The moon hung high in the midnight sky as Lachlan dragged me up the steps of the main house.

"What in the Goddesses were you thinking going outside the West Wood?" he demanded.

I trailed behind him, grappling with what to say. The truth was out of the question. I couldn't tell Lachlan about the medallion without exposing Amber.

If Sebastian's security team caught Devon with the medallion, he was sure to drag Amber down with him. He would reveal the truth about Amber's betrayal.

The pack would never forgive Amber—and I feared what Sebastian might do to her.

A crime this serious would demand an appropriately harsh punishment.

The colour drained from my face as I imagined my sister on her knees before Sebastian and the other elders of the pack as they sentenced her to death for the crime of betrayal.

I had to get the medallion back from Devon, then find some way to sneak it back into the sacred cave.

We reached the grand front doors of the main house, guarded by two security guards.

As Lachlan approached, one of the guards eagerly stepped forward, greeting Lachlan with a respectful bow of the head.

"Beta," they said, "I must inform you that Miss Claudia has returned home."

The news caught Lachlan off guard. He stopped in his tracks and asked, "Has the alpha been briefed?"

The security guard nodded.

"Claudia has been brought to the alpha, as per your orders."

Lachlan nodded his head and replied, "Good. I will make my way to his office immediately."

Passing the guards, Lachlan muttered under his breath, "Shit."

His reaction left me perplexed. Hadn't Sebastian been desperate to find his sister? Shouldn't he be delighted that she had finally returned home?

The pieces of the puzzle didn't quite fit together until we arrived at Sebastian's office corridor.

The passageway echoed with the raised voices as Sebastian and Claudia exchanged words.

"You were instructed to stay away from the old sawmill," Sebastian said with a frosty calm.

"I was worried about Sammi," Claudia snapped, her tone tinged with anger.

"Then why didn't you call me or Lachlan? You were explicitly told to avoid the sawmill and stay within pack territory," Sebastian said.

Claudia struggled to find an answer.

Like me, she found herself tangled in a mess of lies, trying to shield someone she cares about from the alpha's scrutiny.

Eventually, Claudia sighed, "I thought I might be able to talk some sense into Sammi. I didn't want her to get in trouble."

It was unlikely that Sammi would be any kind of real trouble. Being young and naive, she would receive more forgiveness compared to someone like Amber, who was much older and should know better than to mess about with rogues.

"It's not your job to protect Sammi from her poor judgement," Sebastian snapped. "You should have called security, Claudia."

"I'm not a rat," she replied.

"No, but you are the alpha's sister. You should have been here, supporting Mom and me with Amber's wedding," he said.

Claudia let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. "You know how I feel about weddings."

"This isn't about you, Claudia. It's about fulfilling your obligations as the alpha's sister. You have duties to your pack. Do you realise how it makes me look as an alpha when my own sister openly defies me?" He replied.

"Defy you? This was never about you, Sebastian." Claudia yelled in frustration. "I told you that I loathed the parties, the suffocating dresses, and the attention that being the alpha's sister brought. I can't breathe, Sebastian. I couldn't go through with it."

I could feel the pain in her voice as she told her brother the truth. She was a true Artemedian wolf, savage and wild. She wanted to run free and not be stifled by boring pack politics.

Sebastian showed her little sympathy.

"It was just one party, Claudia. All you had to do was show up for a couple of hours to represent your family. For this little stunt, you're confined to the main house for the next week," he said.

Claudia charged out of Sebastian's office and into the corridor.

"Fine, ground me. We both know I'll find a way to slip past security," she said, storming past us.

Sebastian emerged from his office, hot on his sister's heels.

He glowered at his sister's retreating back and yelled, "Do you know how many girls get kidnapped and assaulted by rogues?"

Claudia responded by raising her hand and flipping her brother the middle finger.

Sebastian's eyes hardened at this act of teenage defiance, and his top lip curled upward revealing a glimpse of white teeth.

He flicked his gaze across to Lachlan and growled, "Follow her. Make sure she doesn't leave."

Lachlan heaved a sigh and trailed after Claudia, leaving me alone with a very angry alpha.

I lowered my eyes to the floor and kept my mouth shut. Despite his outward gentleman-like demeanour, Sebastian was an Artemedian alpha. He demanded loyalty and respect from those who followed him, especially from his mate.

He reached out and caught my chin, forcing my chin up to meet his cold stare.

"Care to explain what you were doing at the sawmill, after I explicitly told you not to go near there?" He asked softly.

His voice was unnervingly calm.

Artemedian wolves were typically known for their fiery tempers, but Sebastian was different.

While most wolves of his kind burned hot, he blew cold, keeping his anger carefully in check behind an ice-cold facade of control.

I mirrored his composure, ignoring the gut-churning sensations in the pit of my stomach.

"I was investigating," I said calmly.

Sebastian's jaw muscle twitched.

"Investigating?" he echoed incredulously.

"Yes," I replied.

Behind his icy exterior, I could feel his exasperation and frustration simmering beneath the surface.

He knew I was withholding the truth from him, but couldn't work out why.

Switching up tactics, he tried a softer approach.

"Let's go into my office, I can fix you a drink," he said, leading me into his office and closing the door softly behind him.

He pulled a chair in front of his desk and indicated for me to sit down. Silently, I crossed the room and lowered myself into the chair, while he poured us two whiskeys.

"Lachlan said he discovered you spying on the rogues with a rock in your hand. Were you planning on taking on the entire pack by yourself?" He enquired, handing me a glass tumbler.

I took the glass with both hands and took a sip of the amber liquid. I wrinkled my nose at the unpleasant taste causing Sebastian to smile.

My heart fluttered, seeing the warmth return to his face.

Leaning down, he gently wrapped his fingers around my glass, taking it from my hand and placing it on the desk.

"Whiskey is not for everyone's taste," he said, before knocking his own glass back with a single swallow.

Settling behind the desk, he leaned back into his office chair. He was trying to ease the tension between us, but I still felt like a tightly wound coil inside. Yes, he was my mate, and he was going easy on me, but he was also alpha with the power to execute my sister.

I couldn't let my guard down around him.

"So, you were investigating the rogues," Sebastian said, picking up from where we left off. "Would you like to explain why?"

My father once told me, if I had to lie, then try to stick to the truth as much as possible as it makes the lie easier to manage. I couldn't tell Sebastian about my plan to steal the medallion, but I could tell him about the Death Shade I saw.

"Do you know what a 'Death Shade' is?" I asked.

Sebastian responded by pulling open the drawer of his desk and retrieving a large file.

With a heavy thud, he dropped it onto the desk. It had my name on it and a large red sticker that said 'EXILED'.

"My father kept files on every wolf in the pack, including you," he said, opening the file and reading from the first page. "Mabel Mason, aged six, started exhibiting premature abilities that deviate from typical wolf characteristics. Mabel has reported to her parents on several occasions that she can see 'Death Shades'—a type of ghostly apparition that only appears when a person's death is imminent. The source of these abilities are yet to be determined."

He returned the page back into the file and stared up at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

And so began the deviation from the deviation from the truth.

"Before I went to bed, I saw a girl sneaking out towards the West Wood—and for a brief moment, I thought I saw a Death Shade," I explained, placing careful emphasis on the word "thought."

"You saw a Death Shade, here, on the pack land?" He said, leaning forward.

"Yes," I replied, ignoring the terrible guilt gnawing at my insides.

Sebastian's face darkened with worry.

"Was the girl Claudia or Sammi?" He asked.

"It was Sammi," I replied.

Some of the tension in Sebastian's face dissipated, relieved that the Death Shade hadn't been tailing his sister. He leaned back in his chair and pulled his phone from his pocket.

"I'll order tighter security around Sammi, just in case your Death Shade makes another appearance—although, I still don't understand why you didn't contact me or security? Do you realise the danger you put yourself in?" he asked.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

"I don't like talking about Death Shades to others—it freaks people out," I replied honestly. "I thought if I mentioned it, the pack would grab their pitchforks and chase me off their land, again."

Sebastian's eyes darkened.

"I would never allow that to happen to my mate," he said sharply, sending an unexpected thrill down my spine. "Next time you have a concern, you need to call me. Okay?"

Heat prickled across my cheeks and I nodded.

Sebastian flicked the EXILED sticker into the waste paper basket, and braced his arms on his desk.

"You got lucky tonight. Lachlan caught your scent on his midnight run. If he hadn't been there, I don't know what kind of trouble you might have gotten yourself into," he said.

"Me and my rock could have handled the rogues," I said confidently.

The corner of Sebastian's mouth twitched upward in amusement.

"Did my father's report miss a hidden talent when it comes to throwing rocks," he enquired, tapping his knuckles against my file.

"I've learnt a few things since leaving the pack," I said, remembering those early months when I'd had to live on the streets.

"Including causing grievous bodily harm with a single pebble?" He asked.

"Rocks, keys, aerosols, lighters. When I slept in a bus station restroom, I had a whole makeshift arsenal to protect me from the creeps on the streets," I smirked.

The humour instantly drained from Sebastian's face.

"You used to sleep in a bus station restroom?" he asked.

I saw the mortification in his eyes and realised I'd said too much.

Thankfully, at that moment, Lachlan knocked and opened the office door, preventing that conversation from developing any further.

Leaning his head through the door, his eyes darted between me and Sebastian as he attempted to read the room.

"Is everything okay here?" He asked nervously.

I smiled broadly and stood up.

"Everything is fine—although, I'd like to return to my bed now," I said, feigning a yawn.

"Sure, I can drive you back to the trailer," Lachlan replied helpfully and then shot a glance across to Sebastian. "Claudia has returned to her room, and I have two guards posted on her door. Am I okay to take Mabel back to her trailer?"

Sebastian hesitated for a moment. I could see he wanted to send Lachlan away and ask me about what I had just divulged, but he was tired too. Rubbing the five o'clock shadow on his chin, he relented and said, "Yeah, take Mabel back. We can finish our conversation tomorrow."

I walked towards Lachlan, my heart breathing a sigh of relief. I had kept Amber safe for another night.

"Mabel," Sebastian called after me. "In the morning, come up to the house, and we can have breakfast together. I want to learn more about your gifts. I think they could be a real asset to the pack."

"There isn't much more to tell," I replied.

"Even so, I'll make space in my diary, and we can have breakfast in my private suite," he said.

My pulse quickened with excitement, although my common sense was quick to remind me that being alone in my mate's private apartment was a bad idea.

I opened my mouth to try and come up with some excuse, but Sebastian dismissed me with a good night and see you in the morning.

I followed Lachlan out of the office, butterflies dancing in my stomach.

Lachlan bumped his shoulder playfully against mine, "I think he likes you, moonbeam."

"Yeah," I replied dryly. "I think he does."