, my voice dropping to just above a whisper. “Let me be very clear about something.”

He waited.

“I will be doing this on my terms. I would hate to have someone orchestrating additional problems for me behind closed doors,” I said. My tone remained conversational, almost friendly. “After all, solving these issues will be beneficial to Blackmoon as a whole. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I smiled, the expression not reaching my eyes. Benedict nodded, returning my smile.

“Of course,” he said.

“And if someone were to sabotage, wouldn’t you think it is fair for them to suffer certain consequences?” I added. “I would hate for Blackmoon to go downhill due to mere petty competition.” 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Benedict’s eyelid twitched. However, for the most part, he still retained his expression of lazy amusement.

“That’s fair,” he said. “All of us here wish to see Blackmoon prosper. It is our home, after all. Blackmoon has had a prestigious reputation for many generations. It would be awful to lose that prestige under our authority.”

His subtle threat didn’t go unnoticed by me. I smiled.

“Exactly. I knew you would understand,” I said. “As such, while I would love to earn respect through competence, I’m not above using the power that comes with my position. I am still the Luna of this pack. I have no qualms about punishing people who threaten the prosperity of Blackmoon.”

I took a step closer towards Benedict, not breaking eye contact.

“Have I made myself clear, dear brother?”