Augustin’s POV
I buttoned my pants, watching Berry, her cheeks still flushed and hair slightly disheveled. The spontaneous encounter in my office had cleared my mind, burning away the fog of stress that had been clouding my thoughts. For the first time in days, I could breathe again.
These past three days had been nothing but endless meetings, reports of betrayal, and the mounting pressure of coordinating a multi–territory operation. Berry, Scarlett, and Freya had been conducting brutal interrogations while I strategized with Matthew and Kieran, planning simultaneous arrests across all regions. We’d barely had time to sleep, let alone be together properly.
This office encounter had been exactly what I needed. It reminded me there was more to life than constantly fighting shadows. Fenris rumbled with satisfaction.
She grounds us, he thought, and I couldn’t disagree.
I had been drowning, pulled under by the weight of responsibility. Berry had thrown me a lifeline just when I needed it
most.
If someone had told me a month ago that I’d be working alongside Matthew Harrington and Kieran Halloway, I would have laughed in their face. Matthew, the man who had been mated to my Berry, who had shattered her heart. And Kieran, the man who killed my father and attacked my territories, who had tried to claim Berry as his fated mate.
Yet here we were, forced to cooperate for survival. The fucking irony.
Right now, Kieran was in my sitting room, drinking my whiskey and helping plan a coordinated attack as if he hadn’t been responsible for my father’s death. As if he hadn’t tried to take Berry from me.
Sometimes I took life too seriously. The future made fools of us all.
My thoughts drifted back to the earlier meeting. We were planning a large–scale arrest operation.
“The arrests need to happen simultaneously,” I said, “We can’t afford to let a single person on that list escape.”
Kieran nodded. “My men are in position across Fireland. We’ve identified all targets.
“Same in Forestvale,” Matthew added. “Though it took some convincing to get Quinn and Maddox on board.”
I understood their reluctance. This operation would be messy and complicated. We were essentially declaring war on our own people, accusing them of treason without trial. But the evidence was overwhelming, and we couldn’t risk tipping them
off.
“The list of names is… surprising,” I admitted, looking down at the
paper in my
hand.
The most painful were those from the Elder Council. Men I had grown up respecting, individuals who had advise y father and supposedly served me. Finding their names among the conspirators had been a knife to the gut.
“Helena plotting with someone to kill her own brother,” I said, shaking my head. My mother was right to kill her. That woman had no loyalty. She was like a rabid dog, if you don’t chain them up, they’ll bite.
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Kieran raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Helena might be dead, but the damage she had done lived on. We were still untangling the web of lies she had woven.
My thoughts turned to Chris, my half–brother. Another victim of Helena’s manipulations. She had fed him lies, painting nic as a monster who wanted bim dead. She told him my mother had ordered his assassination because my father had wanted to make Chris the lord instead of me.
Helena had sent Chris money to keep him away, convincing him I would kill him if I found him.
We had been trying to recruit Chris, thinking he might be the “Sovereign“. It wasn’t until we received information that we realized Chris was just another pawn in Helena’s game.
The tension in the room was palpable. I was trying to hide it, but my nerves were frayed. What we were planning was essentially a coup against the Elder Council. We would be violating the rights of everyone on that list, playing the villain for the greater good.
But what if we were wrong? What if we had been misled, and this was exactly what our enemies wanted? A trap designed to turn the people against me?
I had prayed to the Moon Goddess last night, something I rarely did with such fervor. I prayed for all those I loved, for the innocent who might be caught in the crossfire. I prayed that we would succeed with minimal bloodshed.
I didn’t want war. I had seen what war did, had fought for peace my entire life. I didn’t want to fight again, especially not
on this scale.
But if we didn’t move quickly, the enemy would continue recruiting. Once they had enough strength, they would attack. We
needed to strike first.
Just then, Berry linked me. She’d finished part of her interrogation. After talking to her for a bit, I decided to stop the meeting and take a break.
I addressed the group. “We’ve been at this for two days straight. Take a break, get some rest.”
As I walked out, anger bubbled up inside me. This shouldn’t be happening. Berry, Scarlett, and Freya should be resting, planning our wedding that was supposed to take place in just over two weeks. Instead, they were planning arrests and conducting interrogations.
I prayed that the arrests would buy us enough time. That we could still have our wedding, mark our mates, and live the life we deserved. I wanted the “Sovereign” caught, but if that wasn’t possible, I hoped he would at least go into hiding and leave us the fuck alone.
When I reached my office, I unbuttoned my shirt, feeling Fenris stir with anticipation. He had been craving Berry’s touch all day.
She entered moments later, her eyes darkening at the sight of my partially unbuttoned shirt. She locked the door behind her and moved toward me, her hips swaying.
What followed was passionate and exactly what we both needed. The feel of her body against mine, the sound of the way she said my name, it all served to center me, to remind me what I was fighting for.
ries,
Afterward, as we both straightened our clothing, I felt calm for the first time in days. Berry’s presence had that effect on me. She was my anchor in the storm.
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Then Berry suggested that I go with her to meet Chris’s family,
She was right, of course. It wouldn’t be appropriate for Berry to receive Chris, especially after all the lies Helena had fed
him.
I nodded, buttoning my shirt. “Let’s go, then.”
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