Third Person
The call came just after sunset, as the last rays of light filtered through the etched glass windows of the sitting room. Hannah Blackwood didn’t bother to greet the voice on the other end. She simply said, “It’s time.”
Her fingers traced the rim of her crystal glass as the reporter–someone she had known since her sorority days–responded with a pleased hum. “You’re sure this will stick?”
“Oh, it will spread like wildfire,” Hannah said smoothly. “People have always wondered how a dormant, discarded daughter like Emily ended up in Titanfang’s arms. All I’ve done is… offer a reason that explains it.”
“Anonymous sources,” the reporter confirmed. “From within her former Pack?”
“Within and close to the Titanfang estate,” Hannah said, smiling intly as she swirled her drink. “It doesn’t have to be true. It only has to seem true.”
The keyboard clicked in the background, followed by the faint hum of a headline being workshopped.
Hannah could imagine it already: Contracted for Power: Inside the Loveless Alliance of Titanfang’s Alpha and the Dormant She- Wolf. Or something equally vicious.
She leaned back in her chair, satisfied. Chloe had gone quiet at home. She was “rebuilding” as she called it; her latest term for wheedling her way back into social favor.
But Hannah knew better than to let he daughter’s quiet lull her into complacency. Emily’s continued presence at Logan’s side- despite Chloe’s sabotage, despite Michael’s betrayal–meant the little brat wasn’t breaking. Yet.
That wouldn’t do. It also wouldn’t do having her only daughter mate with that washed up old windbag of an Alpha. She wanted powerful grandchildren, after all.
“This won’t just damage Emily,” the reporter mused. “It’ll make Logan look manipulative. Like he took a broken thing and
turned used her.”
“Exactly,” Hannah said, her tone as smooth as silk. “The truth doesn’t matter. The appearance will eat them alive. They’ve been parading her around like a proper Luna–this will remind everyone she’s a placeholder for Chloe. And a pitiful one, at
that.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line, then: “Would you like to be quoted directly?”
Hannah let out a sharp laugh. “No, darling. I’m not the villain in this story. Just a concerned Pack member offering context. Let the other wolves tear her apart–I’ll remain the worried, caring mother.”
She hung up before hearing the reporter’s reply. The glass in her hand caught the dying sunlight, casting colorful prisms across the wallpaper.
She set it down carefully on the table beside her and rose to her feet.
Across the room, a single framed photo sat untouched on the table. It was Emily as a child, reaching for her father’s hand. Hannah had always hated that photo.
She saw so much deference in Emily’s eyes. So much need for attention and affection.
Hannah picked it up and studied it.
“How was she lasted this long without breaking,” she murmured.
Emily might still be standing, but Hannah would remind the world what she really was. A dormant wolf. A contract bride. A liability to the Packs.
And then, when the cracks widened enough, she and Chloe would step into the light–perfectly poised, perfectly placed–and
1/2
sweep up the pieces.
Let the girl burn.
Emily
The headline with my face and was everywhere in the early morning. I was front page news and being blasted on social media.
I wasn’t the first to see it. One of the lower aides had the decency to try and hide it—she folded the tabloid backwards on the counter beside the coffee urn in the break room, as if I wouldn’t recognize my picture from three feet away.
‘As if I hadn’t been trained my entire life to sense when people were talking about me behind my back… or trying to be discreet and do it in front of me.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I picked it up anyway.
“Contracted to Climb: Dormant Blackwood Daughter Marriage Deal Exposed!”
There was no byline. Just anonymous sources from my Pack. Carefully placed. Perfectly timed.
I could practically hear Hannah’s voice behind the accusation, pretending to be above it all while feeding the press her poison.
