THE REJECTED FOURFOLD LUNA: FATED TO TWO ALPHA TWINS

Chapter 14—Shocking Revelations

Jayden's POV

I was in the study going through a contract review when Torren's name lit up on my phone. Aiden was at his own desk across the room, a stack of files in front of him, and looked up when my phone buzzed.

I picked up. "How did it go?"

"Smoothly." Torren's voice was calm the way it always was when a meeting went the way it was supposed to.

"The consultant knew exactly what she was looking at before I finished the first overview. Sharp, efficient, did not waste a single minute. She asked the right questions, flagged the right things and was ready with her notes before I got to the second file."

A beat. "Everything is in order and the accounts are set up and ready to move forward without delay."

"Excellent." I leaned back. "Come straight back to the estate when you're done. The Heron Group needs a follow up before close of business, the northern associates are still waiting on confirmation from our side and there are documents on my desk that need signing before tonight."

"Understood. I'll be there within the hour."

I ended the call and set my phone face down on the desk.

Aiden looked across at me. "And?"

"Meeting went well. He's on his way back. Should be here within the hour."

"Good." Aiden held my gaze for a moment then went back to his files without another word.

We worked in the quiet that settled naturally between us whenever there was a full morning ahead.

No unnecessary talking. No background noise. Each of us on our own end of things, moving through the list, dealing with whatever came next.

Efficient. That was always how the study worked when it was just the two of us. In sync without needing to say so out loud. It was simply how we worked.

About forty minutes later two clean knocks sounded at the study door.

Torren always knocked the same way. Two raps, evenly spaced, measured. There was no one else in the estate who announced themselves quite like that.

You always knew it was him before he stepped through the door.

"Come in," I called.

Aiden looked up.

Torren stepped inside, jacket on, folder of documents tucked under one arm the way he always carried things when he came back from a meeting. Neat. Contained. Nothing scattered or out of place.

He crossed the room and placed the folder on the desk between us, setting it down flat and squaring the edges with a small automatic movement the way he always did when he delivered documents.

"The signed files from Mercer and Vale." He stood with the easy posture of a man who came directly from a productive meeting and saw no reason to slow down between then and now. "Everything is countersigned and in order. Ready for filing on your end and with all relevant parties. No outstanding items."

Aiden reached for it first. I pulled my chair alongside his and we went through it the way we always processed anything that came through official channels, together, methodical, the way we always did it.

Neither of us talking while we read because there was nothing useful to say until there was something to actually point to.

We got to the third page at the same time.

We both stopped reading at the same moment.

The signature at the bottom of the page was neat and precise. The kind of handwriting that belongs to someone who signs their name the same way every single time, deliberate and consistent, never rushed.

Something about the shape of it pulled at the back of my mind. The particular curve at the start. The way the letters sat close together. The kind of near-recognition that hovers just out of reach and will not let you move past it.

Aiden went still beside me and did not move for a moment.

He felt it too. He always did when something in a room shifted before either of us understood why.

"This signature." I tapped the page just below it. "It looks familiar. Who signed off on these?"

Torren stepped forward and looked at the page, scanning it the quick way he did when he already knew what was on it but needed to confirm the specific thing being asked about.

"The consultant assigned to your accounts." He straightened up with the easy expression of a man who genuinely enjoyed his morning.

"Extremely professional." Something in his expression settled into the kind of easy appreciation that came from a genuinely good morning.

"She knew exactly what she was looking at and ran the first account meeting with a focus that I do not see often. Not in a first meeting, anyway." He paused. "And if I am being honest with you both," he said, "she is beautiful.

The kind of woman who makes you want to find a reason to schedule another meeting."

Neither Aiden nor I said anything to that.

I looked back down at the signature on the page.

The pull at the back of my mind did not ease. It grew, the way it does when something tries to surface and the right word for it is not yet there.

"Her name." Aiden placed the file flat on the desk. The movement was deliberate and quiet in a way that said this mattered.

His voice came out flat and even. The way it went when he was working something out and needed the answer without distraction. "What is her name?"

Torren looked between us.

He was mildly curious the way he always got when a room shifted around something he did not have the full context for yet.

"Celeste Reed," he said.

Simply. Calmly. Like it was the most ordinary answer he gave all morning and he knew nothing of what it meant.

The name landed in the room like something that did not belong there.

For exactly one second neither of us moved. Neither of us spoke.

My wolf, quiet through the whole morning, lifted his head.

Then Aiden and I looked at each other.

One second. That was all either of us needed.

"What!" both of us said at exactly the same time.