Chapter 277
ALEXANDER
I stepped into the office just as Cole was ending a call.
The door closed softly behind me, but he still sensed my presence immediately–he always did. He sat at
the small conference table near the window, his shoulders slightly hunched, his tablet balanced in one
hand while the other lowered his phone. His expression was tight, focused in a way that told me this
wasn’t routine business.
“Good morning, Alpha,” he said, slipping the phone into his pocket.
Okay, when he sounds that formal, it’s definitely serious.
“Morning,” I replied, my gaze lingering on him a moment longer than usual. “What’s going on?”
Cole didn’t waste time. He turned the tablet toward me, the screen lighting up.
“Alpha… Patrick is dead,” he said.
The words landed with a dull thud–not because I didn’t understand them, but because I already knew.
Still, hearing them spoken aloud, here, in this space where decisions turned into consequences, made
them real in a way last night hadn’t fully managed.
I walked closer, my eyes dropping to the screen.
Patrick’s face stared back at me from the headline. Clean–cut. Polished. The picture chosen carefully-
corporate, respectable. Not the man I knew. Not the alpha who had crossed borders he had no business
crossing.
The article referred to him as a businessman. Sources said he was found dead. Not yet verified.
Cole watched me closely as I read.
“I just got off the phone with one of my contacts in North Ridge,” he continued. “I thought it might be a
rumor at first. You know how it is when a top businessman goes quiet–people start talking. But he
confirmed it.”
I straightened slowly.
“It’s true,” Cole said. “Patrick was found dead in his mother’s house. Early this morning. And from what they’re saying…” He paused, choosing his words carefully. “It looks like poison. He was in a bad state when
they found him.”
Poison.
The word echoed in my head, colliding with the memory of Faye’s voice the night before–steady, unapologetic. I felt that same strange sensation again, the one I hadn’t been able to name then. Amusement, yes. Worry too. A quiet disbelief tangled with reluctant awe.
* Chapter 277
So it was true.
She hadn’t exaggerated. She hadn’t misspoken. Faye had killed an alpha and walked back into the house
like she’d just run an errand.
I said nothing.
Cole’s brows knit together slightly. He tilted his head, studying me now with more intent than before.
“You’re not surprised,” he said slowly.
I shrugged, a small movement. “Should I be? This is Patrick… he probably has more enemies than I do.”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.
“You two fought when you went to get the Luna, didn’t you?” he asked.
There it was.
I let out a short breath that might have been a laugh if it hadn’t been so restrained. “What?” I said, arching
a brow. “You think I poisoned Patrick?”
Cole blinked, then actually paused to think about it. I watched the realization dawn on his face as he
shook his head.
“No,” he said. “No, that’s not your style.”
A corner of my mouth lifted despite myself. He knew me too well.
I walked past him and took the chair opposite, lowering myself into it. I rested my forearms on the desk, fingers loosely interlaced.
Cole turned the tablet back to himself, scrolling briefly before setting it down.
“Still,” he went on, “it’s almost poetic, don’t you think?”
I glanced up at him.
“Nemesis is real,” he said with a smirk. “All those years Patrick spent dodging consequences, pulling strings, thinking himself untouchable… stabbing with a poisoned dagger, and then he ended up dead. Poison. Possibly silver–related, from what I’m hearing.”
He chuckled under his breath, clearly entertained by the irony of it all.
I watched him carefully, my expression neutral even as my thoughts churned.
Cole was still talking, clearly energized by the implications.
“If this had been you,” he continued, “it would’ve been war. North Ridge wouldn’t have hesitated to make it one. But this?” He snapped his fingers. “This keeps the chaos away from us.”
I nodded once. “Yeah.”
It was all I said.
Chapter 277
+25 Paints
Because how could I explain to him that the nemesis he was so amused by wasn’t some abstract force of
balance or fate?
It was my innocent Luna.
Cole shook his head slowly, the smirk fading as practicality settled back into his features. He leaned against the edge of the desk, arms crossing over his chest.
“So,” he said, “do we do anything about it? Officially, I mean. Patrick may be dead, but North Ridge is still standing. Do we send condolences? Or do we pretend this has nothing to do with us?”
I exhaled through my nose, staring at the tablet still glowing faintly on the desk. Patrick’s face stared back at me–confident, arrogant, frozen in time. Dead.
“It’s a lose–lose either way,” I said finally.
Cole raised a brow. “Explain.”
“If we don’t reach out,” I said, “it paints Blood Crescent as petty. Like we’re celebrating his death because of what happened between us. That kind of silence gets twisted into disrespect, and everyone will
remember it.”
“And if we do?” Cole asked.
I turned to face him fully. “Then it looks fake. Or worse–strategic. The alliance is broken, tensions are already high, and suddenly we’re offering condolences? They’ll read it as some kind of mockery.”
Cole hummed thoughtfully. “Politics,” he muttered.
“Unfortunately,” I agreed.
Every instinct in me wanted distance–wanted nothing tying us to Patrick ever again. But instinct didn’t run packs. Perception did.
“Still,” I continued, “not acknowledging it at all would be a mistake. One that could cost us later.”
Cole nodded slowly. “So what are you thinking?”
“We don’t send words,” I said. “We send presence.”
He looked at me sharply. “A representative.”
“Yes.”
Not me. That would reopen wounds that hadn’t even scabbed yet. And it would invite questions I had no
intention of answering.
“A formal condolence visit,” I went on. “Brief, respectful, no speeches, no statements. Just acknowledgment.”
Cole considered it, then nodded. “That strikes the balance.”
“It has to,” I said quietly.
< Chapter 277
Because this wasn’t about Patrick anymore. It was about what came next. About keeping Blood Crescent from becoming the villain in someone else’s version of the story.
Cole straightened. “I’ll make the arrangements.”
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