#Chapter 94: False Alarm
(Siena POV)
“What are you doing, Raiden!” The question leaves my lips before he can speak, my wolf stirring uneasily within
“Security breach.” His voice is tight, controlled. “The perimeter sensors were triggered on the eastern boundary. I’m not leaving you alone, Siena.”
My heart lurches painfully against my ribs.
Raiden crosses the room in three long strides, his presence both comforting and overwhelming “Don’t worry he says, reaching for my hand. His skin is warm against mine, calloused from years of combat training. Tve dispatched guards to investigate.”
The walkie–talkie at his hip crackles to life. “Alpha, this is Garrison at the east perimeter.” The voice comes through with static interference. “We’ve completed a full sweep of the sector. No signs of intruders.”
Raiden’s jaw tightens as he lifts the device. “Explain.” The single word carries the weight of command.
Yes, Raiden, please, explain.
“Sir, the motion sensors were definitely triggered, but there’s no scent trail, no footprints, nothing disturbed. Could have been a deer or perhaps a malfunction in the system.”
A muscle ticks in Raiden’s cheek. “Unacceptable. Check again. Extend the perimeter by half a mile. Review all camera footage. I want a full report in an hour.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
The device goes silent, but the tension in the room thickens. Raiden turns to me, his steel–gray eyes softening just slightly.” It’s probably nothing, but I won’t take chances. Not with your safety.”
Something cold slithers down my spine, an unpleasant sensation that has nothing to do with fear of intruders. The timing is too convenient, too perfect.
“Really, Raiden? An alarm? A potential threat?” My voice emerges softer than intended, but razor–edged nonetheless.
His brow furrows. “What are you talking about?”
“This.” Gesturing toward the walkie–talkie, the words begin to pour out. “This convenient emergency that happens just when I’m planning my trip to the Northern territories tomorrow.”
“Siena-”
“No.” Stepping back, creating distance between us that feels both physical and yawning. “Every time, Raiden. Every single time I try to do something independent, there’s suddenly something that comes up. You always do this!”
The realization crystallizes, sharp and painful.
My nostrils flare, and I take in his scent more deliberately now, searching for the telltale markers of deception. Wolves can’t lie without their scent betraying them, but alphas–especially ones as powerful as Raiden–have learned to mask their chemo signals.
“You think I’m fabricating security threats?” His voice drops dangerously low, the kind of quiet that precedes a storm. The temperature in the room drops several degrees. “To manipulate you?”
“Aren’t you?” Challenging him directly, something few pack members would dare. “Are you not so confused about where we stand that now you’re trying everything you can to keep me here under your thumb? Is that not the long and short of it?
His silence is damning.
I move to my desk, my fingers trembling slightly as they pull open the bottom drawer. The folder inside feels heavy with betrayal as it’s placed between us on the polished wooden surface.
“And then there’s this.”
Raiden’s eyes flicker with recognition before his expression shutters closed.
“Care to explain why your pack has been secretly funding every I project I’ve worked on abroad? Why my ‘independent‘ charity work has your fingerprints all over it?” The words taste bitter, like ash on my tongue.
The room fills with the subtle shift in his scent–surprise, guilt, and something like righteousness.
Outside, the wind picks up, rattling the window Successfully unlocked! ves dancing in frenzied circles. The shadowy forest beyond now seems to mirror the darknes growin
“You weren’t supposed to find out.” He doesn’t deny it. Doesn’t even try.
“Obviously.” A harsh laugh escapes, unfamiliar even to my own ears. “That’s the point of manipulation, isn’t it? For the puppet not to see the strings?”
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#Chapter 94 False Alarm
Raiden moves forward, but stops when I raise a hand. The pain flashing across his features might have moved me once, but now it only fuels the fire spreading through my chest.
How does it feel?
“I never meant to manipulate you.” His voice roughens. “I wanted to protect you, support you-”
“By lying? By making me believe I was standing on my own when actually you were pulling strings behind the scenes?”
The betrayal cuts deeper than expected, each revelation another wound he’d inflicted on me in the past. “Do you have any idea what those achievements meant to me? Believing I had made a difference throgh my own efforts?”
The charity in the Southern territories–feeding wolf pups orphaned by territory wars. The medical clinic for rogues suffering from silver poisoning. The education initiative for females in traditionalist packs. All of it, tainted now by the knowledge that Raiden’s influence and money had paved the way.
“You would have succeeded without my help.” He takes another step closer, the floorboards creaking beneath his weight.” I just wanted to make things easier.”
“No.” Shaking my head, the fury inside was building to a crescendo rivalling the howling wind outside. “You wanted to control the outcome, just like you’re trying to control me now with these fabricated security threats.”
His eyes flash alpha–gold, betraying his rising emotions. “The security alert wasn’t fabricated. And my support of your projects wasn’t about control.”
“Then what was it about?” Challenging him directly, my wolf rising close to the surface, lending a dangerous edge to my voice.
“Protecting what’s mine!” The words explode from him, his alpha voice vibrating through the room, rattling the glass in the windows and sending my collection of crystals on the windowsill tinkling against each other.
For a moment, silence falls between us, heavy and oppressive like the air before a thunderstorm. The scent of our mingled anger and hurt saturates the room–his smoky and sharp like a forest fire, mine bitter and acidic.
“That’s the problem, Raiden.” My voice emerges quiet but steady. “You still think of me as something to be protected, controlled, managed. Not as your equal.”
Something that is yours.
“That’s not-” His hands clench and unclench at his sides, the powerful muscles in his forearms flexing with the motion. “Would you undermine an equal? Keep them ignorant of your interference in their life? Create phantom threats to restrict their movements?”
The walkie–talkie crackles again, making us both flinch. “Alpha, we’ve reviewed the camera footage. System confirms it was a false alarm–a large buck triggered the motion sensors. Garrison out.”
The irony isn’t lost on either of us. Raiden’s jaw tightens as he reaches for the device, switching it off without responding. “A false alarm.” The words fall like stones between us. “How convenient.”
“I didn’t know.” His denial comes quickly, almost desperately. “Siena, you have to believe me.”
But trust, once fractured, isn’t easily repaired. The soft lamp light slanting across the windows has shifted, painting long shadows across the hardwood floor. The room feels colder now, the distance between us expanding despite the limited physical space.
“The problem is, I don’t know what to believe anymore.” Moving past him toward the door, needing space, air that isn’t thick with his dominating presence. “All I know is that you’ve been manipulating my life while pretending to support my independence. You’re playing a game.”
His hand catches my wrist, gentle despite the obvious tension thrumming through him.
The contact sends the usual electric current racing through my veins–our mate bond responding even when our hearts are at odds.
“Listen to me.” His voice drops, intimate and intense. “I funded your projects because I believed in you, in what you were doing. Not to control you, but to ensure you had every resource you needed.”
My skin burns where he touches me–anger, betrayal, and beneath it all, the persistent pull of connection that refuses to be severed.
“Siena, I…I thought it was real.” His thumb traces small circles on my inner wrist, an unconscious gesture that is making my skin crawl.
“You can’t keep doing this, Raiden.” Violently ripping away from his touch despite my wolf’s protest. “I won’t live in a gilded cage, even one built with good intentions.”
“What are you saying?” A new note enters his voice–something almost like fear.
“I’m saying I need space to figure out what’s real and what’s manipulation.” Moving toward the door again, this time without
#Chapter 94 False Alarm
interruption “I’m still going to the Northern territories tomorrow. Alone.”
“Siena-
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