Chapter 26: Luna Cafè
The scent of sun-warmed bread lingered faintly in the hallway, but Amber tasted only absence.
The morning sunlight streamed gently through the arched windows of Zachary's mansion, gilding the white walls and polished oak in a golden hush. The silence at the breakfast table was unusually loud. Only Mamita sat with them—her soft humming a frail attempt to fill the space Zach had left behind.
Amber's eyes flicked once more toward the staircase. Still no sign of him.
She hadn't seen him that morning. In fact, she hadn't seen him at all since the night before. No goodbye. No message. Just... gone.
She stirred her tea absently, the porcelain clinking softly against the cup.
At precisely nine o'clock, Bri stood from the table and smoothed the front of his dark shirt. "We should get going," he said, his voice calm but firm. "The car is ready."
Amber nodded quietly. She rose from her chair, but not without one last glance toward the quiet hall that led to Zach's study. Her heart ached, eyes scanning every shadow and threshold, hoping he might appear—perhaps just a moment late.
But he didn't.
Bri noticed.
Amber's restlessness, the way her gaze darted across the manicured grounds and rooftops—she was searching. Waiting. But no one came.
Without being asked, Bri answered the question haunting her thoughts.
"Zach left early," he said, stepping ahead and holding open the mansion door for her. "His flight to Italy was this morning."
Amber froze in place. "Italy?" she echoed.
"Business trip," Bri replied, but his tone lacked certainty.
He could sense the question behind her silence: Why didn't he tell me? Why leave without a word?
Truth be told, Bri knew more than he let on.
Zach hadn't gone to Italy for business, at least not in the conventional sense. The Alpha of the North had flown out to negotiate with one of the ancient wolves of the Italian Northern Clan—elders who held power over land deals, political alliances, and ancestral territories.
Zach had gone to strike a pact.
The Southern Region was in danger, and Amber didn't even know it. Worse, she was the reason.
Her stepmother, Liza Ferrera—cruel and calculating—was no ordinary woman. She was the blood sister of Lucian Conri, the infamous traitor and warlord who once led the rogue wolves in rebellion. She had placed the café on the market. But this was no mere business transaction. It was a veiled declaration of war.
Liza Ferrera, or rather Liza Conri, Amber's stepmother and the hidden thorn behind countless betrayals.
Luna Café was not just a building. It was a sanctuary—a rare place where wolves from all regions could gather in peace, shielded from politics, bloodlines, and ancestral feuds. But its neutrality, its power, came from tradition, not legality.
Selling it to a foreign wolf—especially one loyal to a different faction—would revoke that sacred ground. The council of Elite Lunas, who convened only during leap years, would no longer be able to hold assembly there. Liza's motives were deliberate: she wanted to erase any trace of the Luna bloodline's legacy.
And more importantly, she wanted Amber vulnerable.
Though Lucian Conri had perished in the war of 2009, his legacy of vengeance lived on in Liza. When the Northern Pack and the Eastern pack crushed the Conri rebellion, the scattered remnants of Lucian's followers fled abroad. His armies had scattered. His dream of dominance had crumbled. For years, they created small-scale chaos across Europe and Asia.
But Liza had survived. And in her silence, she'd grown cold and cunning. She remained silent. Watching. Waiting. Scheming.
Her eyes were no longer fixed on Zach—Unable to defeat Zach directly—whose power only grew with the years—she turned to vengeance in subtler forms. She couldn't bring down the Alpha of the North... but she could strike at the heart of the woman who once saved him.
She could destroy Luna's daughter.
they feared his growing power. Instead, her sights had turned to the bloodline of Luna, and more specifically, Amber.
What Amber didn't know was that she was never Philip Ferrera's true daughter. Her real father had been Alpha Mateo Caspian, once the revered leader of the Southern Pack—slain before Amber was born, while protecting Luna, her mother, and the unborn Amber in the womb.
Amber was pure wolfblood, A trueborn Alpha heir. descended from greatness, though she herself had not yet awakened to her true potential. Her transformations were rare, uncontrolled—her gift still slumbering. Amber had never fully transformed. Her abilities remained dormant, her wolf only surfacing in flashes of pain or fear. Liza knew this. She had waited patiently, watching, hoping Amber's gift would awaken so she could take it—or destroy it.
And that was exactly what Liza wanted: to draw out the power hidden within Amber. To claim the Southern Region, and with it, the Café that once served as a neutral haven for wolves of all packs.
With Luna dead, and Zach too strong to challenge, Liza turned her strategy toward isolation. Selling the café would sever Amber's ties to her mother's legacy and prevent the reassembly of the Luna council, where old alliances might be rekindled and truths uncovered.
It was a slow attack. A meticulous unraveling of heritage.
Zach had learned the truth too late.
But Zach knew. He had seen the documents. Traced the buyer's name to Italy. Realized the sale's timing coincided with the next leap year.
The Luna Café was now in danger of being sold—to a powerful elder wolf from Italy. The sale, if completed, would dissolve the café's neutrality and risk exposing Amber to enemies of her bloodline.
Zach's true purpose in Italy was clear: stop the sale, buy the café himself, and form an alliance to protect the Southern Region.
He had to stop it.
And so he left, silently, choosing strategy over sentiment. Not even Amber could know the full danger—not yet.
He had left without telling Amber to shield her from the burden. But his silence came at a price—one she now bore in her chest like a cold weight.
—
The limousine rolled smoothly along the forest-lined roads as they traveled south. Bri sat across from Amber, quiet but watchful. She kept her eyes on the window, but her reflection betrayed her: brows drawn, lips pressed, heart heavy.
She missed Zach.
An hour and a half passed before they arrived at the small town center where Luna Café stood like a familiar dream from long ago.
LUNA CAFÈ
Amber stepped out of the car and inhaled deeply. The aroma of roasted coffee beans, wild jasmine, and warm pastries flooded her senses.
Her lips curved into a smile—genuine, this time—as she spotted a familiar figure behind the counter.
"Jam!" she called, rushing through the café's open doors.
The petite barista turned with wide eyes, then let out a loud squeal. "Amber! Oh my moon—you're really here!"
They embraced tightly, the moment overflowing with warmth. For a second, the worries melted away.
"How have you been?" Amber asked.
Jam glanced around before lowering her voice. "It's been... tense. A few strangers came by last week—wolves, I think. They weren't locals. Dressed like they came from some kind of mafia movie. They asked about you—wanted to buy the café."
Amber stiffened.
"What's going on?" Jam asked, frowning. "Why would someone want this place so badly?"
Amber didn't answer. Not yet. She simply offered a small, unreadable smile.
Jam narrowed her eyes. "Hey. Don't do that. That silent, mysterious thing. You're hiding something. Why are you living at Zach's mansion, huh?!"
Amber blinked. "How do you even know that?"
"Ha! Bri told me," Jam shot back. "Bri!" She whirled around dramatically. "And what's his story anyway? Since when are you two friends?"
Before Amber could answer, Bri cleared his throat politely.
"Sorry to interrupt you ladies," he said with a teasing smile, "but we have important matters to attend to."
Jam turned, eyeing him skeptically.
"We need to finalize the documents transferring management of Luna Café to Zachary Artesian," Bri continued.
The café fell silent.
Jam's mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again.
"You're what?" she gasped.
"Transferring the café," Bri repeated evenly, "to Alpha Zach."
All eyes turned to Amber.
Her expression was unreadable, calm but distant.
Jam stared at her friend. "You're really not going to explain anything, are you?"
Amber looked toward the sky, where a faint breeze rustled the awning above the Luna Café's sign.
"I'll tell you everything," she said softly. "But not today."
And with that, she turned and walked into the café—back to the place where it all began. Through the familiar doors of Luna Café—into the shadows of secrets long buried, and the storm that was beginning to stir.
Back to the place her mother built.
Back to the fire that would soon awaken her blood.
__________