LOGINThe 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
By the time we secured Elias, the archive no longer looked like a records room. It looked like a battlefield. Shelves lay twisted across the floor. Papers covered the stone like snowdrifts. One wall had cracked where Elias slammed into it, exposing dark lines beneath the concrete.And in the center of it all sat a man who should not have existed.Elias leaned against the reinforced containment chair Cameron’s guards had brought down from the upper level. Heavy steel restraints locked around his wrists and chest - not because Cameron believed Elias was a monster, but because nobody in the room trusted whatever had been built inside him. Not even Elias himself.He sat bent forward slightly, breathing unevenly. Human again. Mostly. But every now and then his fingers twitched like invisible strings were pulling at them.Mara stood near the broken shelves with an ice pack pressed against her shoulder, glaring at anyone who looked at her too long.“I’m fine,” she snapped for the fourth time
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
The lake held us.Not gently - but completely, water pressing close, cool and secretive, as if it knew exactly what it was hiding. Cameron’s arms were locked around me now, no space left, no hesitation. Every breath we took was shared, every heartbeat echoed through the bond until I couldn’t tell w
The forest around us seemed to shrink, to vanish entirely, leaving only the lake, the mud, and him. The sunlight bounced off the water, glinting like fire across his skin as he knelt beside me. His hand hovered near mine, teasing, testing, a promise rather than a touch. I shivered under the weight
By the time we reached the mansion, night had fully settled over Vale lands.Not the peaceful kind. The kind that watches.Blackridge prisoners were transferred under full containment - silver chains doubled, runes humming low and angry, four warriors per Alpha at all times. They were taken below t







