A Warrior Luna's Awakening (Freya and Caelum) novel Chapter 281

The verdict landed like a wolf’s fang tearing into flesh. Eleanor and Giselle were sentenced to three years in prison. I could see the disbelief and terror twist their faces, the same faces that had once looked down on me as though I were nothing.

Eleanor’s shrill cries filled the courtroom. “Freya… Freya, please, we can negotiate! You can name any condition, and Caelum will fulfill it! I… I cannot go to prison at my age!” Her words were desperate, clinging to me like a drowning wolf to a ledge.

Giselle’s voice trembled as she babbled, “Yes, Freya! Please forgive me! It was Aurora who pushed us! We… we would never have dared to do such things without her!”

Eleanor turned on Aurora even as tears streamed down her face, hatred and fear battling for dominance. “That woman… Aurora is despicable!”

I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. The irony was exquisite. Once, they had fawned over Aurora, so eager that Caelum might marry her immediately, practically begging for it. Now, they spat venom at the same woman. Life had a cruel, satisfying sense of humor.

“I will not negotiate with you,” I said coldly, my voice slicing through the courtroom air like frost over a still lake.

Their reactions were immediate. Eleanor’s hands fluttered helplessly. Giselle’s jaw tightened, disbelief etched across her face. Eleanor shouted again, her voice trembling with a false hope

that I would relent.

“Freya, don’t you love my son? If you agree to negotiate, I will have Caelum reconcile with you! He is my son, he will obey me! Just… please!”

“Mom, enough!” Caelum’s voice cracked, sharp as iron. He had long ago begged me to reconcile with him, and now his mother’s words only made him uncomfortable, a humiliation he could not hide.

I met Caelum’s gaze for a split second, letting him feel the chill of my resolve. “The one I love is Silas,” I said plainly, my hand reaching for his tie. My fingers curled around the silk, pulling

him closer.

Silas obeyed instinctively, tilting his head to press his lips to mine, one hand steadying my waist, the other lifting my chin to deepen the kiss. Heat flared through me, an instinctive wolffire, and I felt the world around us blur into insignificance.

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Chapter 281

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Eleanor and Giselle froze, eyes wide, mouths agape, as if they had been struck by the bite of some unseen predator.

Silas pulled back slightly, his gaze sharpening, now fixed on them with an alpha’s chilling authority. “I will not tolerate anyone speaking of my mate loving another,” he said, his voice low but carrying the weight of command. “Unless… that person wants to spend a lifetime behind bars.”

The threat was unmistakable, directed not only at Eleanor and Giselle but at anyone else still present, anyone who dared imagine interfering in our bond. Their faces blanched, the fear in their eyes plain to see.

Giselle’s lips parted in indignation. “But Freya… she’s only been married once before! How could she possibly be worthy of the Alpha of Whitmore? She’s just the woman my brother discarded!”

Silas’s eyes narrowed, icy daggers aimed straight at her. If we weren’t in a courtroom, surrounded by witnesses and law, I could feel his wolf trembling, a predator ready to strike. Giselle might have been foolish enough to provoke him here in theory, but the reality would have cost her dearly.

“You still cannot claim her,” Silas said, voice like iron tempered with warning.

Before any of them could recover from their shock, the courtroom officers stepped forward, escorting Eleanor and Giselle away. No protest could halt them. No pleading could change the verdict.

I took Silas’s hand and felt the warmth of his fingers intertwining with mine, the steady heartbeat beneath his chest like a drum of reassurance. Together, we left the courtroom, our path certain, unshakable.

Caelum lingered behind, awkward and humiliated, absorbing the curious stares and whispered murmurs of those around him. Silas’s words still echoed in his ears–the truth he could not change, the woman he once thought his, now bonded to another.

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I leaned against his shoulder, letting the hum of the engine and the steady beat of his heart fill the space between us. “Yes… it’s not too late,” I whispered.

But even as we spoke, a subtle tension prickled at the edges of my mind. My WolfComm chimed, drawing my attention. I opened the message with a slow, apprehensive motion, my heartbeat accelerating.

Silas noticed immediately. “What is it? What happened?”

I shook my head, keeping my voice steady despite the cold edge of worry in my chest. “I can’t say yet. When the time comes, I’ll tell you everything.”

He gave me a quick, understanding nod, eyes narrowing with instinctual protectiveness. “Then I’ll wait.”

He drove me back to my apartment before heading to the Ironclad Coalition headquarters for business matters. I watched the taillights fade from view, and only then dared to fully open the

email.

The words on the screen were succinct, cold, and demanding:

“Three days. One hundred million. I can give you information about your brother. Do not tell

anyone, not even Silas.”

I swallowed hard, the weight of the demand sinking into my bones. Three days. One hundred million. And a threat to silence, binding me in shadows. My brother… Eric. My pack… everything seemed to converge into this moment, a dangerous game played under the veil of

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10:41 Wed, Sep 24

Chapter 281