“I’m listening.”
“Ten years ago. The blood moon hunt. I need security footage of everything-hotel corridors, elevators, lobbies. Who went where?”
Gavin was silent for a beat. “That’s…a tall order”
I clenched my jaw. “So?”
He sighed. “On it, Alpha.”
I hung up and leaned back in my seat, the back of my head pressing into the headrest. I tried to take a deep breath, but that damned boulder refused to dislodge.
I knew I couldn’t breathe properly until I uncovered the truth of what really happened ten years ago.
KIERAN’S POV
I barely remembered the ride home-just the steady rumble of the engine and the taste of guilt and unease souring in my mouth.
When I arrived, I sat in the driveway with the engine off, bathed in silence and the judgmental glow of the moon, my hands wrapped around the steering wheel as if it were the only thing keeping me grounded.
My phone rang.
Gavin.
I stared at the screen for a second, chest tight, then answered.
“Yeah?”
“You need to hear this,” Gavin said without preamble. His voice was clipped, cautious. “I pulled the server logs from the security archive of the hotel for the Blood Moon Hunt, just like you asked.”
My grip on the wheel tightened. “And?”
“There was footage,” he said. “Corridor cams, lobby, elevator-hell, even the vending machines had security cameras. But…”
“But what?”
“About three months ago, someone put in a formal request to delete specific recordings from the night of the Blood Moon Hunt.”
My grip tightened on the phone. “What? You’re telling me someone erased it?”
“They tried,” he said. “But the thing is, the system doesn’t just wipe it completely. It flags deletion attempts, and if the request isn’t fully authorized or finished…fragments get stored.”
A chill crept up my spine. “Do we know who made the request?”
“That’s the thing, Alpha. It was run through a proxy ID with Admin-level clearance. But no name. No trace.”
“Fucking hell.” I raked a hand through my hair.
“I’m still digging,” Gavin said. “But it’s clear someone had something to hide about what happened that night.”
My mind was already spinning ahead. Someone-with access and knowledge-had covered the details of that night. Or tried to.
Logic dictated there could be other reasons why the footage was deleted, but I knew deep in my bones that it had to do with what happened between Sera and me.
But why?
Who?
My pulse pounded. I needed answers.
Ashar wouldn’t give them to me.
Celeste wouldn’t give them to me.
Gavin’s research had hit a seemingly dead end.
There was only one other person I could think of. The one who’d gotten the ball rolling in the first place.
Maya.
***
I was knocking on Ethan’s door fifteen minutes later.
He answered shirtless, barefoot, and annoyed, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Kieran?”
I didn’t bother with small talk. “Is Maya here?”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “No. She’s with Sera.”
I swore. “I need her truth stone.”
His expression shifted-mild curiosity giving way to caution. “Why?”
“You know why? You heard it all, didn’t you? I need more answers.”
Ethan studied me for a long moment, his eyes slowly growing more alert. Then he sighed.
You should probably come in.”
He stepped back and let me in, closing the door behind me with another sigh. His place was quiet, the faint scent of saffron and eucalyptus lingering in the air, mixing with Ethan’s.
I followed him into the kitchen, where he poured himself a glass of water before speaking.
“Where’s Celeste?”
I clenched my teeth. “The hospital.”
His eyes widened. “What?”
I glared at the glass cup. “I tried to question her some more, and she…fainted. Apparently, the stress was too much for her weak wolf.”
“For fuck’s sake, Kieran.”
“She’s fine now,” I gritted out. “You can go see her tomorrow. I didn’t come here to be scolded, Ethan.”
Tense silence settled between us. And then, Ethan broke it.
“It wasn’t real,” he said.
I looked up. “What?”
“The truth stone,” he clarified, voice calm, deliberate. “It’s not real.”
I stared at him. “The fuck do you mean it’s not real? I saw it work.”
He took a long sip of water, then shrugged. “What you saw was Maya doing what she does best-getting into people’s heads.”
I took a step forward, fists clenched. “Don’t play games with me, Ethan. I’m not in the fucking mood.”
“I’m not,” he said evenly. “She bought that rock at some overpriced vendor stall at the flea market. She carries it around as if it’s sacred because it feels that way. People believe it.
That’s the point.”
My voice dropped. “Emma confessed.”
He nodded, a slight smirk pulling at his lips. “Because Maya’s presence alone is enough to make people crack. The stone? That’s just a prop.”
“But it glowed”
He gave a half-smile. “She painted the inside with a special powder. Heat-reactive. It lights up when a hand grips it tightly enough for the body heat to trigger it. Pretty smart, huh?”
I stared at him, feeling pressure build behind my eyes. “So everything that happened tonight was a goddamn performance?”
He leaned against the counter. “Not everything” He narrowed his eyes like he could see through me. “Ashar’s confession was real.”
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