LOGINJordan's POV"We accept," I said, then added, “But only on our terms.”Killian’s head snapped toward me, sharp. “What terms?”“The meeting happens here. In our territory, our home. She plays by our rules.” I kept my voice steady, meeting his stare without blinking. “She comes to us.”Killian didn’t answer right away. He just watched me, as if weighing what I’d just put on the table. "She's ninety-three years old, Jordan," he finally said, voice steady but with an edge. "She’s been running this for longer than any of us have been alive. She doesn’t ask for meetings unless she’s already decided what she’s going to get out of them."I nodded. “I know.”“She isn’t coming here to surrender,” Killian pressed, tension in his jaw.“I know that, too.”He leaned forward, elbows on the table. “She wants to assess you in person. She’s not satisfied with Sera’s reports. She has to see an Anchor up close.”“I know.” I could feel the weight of his words, but also the certainty in my bones. “And that
Jordan's POV"Shes been sitting outside your room for twenty minutes " Reef said as I walked into the packhouse.I looked at him. "Joanna?""Yes " Reef confirmed. "She came to me first. She said she has something her mother doesn't know she has." He looked at me carefully. "She looked like someone who had been keeping a secret for a time and finally decided to share it."I looked at Killian beside me.Killian looked back at me steadily. "We're in this together " he said quietly."Together " I confirmed.We walked toward my room. Lorenzo was behind us. I turned the corridor and Joanna was sitting on the floor outside my door. She looked up when she heard us coming. Her face looked tired."Jordan " she said quietly."Joanna " I answered. "Come inside."She stood up. I opened the door. We all went in. I sat on the bed. Killian sat beside me. Lorenzo stood by the window. Joanna stood in the middle of the room. Looked at all three of us."My mother doesn't know I have this " she said caref
Lorenzo's POV"I know who it is," I said, my voice low.Killian kept his eyes on me. "Then just say it."Across the clearing, Jordan spoke up, barely above a whisper. "Lorenzo."I met his gaze."Go on," he said.I held his eyes for what felt like forever, all eight years of managing weighing on me. I thought about how just three days ago, I finally put the pieces together, and chose to stay silent—a choice that’s already cost more than I bargained for."It's Sera," I told them, barely louder than before.The whole clearing seemed to freeze.Jordan didn't move. Killian didn't move. Cain straightened off the tree he’d been leaning against, slow and careful. Vael didn't react at all. She already knew—probably had for years. Sixty years of patience makes a person hard to surprise.Jordan just repeated it. "Sera." His voice wasn’t angry—just quiet, deep. It was that tone he got when something reached the marrow."Yeah," I said."Start from the beginning," Jordan said.I nodded, steadying m
Jordan's POV“The forest,” Killian said, careful like he wasn’t sure I’d break. “She’s been in the forest this whole time.”“Yeah,” I said.“While we were having breakfast?”“Yeah.”“While we sat in the kitchen talking about her being gone?”“Yeah.”He stared at me for a good while, lips pressing together. “I honestly can’t tell if I should be impressed or concerned.”“Both,” I told him. “It’s definitely both.”We left the archive, wound through the packhouse, and stepped outside. The forest stretched out beyond the eastern edge, dark and still. My wolf wanted to go, dragging me forward with that quiet, steady certainty he got when I asked about her.Cain fell in next to me. “She does this,” he said, almost a whisper. “Disappears without disappearing. You think she’s gone, so you stop looking. But she hasn’t moved an inch.”“Comes in handy,” I said.“Incredibly inconvenient,” Cain shot back. “If you’re the one looking.”I glanced over. “How long did you know her before everything fell
Jordan's POV"Show us," I urged quietly.Cain looked at all three of us for a moment and then turned and walked toward the archive and we followed him and the packhouse was moving around us with ordinary morning sounds that felt strange against whatever was about to happen in that room.Cain pushed open the archive door and went straight to the second room and I followed and stopped in the doorway and looked at the shelf he was standing in front of.A single folder.Sitting slightly apart from the others the way the ledger had been sitting slightly apart all those weeks ago when this whole thing started."I found it this morning while you were at the council," Cain disclosed carefully. "It was behind the painting before you moved it. Tucked flat against the wall. I almost missed it entirely."I crossed the room and took the folder and opened it.Single page inside.My father's handwriting.I read it once and kept my face completely right and read it again and my wolf went absolutely s
Killian's POV "We start by finding out who is above Callum," Jordan urged quietly. "Tonight. Before they find us first." I looked at him across the table and thought about everything the last twelve hours had cost us and thought about Callum out there with three weeks of information and thought about a sixty year operation that hadn't ended just because one session closed. "How?" I questioned carefully. "The documentation in my parents' room," Jordan answered. "They tracked Callum's network for two years. Every connection. Every territory. Every name." He held my gaze. "Somewhere in those folders is a thread that leads above Callum. My mother was too precise to stop at the instrument without following the chain all the way back." "We've been through most of that documentation," Lorenzo offered carefully. "For the council." "We went through what was relevant for the council," Jordan countered carefully. "We weren't looking for this specific thread when we pulled those folder
Killian's POVShe climbed onto my lap slowly like she'd done it a hundred times before.Put her hands on my shoulders while spreading her thighs and settling her weight down slowly and deliberately…She kept looking at me the whole time like she was daring me to look away first.I didn't look away.
Killian's POV"I don't care what time it is. Handle it."I dropped the phone and rubbed my face.I'd been Alpha for only two days and I was already having a headache..Border dispute with the eastern wolves. Two of my own pack members were caught throwing hands in the training yard before breakfast
Jordan's POV"Fuck.."That was all I managed to say.One thrust and every word I had just left my body completely. My back arched off the mattress and my hands grabbed his arms and my mouth fell open and nothing came out except this broken sound that didn't even sound like me.He moved deep inside
Jordan's POVI didn't even remember falling asleep but the clock said 3:14am and I was already reaching for my shorts on the floor.I had to go."Where are you going?"Lorenzo was propped on one elbow watching me in the dark like sleep was something that happened to other people."It's 3am," I said







