Mira Stone refused to trade herself for another hostage. She and Alpha Theo Ash returned to a neutral pack clinic during the first winter storm before midnight, using the key from the ambush to enter the archive their enemy had tried to keep buried.
Inside were recordings, legal files, and a wall tracking Mira Stone's life from childhood to the previous night. Someone had planned every loss with patient precision. At the center, a line connected her to Alpha Theo Ash, then continued toward a sealed record neither of them had seen.
Alpha Theo Ash reached it first. The evidence proved the truth neither of them was ready to trust: Theo's memories were sealed by Mira's own Luna to conceal who truly started the war. It also showed why he had been tied to the conspiracy long before he met Mira Stone.
Footsteps filled the corridor. Alpha Theo Ash reached for the wolf fighting beneath his skin, but Mira Stone stopped him. Running had brought her here. This time she would make the person hunting them speak.
The archive door opened. The intruder removed a hood, and Mira Stone's breath caught. The face belonged to someone whose funeral she had attended—and the hostage video had been playing from an empty room.
“You finally found the truth,” the stranger said. “Now choose: expose it and destroy Alpha Theo Ash, or bury it and become the woman who betrays him.”
Mira Stone took Alpha Theo Ash's hand instead.
The stranger smiled and pressed a remote. Behind them, the archive began counting down from ten.