Chapter 139
Humphrey stepped in with a perfectly timed explanation. “It was your cousin, Emlen, who pointed the finger at you. He told the cops that you instructed him to steal trade secrets from my phone and sell them to a competitor.”
Trista froze. It felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured down her spine, chilling her to the bone.
Only one thing was clear: Cassian was officially pulling the trigger. He wasn’t letting her go.
Humphrey, usually so careful with his words, couldn’t help but add, “I called the police the second it happened, but there has to be a misunderstanding. Maybe you should just talk to Alpha Cassian and clear the air?”
“Talk to him?” Trista let out a low, humorless laugh.
She’d rather rot in a human holding cell than go back to that “cage” he called a mating.
That was where her wolf truly suffocated.
She hadn’t touched Humphrey’s phone, and she knew it.
She had a clean conscience, and she put her faith in the Alliance and the law–not in a mate who had proven he’d sacrifice her the second it suited him.
At the officer’s signal, Trista was led out of Waiting Room 2.
In the quiet hallway, a line of Ironthorn alphas and betas in sharp suits stood like sentinels. As she was escorted past, she ran straight into Ulva and Randolph.
They stood a few paces apart, eyes locked.
Trista’s eyes were bloodshot, and she’d bitten her lip until it bled. Inside her chest, her wolf’s ears were pinned back in defiance, holding back a snarl that refused to break.
She walked right past Cassian. Even when the hem of her coat brushed through his scent, she didn’t slow down for a heartbeat.
And Cassian didn’t lift a finger to stop her.
The termination hearing Trista had spent months praying for ended before it even began–with her in handcuffs.
That night, at the Ironthorn pack boundary, a black SUV was stopped at the gates.
Two older werewolves stood in the glare of the headlights, their clothes fluttering in the wind, but they didn’t budge.
Cassian climbed out, suppressing his aura out of respect.
Randolph’s eyes were shot through with red. He pointed a trembling finger at Cassian, his voice hoarse with suppressed rage. “What the hell did my daughter do to deserve you putting her in prison?”
Cassian’s expression didn’t flicker. He looked like he’d rehearsed for this exact confrontation a thousand times. “I didn’t put Trista in custody. Her cousin, Emlen, identified her as the one behind the data theft. The police are just following procedure.”
Ulva looked like she’d been hollowed out by grief. “That’s impossible. Emlen is a good, honest kid. He would never accuse Trista of a crime.”

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