Chapter 26: Take Care of It

Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Take Care of It

Azura’s head whipped back like she’d been slapped by an invisible hand.

"You and Adrian?!"

She pressed her face so close to the door crack that her eye bulged comically, like a fish pressed against a glass tank. "Did something happen between you two last night?! I thought you two rejected each other two days ago! Did you have a secret reconciliation?! Did you exchange friendship bracelets?! Did you—"

Selena saw Azura’s face getting closer and, in a panic, tried to slam the door shut.

But Azura was faster.

With the reflexes of a woman who had survived years of dodging responsibilities, she jammed her designer handbag into the crack. The door bounced off it with a sad little thump.

"Ha!" Azura declared triumphantly. "You thought you could escape my investigative skills?! I’m basically a detective now! Sherlock Holmes in heels! Miss Marple with better hair!"

She could have pushed the door open. She could have stormed inside and inspected the room like a crime scene investigator. But one look at Selena’s pale, exhausted face—the dark circles under her eyes, the way she was barely holding herself upright—made Azura hesitate.

Selena looked like she’d been through a war. A very... intimate war.

Azura decided to stay in the doorway. She didn’t want to be responsible for giving Selena a heart attack. That would be bad for her "Reformed Villainess" reputation.

"Selena." Azura’s voice softened, just a little. "What’s really going on? I promise I won’t get mad. Remember? I’m the new Azura! The reformed one! I’ve seen the light! I’ve repented! I’ve thrown away my villainess membership card and burned it in a ceremonial bonfire!"

"And as for Adrian? We’re done. Finished. Kaput. I’ve broken up with him. Whatever problems he has are no longer my concern. He could run off and join a traveling circus for all I care. He could become a mime. I wouldn’t even blink."

Selena stared at her, disbelief written all over her exhausted face.

"Did you really break up with him, just like what you said yesterday...?"

The truth was, when Selena had woken up this morning, she’d wanted to ask Adrian the same thing. What were they now? They’d slept together. He’d marked her.

But he was gone.

Vanished.

Leaving her alone in her tiny, messy room with nothing but a sore body and more questions than answers.

Before last night, she’d been weak from the backlash of their broken bond. But after he marked her... the bond had mended. Just a little. Enough that her wolf was stronger now. Enough that she didn’t feel like she was dying anymore.

But she also knew that this mark didn’t mean Adrian was hers.

It meant everything was more complicated.

And if he ever asked her to remove the mark...

Azura tilted her head, studying Selena’s face with genuine curiosity. "Selena. I’m not lying. I really don’t care about Adrian anymore. So you can tell me the truth."

Azura’s heartfelt declaration only made Selena’s suspicion grow roots, sprout leaves, and bloom into a full garden of distrust.

Yeah, right... She’s definitely trying to manipulate me. She’s going to wait for me to admit I slept with Adrian, then she’s going to claw my eyes out and use them as earrings.

It didn’t help that her body was absolutely drenched in Adrian’s scent. After an entire night of... vigorous activity... she probably smelled like she’d been marinating in an Alpha marinade. There was no way Azura, with her superior werewolf senses, couldn’t smell it.

Except...

Selena’s nose twitched. She sniffed. Then sniffed again, like a confused puppy trying to locate a hidden treat.

Something was wrong.

She couldn’t smell Azura’s wolf.

At all.

With her own wolf growing stronger after the mark, her sense of smell should have been sharper than ever. But when she focused on Azura... there was nothing. Just the scent of a regular human.

Selena’s eyes narrowed. "Your wolf... why can’t I sense her? Or smell her?"

Azura felt like screaming.

She’d been trying—desperately trying—to get answers about the Selena-Adrian mystery, and instead, Selena kept veering off topic like a drunk driver on a winding road.

But she composed herself. She put on her best tragic expression, the kind that belonged in a melodrama about a poor orphan with a terminal illness.

"Oh, you noticed?" She pressed a hand to her chest, her lower lip trembling with theatrical sadness. "My poor, dear Cora is in hibernation right now. She told me she was ashamed! Ashamed to be inside the body of a bully who tormented her own sister! She looked at my soul and said, ’Nope, I’m out. Wake me when you’ve become a decent human being.’ That’s why I’ve repented! I’ve seen the error of my ways! I am reformed!"

She sniffled dramatically.

"I’m your good sister now! Your angelic sister! So whatever you and Adrian did last night—whether you braided each other’s hair, exchanged friendship vows, or did something that involved a lot of broken bones—this sister will not judge you! Or blame you! Or use your intestines as decorations!"

She then remembered something. With a flourish, she pulled off the bracelet from her wrist and shoved it through the crack in the door.

"See?! I’m not lying! I came here to return this!"

Selena stared at the bracelet. Then at Azura.

A storm of thoughts raged in her mind.

Should I tell her about last night? Should I tell her about Adrian? Is her wolf truly in hibernation? Is that why Azura can’t smell him on me? Is that why she’s been acting so weird lately? Is that why she keeps talking about "repenting" like she’s a televangelist who just found Moon Goddess at a yard sale?

Her gaze dropped back to the bracelet.

It was a gift from their father. Not for Selena—for Azura. Back then, their father had given Selena a doll and Azura a bracelet. But little Selena had seen the bracelet and immediately decided that dolls were garbage and bracelets were life. She had wailed. Screamed. Thrown a tantrum so legendary that even the Moon Goddess probably winced from her celestial throne.

And Azura—the old Azura, the one before everything went wrong—had simply smiled and handed the bracelet over.

"Here, little sister. You can have it."

That was before their father died.

Before their mother left.

Before Azura became a monster.

The bracelet was the last thing their father ever gave them. And it was Azura’s final act of genuine kindness before the tragedy that tore their family apart.

Selena’s throat tightened.

She had already caused their father’s death. She had driven their mother away. And now... now she had slept with Azura’s boyfriend.

Even if Adrian was her fated mate. Even if the bond was undeniable.

Guilt crashed over her like a tidal wave of shame-flavored concrete.

Azura, meanwhile, had absolutely no idea about any of this emotional turmoil happening inside Selena’s head. She had no memories of "Azura." To her, this was just a bracelet. An ordinary accessory. Possibly worth a few dollars on a good day.

She was still performing her "Reformed Angel Sister" routine with full theatrical commitment.

"Please believe me, Selena! I am truly, deeply, one-hundred-percent repentant! Let’s be sisters who love each other! Sisters who hold no grudges! Sisters who tell each other everything! No secrets! I swear on my entire wardrobe!"

She clasped her hands together, eyes wide and pleading.

"Don’t you feel sorry for me? Right now, I’m basically wolfless! If any rogues find me, they’ll think I’m an easy target! They’ll think, ’Oh look, a defenseless she-wolf with no protection!’ And then they’ll try to kidnap me or kill me or—who knows—make me listen to their terrible poetry!"

She hoped the dramatic plea would finally crack Selena’s walls.

But Selena’s brain was running on a completely different track.

It’s my fault. Her wolf is hiding because of me. If something happens to Azura in future... if she gets hurt... if she dies...

The female lead’s brain—kind to the point of stupidity, forgiving to the point of self-destruction—unfortunately, wired for maximum guilt absorption. Years of torment, and here she was, feeling sorry for her bully.

She took the bracelet.

Looked at Azura.

And said, with the gravity of a soldier accepting a suicide mission:

"I will do something."

Azura blinked. "...What?"

Selena’s expression wasn’t the relieved, tearful look of someone who believed in reformation. It was the determined, slightly unhinged look of someone who had just decided to take full responsibility for another human being’s entire existence.

Like Azura had just told her she was pregnant with Selena’s babies.

I was expecting a hug. Maybe a tearful reconciliation. Why is she looking at me like she’s about to take responsibility for an unexpected pregnancy?

Azura took a nervous step back.

"Uh... Selena? What do you mean by ’I’ll do something’? I just want you to trust me! I don’t want to steal your organs or frame you for a crime I committed or—you know—ANY of the things I used to do! I’m reformed! I eat forgiveness for breakfast! I drink sincerity smoothies!"

But her rambling was cut short by the sudden appearance of an elderly maid, who materialized behind Azura like a cryptid that had learned how to walk silently.

The old maid’s face was completely expressionless, as if she had long ago used up all her facial expressions and was now operating on savings.

"Selena," the maid said flatly, "Elder Luna is calling for you."

Azura resisted the urge to scream.

First, Elder Luna calls me. An hour later, she calls Selena. Does this woman have a meeting scheduler app installed in her brain? Is she running a corporate empire disguised as a pack?

Selena, meanwhile, visibly tensed. Even though Jonathan and Vincent were running damage control on the "Selena and Adrian Slept Together" rumor, there was no way that gossip hadn’t already reached Elder Luna’s ears. Rumors in this pack spread faster than a greased pig at a county fair.

Without a word, Selena closed her door. Then she emerged a moment later, wearing a worn jacket that was buttoned up to her chin, clearly hiding the evidence of last night’s... activities.

As she passed Azura, she paused.

Leaned in.

And whispered, with the solemn gravity of a spy passing nuclear launch codes:

"Meet me in two days."

She paused.

"I’ll take care of it."

Then she walked away, following the elderly maid like a convict being led to the execution chamber.

Azura stood frozen.

"...????"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ’I’LL TAKE CARE OF IT’?!"

But Selena and the maid had already disappeared around the corner, leaving Azura alone in the hallway with nothing but confusion and the growing suspicion that she had accidentally triggered some kind of mystery subplot she never signed up for.