I Rejected My Obsessive Werebeast novel Chapter 45

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>caught the light, exactly where an ear stud would sit.

Phoebe wore a silver stud in her left ear. She’d had it since before she moved back to the upper district and never took it off.

I stared at the image for another moment, then checked it again. The angle. The glint. The placement. Everything lined up

I saved the screenshot, opened the Evidence Archive folder, and added it to the file.

Then I typed: “Keep going. I’ve confirmed it. It’s her.”

I left my phone on the table and went to the window.

Outside, the sky had turned gray. Low clouds hung over the rooftops, heavy and dark, as if they were pressing down on the city. It hadn’t started raining yet, but the air had that thick, muted stillness that always came before a storm.

After a while, I went back to my desk and opened my laptop.

I pulled up the surveillance screenshot on one side of the screen and a public photo of Phoebe on the other. It was from an outdoor event, her profile clearly visible.

I started comparing them.

Her posture. The length of her stride. The way she carried her shoulders. None of it was enough to prove anything on its own, but side by side, the similarities were hard to ignore.

Then there was the earring. The tiny silver mark in the surveillance

Chapter 45

>footage lined up with the stud in Phoebe’s photo. Same ear. Same spot

on the lobe. Her hair was pulled back the same way, too.

I marked each similarity, saved the comparison, and leaned back in my

chair.

The cursor blinked on the screen. In the corner of my desktop, the Evidence Archive folder sat quietly, its contents growing one piece at

a time.

Phoebe. This time, I wasn’t letting you get away.

Silas’s POV

Training ended early that day.

By the time I came out of the locker room, the circuit was almost empty. Most of the other drivers had already left for the weekend qualifiers. There was no reason for me to stick around.

I reached into my bag for my phone.

It’s Jessica. “I’m in your office. Something important. Need to talk in person.”

I stared at the message for a couple of seconds before slinging the bag over my shoulder and heading toward the office wing.

I pushed the door open.

< standing by the window. At the sound of the door, she miled, but it never quite reached her eyes. “Close the

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door.”

I did, but stayed by the entrance, my bag still over my shoulder.

She didn’t seem bothered. Leaning against the windowsill, she folded her arms.

“The Matching Center’s disciplinary notice came through,” she said. “My father owns this circuit, and he has connections with the Authority. He can submit a supplementary evaluation on your behalf. It could affect your long-term file rating.” Then her voice softened. “Eut you don’t have to worry about it. I’ve already spoken to my father. We’re holding it for now.”

“Thank you.” I said.

Jessica pushed away from the windowsill and came toward me, stopping a few feet away. “You know what I’m saying, don’t you?”

I said nothing.

She tilted her head, studying my face as if she were waiting for the smallest crack in my composure.

“Silas.” Her voice dropped. “Your owner, Aurora-she’s only going to drag you down.”

She took another step. “You came to this circuit with a clean record and a future ahead of you. Now, since you bonded with her, you’ve got a disciplinary mark from the Matching Center, your name is all over the internet, and every piece of gossip surrounding her is starting to follow you, too.”

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-My eyebrows came together. I answered.

Before I could say a word, my mother’s sharp voice exploded through

the receiver.

“You shameless girl, how can you do that!”

“So one S-class werebeast wasn’t enough for me, so you had to go after Kane too?”

“Do you konw the whole internet was laughing at our family? You bitch!”

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Her voice was loud enough that Silas, sitting next to me, could hear i His ears twitched, and his face became blue.

I held the phone to my ear and listened. Quietly. All of it.

When she finally ran out of steam, I said: “The photo was composited I didn’t do any of those things.”

However, she kept going, like she hadn’t heard me at all. “The photo clearly showed your face, how could it be fake? Stop lying! You should clean up your own mess and stop dragging the family down!”

I waited for the volume to dip just a fraction. Then I said: “If this is what you want, fine.” I hung up.

I put the phone face-down on the coffee table. Sat there for two seconds.

Silas’s hand came over my shoulder from behind. His palm rested against my collarbone and pressed gently.

The phone screen had barely gone dark before it lit up again.

Boss.

I stared at the word for a second. Then picked up.

“Boss?”

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“When Nathan gets the public camera footage,” I said, “we can connec the whole thing.”

“Mm.” His arms tightened slightly around me.

Across the city, Connor stood at the entrance of an underground fighting pit.

His hands were buried in his pockets, one shoulder resting against the concrete wall.

Beyond him, a row of iron cages lined the room. Young beastmen lay curled up on the cold floors, some sleeping, some barely awake. The air reeked of rust and sweat, with something older lingering beneath it -the kind of smell that seeped into stone over years and never quite

left.

In the corner of one cage, a half-grown leopard beastman sat with his knees drawn to his chest.

Scrapes covered both knees, and dried blood darkened one shin. Whenever someone passed by, his eyes darted toward them on instinct, wary and afraid.

But beneath that fear, Connor caught something else.

Something that hadn’t been completely extinguished.

He watched the boy for a few seconds without saying a word,

The

walked back the way he’d come.

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>The kitchen light was already on. Water was boiling on the stove.

Silas stood at the counter with his back to me, cooking. His tail slipped out from the edge of his lounge pants, the tip curled up slightly.

I leaned against the kitchen doorframe and watched him for a moment without saying anything.

He glanced over his shoulder. “Almost done.”

–

A few minutes later he set a bowl of hot pasta in front of me – garlic and black pepper scattered on top, steam rising.

I sat at the table and took a bite. The heat hit my face and made my eyes water slightly.

I ate at a steady pace. Not soon, the bowl emptied.

I set my chopsticks on the rim, looked up at Silas sitting across from me, and said quietly. “Better.”

“That what I want.” He reached out and took the empty bowl away. As he passed me, his tail brushed across the back of my hand.

I washed up, dried my hands, went back to the living room, and opened my laptop. Black cursor blinking on the first line.

I stared at the blank space for ten seconds or so. Then I spoke.

“We start with Phoebe. She put that photo out. We can trace it back to whoever composited it.”

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Chapter 45

Aurora’s POV

The next day, I was pouring myself a glass of water in the kitchen when my phone buzzed on the coffee table.

I set the kettle down and went to pick it up. It’s Nathan again.

“Public cameras picked something up. Street-level footage shows a figure entering and leaving the building where the photography studio is located on the afternoon the order was placed. The build matches the front desk description. The angle isn’t great-no face, just a back and partial side profile. I’m sending screenshots. Take a look.”

I opened the attached image.

The resolution was poor. A woman in a dark jacket was pushing through the glass doors of a commercial building, her hair pulled back into a low ponytail. The timestamp in the corner matched the time window Nathan had given me.

བ་བ་བ་པ་

Her build was close to Phoebe’s-slim, average height.

I zoomed in on the side profile.

Most of her face was lost in the blur. All I could make out was the curve of her jaw and the edge of her cheekbone.

Then I noticed something. Her left earlobe. A tiny flash of silver

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Chapter 44

Aurora’s POV

I woke to an empty bed.

Silas’s side was already cold. From downstairs came the faint scrape o a spatula against a pan.

I stayed under the duvet for a few more minutes, eyes half-closed as pale morning light slipped through the curtains and stretched across the floor.

Eventually, I dragged myself out of bed, washed up, brushed my teeth, and headed downstairs.

By the time I reached the kitchen, Silas had already set out breakfast. Fried eggs, toast, neatly cut fruit, and a cup of milk waiting at my place.

I sat down and had barely taken my first bite when my phone buzzed

on the table.

It was Nathan.

I opened the message.

“Found the source of the composite photo. Small photography studio on Elm Street. Someone came in with your public photos and ordered a forest-scene composite. Paid cash. No name. The front desk clerk

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