تسجيل الدخولThe operations room stayed silent for exactly three seconds after Lucien Vale’s name appeared on the damaged screen.Then Cameron turned and walked out. Every wolf in the corridor moved out of his way instantly. Even the guards looked uneasy now. Because everyone in Blackridge knew Commander Lucien Vale. Respected him. Trusted him.He had served the pack for over twenty years. Trained half the military division personally. Stood beside Cameron’s father during the border wars. And after his death Lucien had practically helped raise Cameron into the Alpha role.Which meant one thing. This betrayal cut deeper than any of the others.Mara hurried beside me as we followed Cameron through the eastern corridors. “Please tell me we’re not about to witness an Alpha-induced public execution.”“I honestly don’t know.”“That is not comforting.”No. It wasn’t.Cameron stopped only once - outside the central command stairwell. He looked toward one of the guards.“Find Lucien Vale.”The wolf straigh
The problem with fear was that it spread faster than truth. By midday, Blackridge had transformed into a fortress holding its breath.Security checkpoints blocked every major corridor. Patrols doubled across military sectors. Officers were being reassigned faster than records could update. And somewhere beneath all that controlled order - the guilty were panicking.Which was exactly what Cameron wanted.I stood beside him on the upper command balcony overlooking the central operations floor while wolves moved below in sharp, tense patterns.Nobody relaxed around an Alpha lockdown. Especially not soldiers.Cameron rested both hands against the iron railing, expression unreadable as commanders crossed the lower level carrying stacks of reassigned personnel files.“You’re waiting for them to react,” I said quietly.“Yes.”His answer came instantly. No denial. No softening. Straight truth. My wolf watched him carefully beneath my skin. He was still dangerous. But not cruel. That differenc
The silence in the office lasted exactly one heartbeat after the guard spoke. Then Cameron moved.“Who was on holding detail?” he asked.The guard swallowed. “Two internal security wolves and one medic.”“Names.”The guard listed them quickly. I watched Cameron’s face carefully as each name landed. No visible reaction. But something sharpened behind his eyes during the second one.He knew them. Or recognized something about them.“Where are they now?” Cameron asked.“One unconscious. One missing.” The guard hesitated. “The medic is dead.”Cold slid down my spine. Mara muttered a curse under her breath.“How?” I asked.The guard looked pale. “Neck snapped.”The room went still. Not because of the violence. Because Elias wouldn’t have done that unless he believed he had no choice. Or unless someone else had forced the situation.Cameron grabbed the dark coat draped over the back of my chair and handed it to me without even looking.“Come on.”I blinked. “You just told me to rest.”“I ch
Cameron didn’t answer immediately. He just watched me. Still. Focused. Dangerous in that quiet way of his that always made the room feel smaller.“That reaction is exactly why I didn’t want to say it out loud in the hallway.”“Good instinct,” Cameron said absently. His attention never left me. “Explain.”I moved toward the desk again, pulling one of the archive folders closer as I spoke.“Elias survived too long underground without support,” I said. “Food, water, access codes, medical supplies. Someone kept him alive.”Cameron nodded once. “I reached the same conclusion.”“Then there’s the drawer.” I tapped the edge of the file lightly. “It wasn’t hidden properly. It stood right on the sight.”Mara snorted softly. “Which sounds ridiculous considering it was hidden inside a creepy underground archive vault.”“But not enough,” I continued. “Not if the goal was permanent concealment.”Cameron’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You think the files were planted for discovery.”“I think someone wan
The hallway outside the archives felt too warm after the cold underground air. Or maybe it only felt that way because my nerves were still stretched too tightly beneath my skin.Mara walked beside me in silence for exactly twelve seconds. Then she muttered, “So. That was horrifying.”I snorted softly despite myself.“Insightful.”“I’m serious.” She adjusted the ice pack against her shoulder with a grimace. “Your pack has secret sleeper wolves, illegal conditioning experiments, dead children buried in forests, and apparently somebody murdered Cameron’s father.”“When you say it out loud like that, it really ruins the atmosphere.”“The atmosphere was ruined when Elias started speaking like a possessed military manual.”Fair.The upper corridors were quieter this late at night. Most of the pack had already retreated to their quarters, unaware that the foundation beneath Blackridge had just cracked open. Or maybe not unaware. Maybe some of them knew exactly what was happening.That though
Nobody spoke after that. The archive seemed to inhale around us.Even the guards near the door had gone perfectly still, like instinct alone told them they had just heard something they were never supposed to hear."So they killed him." The words kept echoing in my head.Cameron’s father hadn’t died because of politics. He had been removed. Because he knew. And somehow, impossibly, Cameron stayed standing through that revelation like the floor beneath him hadn’t just cracked open.Only his eyes betrayed him. I didn't saw grief., but calculation. Fast. Cold. Dangerous.He was already rebuilding the past in his head. Reexamining every story. Every missing detail. Every silence that had never made sense before.Elias shifted suddenly in the containment chair. The restraints rattled softly. Instantly every guard tensed. Cameron’s attention snapped back to him.“Easy,” he said.The command settled through the room automatically. Controlled. Firm. And Elias obeyed. That frightened me more t
The mansion loomed through the trees like it always did - solid, immovable, pretending it hadn’t just watched us disappear into the woods and come back changed.We walked the last stretch in silence.Not the awkward kind. The settled kind. The kind that came after something decisive, something that
Veyne didn’t bother with pleasantries.“You overstepped.” he said the moment we entered the Council chamber.The doors boomed shut behind us, sealing the sound like a verdict. The room smelled like old paper and older grudges - ink, dust, and the faint metallic tang of blood. That was really peculi
They announced it at noon.Of course they did.The great hall was dressed for ceremony - banners restored, long tables cleared, the old stone floor polished until it reflected light like a mirror. Witnesses arrived in waves: Alphas, Betas, ranked wolves from packs that had learned long ago that abs
I learned something important that day: power doesn’t announce itself with shouting. It pauses. It waits. And then it steps forward when everyone else thinks the moment has passed.The great hall was still buzzing when Cameron and I finally broke away. Conversations snapped shut as we passed. Eyes







