Kael’s POV
The file on Cain Shadow Moon was thick.
I’d been staring at it for two hours. Every page filled with evidence. Drug deals. Wolfsbane distribution. Names, dates, locations.
This was the bastard who’d destroyed my brother.
Lucian used to be brilliant. Charming. The golden son of Blood Crown. Everyone loved him. Everyone expected him to be Alpha.
Then Cain sold him that first dose of Wolfsbane.
And my brother became a ghost.
I closed the file. Leaned back in my chair.
The office was quiet. Everyone had gone home hours ago. Only the security guards remained, patrolling the halls of what used to be my father’s domain.
My domain now.
I still couldn’t get used to it.
"Damon." I pressed the intercom. "Come to my office."
Three minutes later, he walked in.
"You look like shit," he said cheerfully. "When was the last time you slept?"
"I need you to organize a team." I pushed the file toward him. "Cain Shadow Moon. I want him brought in."
Damon picked up the file. Flipped through it. His eyebrows rose higher with each page.
"This is Aria’s brother."
"I know."
"The guy who sold Wolfsbane to Lucian."
"I know."
"Kael..." He set down the file. Looked at me with concern. "Are you sure about this? Going after her family?"
"Her family?" I laughed. Bitter. Harsh. "Her family treated her like garbage. Her mother sold her body. Her sisters made her life hell. And Cain? Cain destroyed innocent lives for profit. He’s not family. He’s a criminal."
"But if Aria finds out—"
"If Aria finds out, she’ll understand." I stood up. Walked to the window. The city spread out below me, glittering with a thousand lights. "I’m not doing this to hurt her. I’m doing this because it’s right."
Damon was quiet for a moment.
"You’re doing this for her," he said finally. "Aren’t you?"
I didn’t answer.
"Kael." His voice softened. "It’s been three months. She’s not coming back."
"She will."
"How do you know?"
"Because she’s my mate." I turned to face him. "Fenrir recognized her. The Moon Goddess chose her. That doesn’t just go away."
He gestured around the office. "She doesn’t know you’re Alpha now. She doesn’t know you took down the Nightfangs. She doesn’t know you’re cleaning up the pack."
"Then I’ll make sure she finds out."
"How? You don’t even know where she is!"
The words hit harder than they should have.
Because he was right.
"Just get the team ready," I said quietly. "I want Cain in custody by tomorrow night."
Damon sighed. But he nodded.
"Yes, Alpha."
He left.
And I was alone again.
---
The mansion was too quiet.
I wandered through the empty halls. Past rooms I’d avoided my entire childhood. Past memories I’d tried so hard to forget.
My father’s shadow still lingered here. In the cold stone walls. In the heavy tapestries. In the faint smell of blood that no amount of cleaning could fully erase.
I should renovate. Tear it all down. Build something new.
But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not yet.
Not until she was here to help me decide.
I ended up in my bedroom. The same room I’d had since I was a child. The same bed where I’d lain awake so many nights, listening to my mother’s screams from down the hall.
Different now.
Everything was different now.
I sat on the edge of the bed. Pulled out my phone.
The screen lit up.
Her face stared back at me.
Aria.
That photo I’d taken so long ago. The morning after we’d been together. She was sleeping. Her silver-grey hair spread across the pillow like moonlight. Her lips slightly parted. Her face peaceful in a way I’d never seen when she was awake.
Beautiful.
So goddamn beautiful.
My thumb traced the edge of her face on the screen. Gentle. Careful.
Like I could somehow reach through time and space and touch her.
"Where are you?" The words came out as a whisper. "What happened to you?"
No answer.
There was never an answer.
I thought about that night. The night I’d finally admitted to myself what she meant to me. The night I’d gone to her building, hoping to tell her the truth.
But she was already gone.
Her room was empty. Her clothes were gone. Her scent had faded to nothing.
And I’d been too late.
Always too late.
"I’m sorry," I told the photo. My voice cracked. "I’m so fucking sorry."
The image didn’t respond.
Of course it didn’t.
But I kept talking anyway.
"I’m trying to make it right. Everything I’m doing—it’s for you. Taking down the Nightfangs. Cleaning up the pack. Going after Cain."
I paused. Swallowed hard.
"I know you hated what your family represented. Hated being associated with their crimes. So I’m erasing it. All of it. Every stain. Every mark. Every reason anyone could ever look down on you."
Tears burned in my eyes. I blinked them back.
"When you come back—and you will come back—no one will ever call you Shadow Moon trash again. No one will ever use your blood against you. I’ll make sure of it."
I pressed my lips to the screen. Right over her image.
Pathetic. I knew it was pathetic.
But I didn’t care.
"Just come home," I whispered. "Please. Just come home to me."