Chapter 75: The Scent That Wasn't Rowan's

I woke with another man's scent on my skin.

My wolf went wild.

Not desire.

Alarm.

I sat up instantly.

Rowan was beside me.

He smelled normal.

Cedarwood.

Citrus.

Home.

But beneath it, on my wrist, was something unfamiliar.

Dark pine.

Smoke.

Alpha.

Rowan woke.

His eyes flashed.

"What is that?"

"I don't know."

He grabbed my wrist, then stopped himself before touching.

"Can I?"

"Yes."

He smelled it.

His wolf surged so violently the room pressure changed.

"Someone touched you."

"I would've noticed."

The scent sat directly over my bond mark.

That was impossible.

We called Evelyn and Rhea.

Tests showed a chemical compound.

Synthetic scent.

Someone had applied it while I slept.

Security locked Lunaris down.

No forced entry.

No alarm.

No missing guards.

I felt violated in a way I hadn't since Moon Crown.

Someone had entered my room.

Touched my bond mark.

Left another Alpha scent.

Why?

Rowan blamed himself.

I stopped that immediately.

"This is my territory."

"And I'm Supreme Alpha."

"Neither title makes us omniscient."

Rhea examined the residue.

"It's designed to imitate mate resonance."

My stomach dropped.

Moon Crown technology?

"No."

She shook her head.

"Cruder."

Commercial scent compounds mixed with hormone markers.

Someone wanted Rowan to believe another Alpha had touched me intimately.

Jealousy trap.

Again.

Except this time, physical.

Rowan looked furious.

Not at me.

That distinction mattered.

"Who had access?"

Very few people.

Family.

Senior guards.

Household staff.

Knox, temporarily working in Lunaris administration, had visited the Alpha residence the previous evening for a budget meeting.

Of course his name surfaced.

Security logs showed he left at nine.

The compound appeared between midnight and two.

Knox's guest credential had been used at 1:17 a.m.

Rowan went silent.

I knew that silence.

"Don't."

"I didn't say anything."

"Your face."

"Innocent."

"Not remotely."

Knox was brought in.

He looked genuinely shocked.

"You think I snuck into Nessa's bedroom?"

"The credential says—" Cassian began.

"I was asleep in the staff residence."

Cameras confirmed it.

Someone cloned his credential.

Again, a setup designed around the easiest emotional story.

Ex-boyfriend.

Mate jealousy.

Public scandal.

I was getting tired of villains with no creativity.

Rhea traced the scent compound to a small laboratory.

The buyer used a fake identity.

But the payment card belonged to someone we knew.

Elias Thorn.

Rhea went pale.

Cassian's expression became dangerous.

"Where is he?"

"Stop," Rhea said.

"He bought it."

"We don't know why."

Cassian stared at her.

For one second, I saw how easily fear could turn into certainty.

Then he breathed.

"Fine."

Growth.

Elias came voluntarily.

He admitted purchasing the compound.

"For research."

Rhea's eyes narrowed.

"Without telling me?"

"It was for Ashbourne's old compatibility devices."

He had been investigating whether synthetic resonance could explain Eli's shifting trauma.

The compound was stored at the Seraphina Center.

Someone stole a sample.

So the chain continued.

Knox's credential.

Elias's purchase.

My room.

Someone wanted conflict between Rowan, Knox, Cassian, Elias, Lunaris, and Ashbourne.

Familiar strategy.

But Malcolm Reed was imprisoned.

Helena March was imprisoned.

Who was left?

Rhea checked center access.

One researcher had entered the compound storage.

Dr. Felix Grant.

He had joined two months earlier.

Excellent credentials.

No known political affiliations.

And he was gone.

His apartment was empty.

His computer wiped.

But he left one thing behind.

A photograph.

Me at seventeen.

Two hundred pounds.

On the back:

THE ORIGINAL SUBJECT.

My hands went cold.

Rowan read it.

"What does that mean?"

I didn't know.

Rhea did.

Her face had lost all color.

"Nessa."

"What?"

"Your weight-loss medical records."

"What about them?"

"They were accessed during Moon Crown."

"By Helena?"

"No."

She looked at the photograph.

"By someone else."

Felix Grant hadn't joined the Seraphina Center randomly.

He had been looking for me.

And whatever he wanted had started before Rowan.

Before Lunaris.

Before I knew anything about bloodlines.

Back when I was simply a lonely girl trying desperately to become thin enough to be loved.

For several nights after the intrusion, sleep came badly. Rowan never told me I was overreacting. Security added safeguards, but more importantly, I chose them with Cassian rather than having protection imposed around me. New locks. Internal scent sensors. A private alarm controlled from my room. The difference between protection and confinement could be surprisingly small if the protected person had no say. Once I helped design the system, the bedroom felt like mine again instead of a crime scene.

Later, I wrote the day's lesson in my private Alpha journal. I kept the uncertain parts instead of polishing them away. I wanted future me to remember that good decisions rarely arrived with perfect confidence, and that becoming stronger had never meant becoming incapable of fear. It meant learning what I would do while fear was present.

Later, I wrote the day's lesson in my private Alpha journal. I kept the uncertain parts instead of polishing them away. I wanted future me to remember that good decisions rarely arrived with perfect confidence, and that becoming stronger had never meant becoming incapable of fear. It meant learning what I would do while fear was present.