Page 70 of Knot in Their Wildest Dreams: Part 1

After a day of pure obsessive hacking, I still couldn't find anything, and some part of me was happy. If there was no proof she did it, then maybe I could move forward. And then, at the height of my sleepless haze, shaking from exhaustion and too many energy drinks - I found it.

I’d mimicked her IP address, tunneled into her compound’s private server, and breached the firewall. I found an unknown digital device that was expertly hidden - perhaps her real laptop? Hours of tedious work paid off when I hit the motherlode. An encrypted subfolder not linked to any of her known accounts.

Once I’d downloaded everything I could find, I scrolled through the files. What I found made me want to throw up.It was my worst fear. There was a secret email she used, one that wasn’t linked to her corporate or personal account. One where therealorders were given.

Buried beneath fake identities and coded signatures was a clear, unmistakable trail. Directives to cover up financial discrepancies. Strategic sabotage against my company. And worse - much worse, was an archived file from years ago.

Orders to cover up her crimes. Orders to sabotage my company. And when I reached back far enough in her files…Orders to end the attempted takeover at Arkala, and an order to end the lives of the people who had planned the coup.Chills took over my body, and I nearly passed out in sickness.

Here it was. The proof I’d always wanted to find, but now couldn't stand to look at. Celeste, the woman who had nearly stolen my heart, the only mate my body would accept, was a sociopath. A monster. Everything I’d suspected she’d always been, and now she was here living right under my nose.

A frantic knocking sounded on the door, and I turned, my head spinning and my stomach queasy as I got up to see who it was. Less than five people knew this room existed. Elijah was on the outside of the door, holding up paperwork and barging in.

“I've got it!” He said, holding out papers in front of me. “Proof! Proof of what she’s doing! The source delivered!” He spread the papers out in front of me, photocopied evidence of Celeste’s misdeeds, I was sure.

I took one, my tired eyes scanning it as I sat back into my leather office chair, a bitter laugh escaping my throat.

“Elijah, this is great work from you. But not necessary.” I said as he looked at me, bewildered.

“What do you mean? You can take her down now! Give it to Reginald! Out her to the press!” He practically shouted. Reginald was the board member we’d been talking with over the last few years. He was a good man, very moral and wanted what was best for Harringday. Elijah had set up a meeting between our pack and Reginald secretly, and we told him what we suspected Celeste was doing. Initially, he didn’t believe us. But he mentioned that if we could ever get solid proof, he’d obviously take care of it. By that, he meant vote her out.

With this evidence, we’d have more than enough to get Reginald to vote to remove her with the rest of the board. But that was the least of my worries now.

My scent match was a monster. And as much as I wanted her to pay for her crimes, I also inexplicably wanted to protect her.

“Elijah, I found my own evidence.” I said, tossing him a printout of the photos from the file I’d hacked into. It was a gruesome photo of the grave that all the workers who’d planned the rebellion had been thrown into. Elijah took it, his face turning pale as he realized what he was seeing.

“Is this… How did you get this?” He asked, looking sick and anxious.

“I cracked her password. I have proof it was her.” I tossed him the printouts of her secret email account giving the order to get rid of the rebellion, to make sure they would never dare to rebel again.

Elijah read it and looked at me. “What are you going to do? This… this would destroy her. This is beyond what I got. This would put her in prison.” He swallowed. “But, it’s everything you needed. All the proof, here. You could even… get rid of her, if you know what I mean, and no one would blame you.” He shrugged.

For a moment, I saw red. An irrational feeling, one purely brought on by my biological need to protect her as my scent-match.

“No!” I barked, unconsciously putting an alpha bark into my command not to hurt her. “No, I won’t do that. She will pay, but not like that.” I said, trying to keep my anger in check. I was in far too deep with her.

He looked at me. “So what now?”

“I don’t know,” I said, voice low. “I need to talk to the pack. Privately.” He nodded, quietly stepping out of the room, the door closing with a final click behind him. I stayed in the silence for a moment longer, letting the weight of it crush me. Celeste had given me a reason to hate her. And still, all I wanted to do was protect her.

I pulled out my phone, dreading the message I was about to send. The fragile happiness my pack had just started to feel - I was about to shatter it. We’d barely had time to breathe, to believe in something real, even if it was all a beautiful illusion

“Emergency Pack meeting. Meet in the clubhouse, now.”

The truth was about to break everything. And I didn’t know if we’d survive it.

Chapter 52

Celeste

I slid into my car and put on a happy, energetic song. Today would be a long day away at my home office, and I’d let the guys know I wouldn’t be back until nightfall. But I was jubilant, despite knowing that my uncle, and the board, would freak out once I told them I was making my fake relationship official.

I had only a few more meetings this week, then I was planning on taking some time off to prepare for my heat. I also needed to talk to my friends and update them on the recent developments.

I was so distracted by my good mood that I didn’t realize until too late that the car was rumbling. “What the-” I gasped, before pulling over. I got out, shaking as I looked to see what happened. There was a bit of what looked like steam coming out of the hood. “Oh great!” I grumbled, pulling out my phone to call a rideshare. Unfortunately, I was on a rural side street, and had barely any service.

I thought hard as I looked around. I wasn’t that far from the Pack’s house, so I could probably try to drive it very slowly. It looked like it might be overheated. Vigo would probably know how to fix it.

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