Chapter 37: ’Hot Alphas’ Group Chat

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: ’Hot Alphas’ Group Chat

Azura was practically vibrating in the passenger seat.

Her legs bounced. Her fingers tapped. Her head swiveled left and right like she was a meerkat who’d just discovered caffeine.

Jonathan, meanwhile, sighed.

For the fifth time in ten minutes.

His "brilliant" sister had come up with a "brilliant" plan—which was, as it turned out, not brilliant at all. Because now, instead of meeting Adrian and Vincent at the pack house first and going to their company headquarters together, he was driving her to the human city alone.

He was supposed to discuss pack business. He was supposed to have a functioning morning without his sister’s chaos energy radiating from the passenger seat.

But no.

Here he was. On a road trip from hell. With a woman who looked like she was about to ask "Are we there yet?" any second now.

Azura wanted to ask a million questions about the human city. But she bit her tongue. Asking too many questions would make Jonathan suspicious.

So instead, she stared out the window.

Forest.

More forest.

A car driven by a pack member doing border patrol.

Forest again.

Wow. Trees. So many trees. I love trees. Trees are my favorite. I want to marry a tree.

Jonathan sighed—for the sixth time—and finally broke the silence.

"Ten minutes," he muttered. "We’ve been driving for ten minutes, and I’ve already aged ten years."

"Stop being dramatic."

"I’m not being dramatic. I’m being economical. Do you know how much Alpha Adrian pays me? Do you know how much bonus I’m going to lose because I prioritized you instead of riding with him and Vincent to the company like a responsible beta?"

Azura rolled her eyes so hard she nearly saw her own brain.

"Jonathan. Listen. You guys just split up into different cars. You’re still going to the company!"

"We did."

"It’s not like you went to a different country!"

"We didn’t."

"Once we get to the company, I’ll wander off to cause chaos elsewhere, and you guys can go back to doing whatever boring adult stuff you do. Spreadsheets. Meetings. Glaring at each other dramatically. The point is, I’m not disrupting anything!"

Jonathan was quiet for a moment.

Then, reluctantly, he spoke.

"...Actually, Alpha Adrian wanted us to ride in his car when he found out you were coming."

Azura’s triumphant expression froze.

"But I refused. With several carefully crafted excuses. Because I knew the atmosphere would be so awkward that even the car’s air freshener would suffocate from secondhand embarrassment."

Azura’s hand instinctively went to her nose, rubbing it sheepishly.

"...Thanks?"

"You’re welcome. Now please never put me in that position again."

A pause. Then Jonathan’s voice dropped, becoming more serious as his grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"You know... you two really need to talk things out. Properly." His voice taking on that ’big brother knows best’ tone that made Azura want to jump out of the moving vehicle. "Especially since you haven’t officially broken up with him yet—"

"WHAT?!"

Azura’s head snapped toward him so fast her neck cracked.

"I DID break up with him! Days ago! I literally walked up to him and said, ’It’s over, goodbye, forever, the end, finito, sayonara, adios, arrivederci—’"

Jonathan’s expression didn’t change.

"You said it to the wrong face."

"...What."

"You mistook Alpha Adrian’s father for him. You dumped the Elder Alpha instead of your actual boyfriend. Because their backs looked similar from behind."

The car fell into a deafening silence.

Azura’s soul left her body.

She could feel it. Floating upward.Watching her mortal shell below as it processed the worst revelation of its second-chance-at-life existence.

Azura’s hands flew to her face, which had turned the color of a ripe tomato. No. A volcano. No. The surface of the sun.

"THAT’S WHY EVERYONE’S BEEN LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!"

Jonathan nodded solemnly.

"I’ve been trying to suppress the rumors, but... let’s just say the pack gossip network is faster than your decision-making skills."

Azura let out a sound that was somewhere between a scream, a whimper, and a dying whale.

She wanted the ground to open up.

She wanted Hades to personally drag her to the underworld and lock her in a vault labeled Do Not Release: Stupid Reincarnators.

"I’M NEVER SHOWING MY FACE AGAIN!"

Jonathan sighed again.

This time, it was the kind of sigh that came from somewhere deep. The soul. The primordial void. The place where dreams go to die.

"It’s honestly a miracle you survived Elder Luna summoning you to the lounge two days ago. She thought you were sleeping with her mate—your boyfriend’s father. Your boyfriend’s father, Azura. Do you understand how catastrophic that misunderstanding was?"

Azura opened her mouth.

"...In my defense—"

"There is no defense. There is only damage control."

Jonathan continued, his voice taking on a tired, haunted quality, like a war veteran recounting his darkest battle.

"I had guards stationed outside the lounge. Hidden. Just in case she tried to claw your eyes out. Or rip your throat out. Or, you know, the usual elder-luna- catching-her-mate’s-mistress response package."

Azura blinked.

"...You expected her to kill me?"

"I expected her to try. But somehow—and I still don’t understand how—you walked out without a single scratch. No bruises. No blood. Just... confusion. Which, admittedly, is your natural state."

Azura’s brain finally caught up with the timeline of events.

The lounge.

Elder Luna’s expressions.

The accusations.

The insults.

The way she’d nodded along, thinking Elder Luna was upset about her breaking up with Adrian...

When in reality, Elder Luna had been calling her a homewrecking hussy.

"JONATHAN! YOU KNEW SHE THOUGHT I WAS A HOME-WRECKING MISTRESS AND YOU DIDN’T WARN ME?!"

Jonathan shrugged, utterly unrepentant.

"You said you were ’Angel Azura.’ The reformed version. The new and improved model. I wanted to see how the new firmware handled real-world problems. Consider it a test. And honestly? You passed. You didn’t throw a single slap. You didn’t threaten anyone. You just... talked. Like a normal person."

"That’s not—you can’t just—that’s irresponsible!"

"Yet here you are. Alive. Un-maimed. And finally aware that you dumped the wrong werewolf."

Azura groaned, burying her face in her hands.

But then.

A thought.

A very confusing thought.

She lowered her hands slowly, her brow furrowing.

"...Wait."

"Yes?"

"If everyone thinks I’m cheating with the former Alpha—my boyfriend’s father—then shouldn’t they all hate me? Shouldn’t they look at me like I’m a homewrecking villainess who deserves to be run out of the pack?"

Jonathan’s grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"...Yes. Normally, they would."

"Then why—" Azura gestured vaguely at the air. "—why have almost all the staff been looking at me with pity? Like I’m a terminally ill puppy?"

Jonathan said nothing.

His jaw clenched.

His eyes stayed fixed on the road.

"...It’s because of another reason," he said carefully.

"Is it because of Cora? Does everyone know my wolf is hibernating now? They can tell I don’t have a scent, right?"

Jonathan’s shoulders relaxed slightly—barely perceptible, but Azura caught it.

"No. You have beta blood. Your rank is higher than ninety percent of the pack. They can’t sense your wolf unless they’re strong enough—which they aren’t—or unless they’re extremely close to you. Only the top-tier alphas would notice Cora’s absence without being right next to you."

Azura nodded slowly, absorbing the information.

So that’s how this world works.

Different from the werewolf novel she’d read in her past life.

She couldn’t make assumptions anymore. Every author was a god in their own universe. And apparently, this god had decided to make her life a comedy of errors instead of a dramatic tragedy.

"Then what is it?"

Jonathan didn’t answer.

Azura squinted at him, suspicion creeping into her voice.

"...Jonathan."

"We’re almost at the city."

"JONATHAN."

"Look! A bird!"

"There are no birds here! It’s just a tree!"

"Metaphorical bird."

Azura opened her mouth to argue—

But then her phone buzzed inside her bag.

And Jonathan, for the first time in this entire conversation, looked relieved.

Azura fished her phone out of her bag like she was retrieving a live grenade.

She unlocked it.

Another notification from the "Hot Alphas" group chat.

Her eyes scanned the messages, and her soul briefly left her body.

AlphaGroupie88: [Ladies, I have intel. The Blackwood family is currently residing at the Grand Meridian Hotel. If any of you are in the area and feeling brave—or thirsty—GO STALK THEM. I MEAN, OBSERVE THEM. Word on the street is they haven’t left the hotel yet.]

LunaInTraining: [OMG I’VE BEEN IN THIS CITY SINCE DAWN. THANK YOU, SISTER. I WILL SEND PHOTOS. THEY WILL BE BLURRY. THEY WILL BE TAKEN FROM BEHIND A BUSH. BUT THEY WILL EXIST.]

WolfMommy6969: [Do it for the cause. Bless you, child.]

AlphaHoe#1: [We are all doing the Moon Goddess’s work today.]

Azura stared at the screen.

Then she stared at the ceiling of the car.

Then she stared at Jonathan, who was blissfully unaware that his sister was a member of what could only be described as the Werewolf Equivalent of a K-Pop Stan Twitter Account.

"...These people are insane," she muttered.

Jonathan glanced at her. "What?"

"Nothing..."

She looked back at the group chat, scrolling through the frenzy of messages. Women sharing hotel floor plans. Someone had drawn a crude map of the hotel’s emergency exits. Another user was discussing optimal stakeout positions near the lobby.

Azura had to admit—she was impressed.

And horrified.

But mostly impressed.

These women were committed.

She scrolled up slightly more, just to confirm her suspicions.

Yep.

There it was.

A woman had posted at 3:47 AM that she was driving four hours just to maybe catch a glimpse of Caelus Blackwood’s jawline from across a parking lot. And it was the same woman who said she was going to take some photos from behind the bush.

Last night, she’d assumed they were joking when they said they’d drive for hours in the middle of the night just to stalk the Blackwood triplets. Turns out, they were deadly serious.

Azura couldn’t help but respect the dedication.

Even if it was deeply unhinged.

But on the bright side—this was useful information.

She now knew exactly where the Blackwood family was staying.

Which meant she also needed to go there.

Which meant she could keep an eye on them.

Which meant she could make sure they didn’t suddenly decide to visit her pack.

The only problem?

Jonathan.

Her brother.

Who would absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, misunderstand her intentions if he found out she was heading toward the same hotel as the Blackwood family.

"Azura?"

She jerked her head up.

Jonathan was looking at her with one eyebrow raised, his expression caught somewhere between concern and mild suspicion.

"You’re making a face."

"I’m not making a face."

"You’re making the face you make when you’re plotting something."

"I don’t have a plotting face."

"You absolutely have a plotting face."

Azura opened her mouth to argue—

And at the same time, the car finally emerged from the dense forest, crossing the border into the human city.

The skyline stretched before her—towering buildings, glittering lights, the distant hum of civilization.

Azura’s lips curled into a smirk.

Alright, male leads. This time, it’s YOUR turn to be the target of my stalking!