The scent of ink, smoke, and iron hung heavy in the room. Papers lay scattered across the desk like fallen feathers from some dark bird, each one marked with names, numbers, and debts. The flicker of a lone lantern painted the stone walls in gold and shadow.
Aries Malanor sat behind his desk, the tip of his pen scratching softly against parchment. Even crime lords, he mused bitterly, drown in paperwork eventually. His sleek panther tail flicked once—sharp, irritated.
"Why does she want to meet with Gellen?" he asked, not looking up. "Doesn't she already have a planned marriage with his brother?"
His lieutenant, Pan, shifted from one foot to the other. She was a panther lycanthrope—sleek, poised, but even she hesitated before answering. "That arrangement fell through, sir. The Falmil house withdrew their offer after the Young family's... recent controversies."
Aries hummed low in his throat, the sound more growl than voice. "Controversies," he repeated. "You mean the slave trade is finally catching up to them?" His pen scratched another note into the ledger before he asked, "And Forrest?"
"Hiding," she said. But her tone faltered.
Aries' eyes lifted—predatory, yellow-green in the lamplight. "Hiding where?"
Her tail flicked nervously. "We don't know for sure. But…" she hesitated again, "Jake Lockvry and his small group are also on the move. We believe they're searching for Forrest."
The pen stopped mid-stroke. For a long moment, silence stretched between them, broken only by the low hum of underground machinery far below the city.
"Jake," Aries murmured, setting the pen down carefully. "And Elena Falmil." He leaned back, the chair creaking beneath his weight. "Both moving at once. Convenient."
He drummed his claws on the armrest, each click echoing in the dim room.
Could they be working together? No. Jake wouldn't. The Lockvrys and Malanors had a… complicated peace, one held together by a minor Pact and a handful of bribes Aries himself had paid to keep investigations buried. Jake wasn't a fool; he knew when to keep his nose out of other people's dirt.
But impatience bred recklessness. And Elena—idealistic, noble, too pure for her own good—wasn't the type to sit idle while corruption festered.
Maybe they weren't allies. Maybe one was simply manipulating the other.
Or maybe… something else tied them together.
He tapped his claws again, slower this time, thoughtful. "So," he said at last, "Elena wants Gellen. Jake wants Forrest. Two brothers tangled in my business. Two heirs who shouldn't be crossing paths are suddenly chasing the same thread."
Pan straightened. "Orders, sir?"
Aries rose, adjusting the cuffs of his dark coat. Despite the shadows, his presence seemed to fill the entire room—commanding, dangerous, coiled like a beast waiting to strike. "Keep eyes on Jake," he said. "The wolf likes to stalk unseen, but he leaves paw prints if you know where to look. Elena's easier—noble steps echo louder in the dark."
He turned toward the window slit carved into the stone, where faint light from the city above bled through like a wound. "The next council of the Five Heads is soon," he murmured. "I'll mention her name. Watch his face when I do. If there's something between them, I'll see it."
Pan bowed. "Understood."
"And one more thing," Aries added, his tone lowering to a dangerous purr. "If Jake Lockvry gets too close to my business… do your best not to kill him."
Pan paused at the doorway. "Not to kill him, sir?"
Aries' fanged smile glimmered in the lamplight. "Yes. Do your best not to."
Her tail flicked once in acknowledgment before she slipped into the corridor, leaving Aries alone with his thoughts.
He sank back into his chair, gaze drifting to the parchment before him—the names, the ledgers, the careful balance of power. Every line was a thread in the web he'd built, and Jake Lockvry's name sat near the center.
"Don't disappoint me, wolf," he whispered. "You've survived this long because you know when to stay in the dark. Don't let a noble's light blind you now."
The lantern guttered, shadows stretching long and sharp across the room—like claws reaching for the walls.
~~~~~
Elena awoke, and the memories of last night came rushing back in a blur—Jake's idea, his friends, their plan… and that intimate moment they shared. She blushed, curling up beneath the sheets as the scene replayed in her mind over and over. Every touch, every word, every breath lingered until a soft knock at the door pulled her back to reality. "Enter," she said quietly, clutching a pillow to her stomach.
"Morning, my lady," Lily said as she popped in, then she chuckled. "You look like a northern badger having the worst hair day."
Elena groaned softly; morning weariness and the night before plagued her.
Leo followed in behind Lily, keeping a wary eye on her—just in case her curiosity got the better of her.
"So…" Lily began, sitting beside her and picking up a comb. "What did you two do?" She started brushing through Elena's tangled hair, her tone all too innocent.
"We um, went to a bar, went out, normal date…" Elena drifted off as their intimate moment reappeared, making her blush. Lily noticed, and her eyes widened as if they had just found gold.
Lily caught the look instantly; her eyes widened as if she'd struck gold. "Oh, really? Anything else?" she asked, bouncing in place.
Leo sighed, clearly bracing himself to intervene before Lily went too far.
"He took me to a rooftop… and he told me, he wanted… reform the underground," Elena said, trying her best to stall those questions.
Lily and Leo froze at her words.
"He wants to what?" Leo asked, frowning.
"Reform the Underground," Elena repeated, now sitting upright. "He wants to make it legitimate—a place not ruled by crime. I agreed to help him."
Leo and Lily looked at each other, both knowing that this could be dangerous and even lead to one or both of their deaths.
"Elena," Lily began carefully, "you're already fighting corrupt nobles. That's dangerous enough. But helping Jake reform the Underground? That's challenging the Five Families themselves. Even if he's heir to one of them… that's suicide."
Elena sighed, "Lily, I love him, I truly do; he has already helped me so much with planned marriages and other things. I need to help him, I need to pay my thousands of debts to him, doing this will repay them, but also I want to help him because I love him." Tears welled up in her eyes, thinking how Jake had always helped her, no matter what; she needed to help him, she needed to be his anchor for this fight.
Lily looked at her friend and hugged her, "Oh my lady,"
Lily hugged her friend, as long as Elena allowed, but eventually they broke apart. "My first task is to help Jake, is to find out where Forrest is. I need to talk with Gellen." Ellena said, as she stood up from her bed, and grabbed a pen and paper, she sat down and started to write, Lily's questions of the night forgotten.
"I am gonna invite Gellen, and Jake will also be there, but he will be hiding," Elena said, as she wrote down two messages. One for Vantim, the Horus Hawk, and the other to be sent to Gellen.
She slipped them into letters, and she sealed them with the Falmil crest. A crest of a tree on fire, and a sun above, giving life.
She handed Leo the one meant for Gellen, "Send this to the Young manor, it's a request to meet with him." Leo nodded and took the letter as he walked out of her chambers.
Later that night, Vantim appeared at her window, and she gave the letter meant for Jake's crew.
Their plan was finally in motion.