The Wolf Auction

[Bailee’s POV]

"We're sorry for your loss, Ms…" The pause stretches—one second, two—the lawyer's eyes flick to a sheet on the table, scan, return. "…Reed."

There it is. The half-second where my last name required a cross-reference. Across the table, a junior associate marks something in his margins—non-pack, hybrid blood, underlined twice.

"Can we begin?" Celeste occupies the opposite center chair like it was built around her—black dress sharp enough to cut glass, every hair pinned into obedience. "Some of us have arrangements to finalise."

The conference room smells like old leather and fresh lilies. My father has been dead for three days, and I sit on the left side of the table, alone—on-brand for Reed family events.

Celeste's daughter Maya flanks her—twenty-two, full-blooded, cheekbones that could open letters. She watches me the way you watch a nature documentary about an animal that won't survive winter.

I know what Celeste has been constructing—Maya positioned for one of the Wallace brothers, the most powerful young wolves in the territory, sons of the father’s Beta. Maya catches me looking and her mouth curves. Not a smile. A border check.

"Of course, Mrs. Reed." The lawyer clears his throat. "Standard provisions first—trust distributions, property allocations, board seats. All outlined in sections two through five."

I let it wash past—every clause, every subsection—waiting for the only word I'm here for.

"A stipend has been allocated for the ongoing medical care of Mara Reed." My spine unlocks by a single vertebra. "Contingent upon Ms. Bailee Reed's full cooperation with estate terms."

"Contingent," I repeat, and the word sits in my mouth like a stone. "Meaning if I don't cooperate, my mother's care—"

"Is addressed in the supplementary provisions." The lawyer doesn't look up. "Shall I continue?"