로그인The second Lucien smiled, Cameron moved.“Get everyone back!” he barked.The Alpha command cracked across the training grounds hard enough to shake the air itself.Chaos exploded instantly. Warriors surged forward. Civilians stumbled backward in confusion. Guards began pulling wolves away from the platform while panic spread through the crowd like wildfire.But Lucien never looked at any of them. Only Cameron. His expression had gone terrifyingly empty. Like something inside him had switched off.My wolf snarled instantly beneath my skin.Not Lucien anymore. Or maybe worse - still Lucien, trapped somewhere underneath it.“Lucien,” Cameron said sharply.No response.Then Lucien spoke in a flat, mechanical voice that turned my blood cold. “Command conflict detected.”Mara swore violently beside me."Oh, Goddess. He was conditioned too."Not a mastermind. Not the architect. A victim. A willing accomplice maybe - but still conditioned. That changed everything.Lucien’s breathing became une
The 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
The porch creaked under my feet like it still remembered the weight of a family moving across it every morning. The air smelled like dust, old wood, and something softer - a ghost of a home that should’ve been mine.Kieran pushed the door open.“Ready?” he asked.“No,” I admitted. “But that hasn’t
My paws hit the forest floor like I’d been running on four legs since birth. Wind tore past my fur. Muscles rippled with power I never knew I had. My wolf - my other half - laughed inside me, a deep, rolling joy I felt all the way to my ribs."More" she urged. "Run more."So we did.We sprinted pas
Silas didn’t swear often. So when he inhaled sharply through his teeth and muttered, “Oh, for fuck’s sake..” I knew we had officially crossed into new nightmare territory.Kieran snatched the envelope before I could even blink, eyes scanning the crest stamped in black wax.A thorned circle. A wol
“Oh. Come on…” I sighed, dragging a hand down my face.Rowan, Kieran, Damon, and Silas stood in the foyer like four very judgmental Greek statues carved entirely out of overprotective testosterone. All four noses lifted at once.Wolf super-scent.Fantastic.Kieran’s nostrils flared. “Who is that?”







