LOGINJasmina woke up at dawn with a plan, six days to prove herself to Marcus. Six days before he came back with threats or worse.
She couldn't waste time. Lyanna was already in the training yard when Jasmina arrived. The older woman looked tired but determined. "We're doing this differently," Lyanna said without preamble. "No more trying to suppress the baby's magic. That's impossible. We work with it instead." "How?" "ByStefan's casualty report came at 0510.She read it in the command room with her hands on the desk and took it in slowly.Four wounded seriously. Fourteen with minor injuries. No deaths.She read the last line twice.No deaths.Three battles. She'd lost three people in the first. Zero in the second. Zero now.She put the report down and pressed her palms flat on the desk for a moment. Just that. Feeling the surface of the desk.Then she stood up and went to work.---Gareth was being held in the secured room in the main building's east wing.Stefan had put two warriors on the door—not as a formality, as a practicality. A wounded Alpha in a room was still an Alpha.She went at 0630, after the medical team had assessed him.He was sitting on the floor against the far wall with a bandage on his right shoulder and a split above his eye that had been stitched. He'd shifted back from wolf form during the fight and taken a significant hit to the shoulder before Damoew had brought him down.He
They came at 0300.Not four days. Not two days.Thirty-six hours after Fenwick called.The scouts at the eastern ridge sent the signal at 0247—three short bursts on the radio, the code for confirmed movement, large force, eastern approach. Jasmina was already in the command room. She'd slept in two-hour intervals since the briefing and she'd been awake for the last one.She picked up the main radio."Stefan.""I have it." His voice was alert and flat. "They're moving fast. He accelerated.""Crossing team in position?""Confirmed at 0215." He'd positioned them early. Of course he had. "Eastern woodland second line confirmed at 0230."She stood up and looked at the map.Ash Crossing was four kilometers from the main compound. In the silence before a battle four kilometers felt like nothing."Numbers?" she said.A pause—he was listening to something else. "Scout says 180 minimum. Could be 200. They're coming in column, not spread."Column formation for a river crossing. They'd funnel at
The briefing ran at seven in the evening. Not just the leadership—everyone. Warriors, alliance fighters, support staff, the senior women's council members who weren't on the warrior roster but would be managing civilian movement if the compound came under pressure. Two hundred and forty people in the main yard.Jasmina stood at the center.She didn't use notes."Three days ago I received intelligence that Gareth of Ironwood was accelerating his timeline," she said. Her voice carried across the yard the way it always carried now. "This morning the last piece of his coalition defected. By tonight he knows that." She looked out at the yard. "He'll move. Probably within forty-eight to ninety-six hours."The yard was very quiet."You know what's at stake," she said. "We've held this territory twice. The third time is different. He's not coming with a coalition that has political standing to lose. He's coming with contracted warriors and Ironwo
Sunday came cold and clear.Jasmina was in the office at eight. Elara had the morning brief at nine but she'd moved it—told Elara to push it to eleven, she needed the morning.She sat at the desk and worked through the supply line documentation Jetstar had been building. It was thorough—six weeks of elevated operation covered, formal agreements with four of the six alliance Alphas already signed, two more pending. She signed the pages that needed her signature and set them in the return folder.She looked at the radio.Fenwick had said Sunday. She hadn't said what time.She worked.---The call came at ten-seventeen.Fenwick's voice was different from Friday—more resolved. The tiredness still there but under it something that had settled."I talked to my senior council," she said."And?""They want what I want." A pause. "They also want my word that you can deliver the recognition. Not a promise—a realistic assessment.""Realistic assessment: I've supported two recognition applications
Fenwick called on a Friday evening. Jasmina was in the nursery. Kira had been fussy for the past hour—not magic, just a baby having a bad evening—and she was walking her slowly around the room while Damoew sat in the corner chair with the patience of a man who had learned that sometimes the walking was the only thing.The radio on the side table crackled.Jetstar's voice: "Alpha Supreme. There's a call on the direct line. She says her name is Fenwick."Jasmina stopped walking.Damoew was already on his feet, hands out, taking Kira without being asked.She went to the radio.---Fenwick's voice was not what she'd expected.She'd built a picture from the intelligence reports—an isolationist Alpha, twenty-plus years managing Harrow's neutrality, deliberate and careful and hard to read. She'd expected someone guarded.Fenwick sounded tired."Alpha Supreme," she said."Alpha Fenwick." Jasmina kept her voice neutral. "I wasn't expecting this call.""I know." A pause. "I heard about the Gree
Ord called on a Wednesday. Not his Beta, not an intermediary. Ord himself, direct line, which meant he'd either done his research and found the Alpha Supreme's administrative channel or someone had given it to him. From the way Vincent had been working the situation, she suspected the latter.He introduced himself—Alpha of Greenveil Pack, sixty-one years established, affiliate council status. His voice was the voice of a man in his late forties who was holding himself very carefully."I know about your support letter for our recognition application," he said."Good.""I want to understand why."She'd expected this. "Because your territory is being used as a payment promise in a conflict you withdrew from. You deserve protection that matches the situation you're in."A pause. "We withdrew quietly. We didn't make a statement.""I know.""Gareth—he hasn't taken any action against us directly. Not yet." Ord's voice was careful. "I'm concerned that talking to you changes that.""Talking t
They knelt in the dirt. Both unable to stand. Both refusing to yield. Meredith pushed through the crowd. Ran to Jasmina. "The baby's in distress," she said. Hands on Jasmina's stomach. "Heartbeat is there but weak. Fading." "Can you help?"
Marcus came at her again. Slower now. Hurt but determined.Jasmina backed away. Buying time. Thinking.The magic surges were destroying her. Each one drained energy she didn't have. Each one hurt the baby.She couldn't rely on them. Couldn't let the baby keep reacting to threats.Which meant she ha
Dawn broke over the combat circle, Jasmina stood at the edge, waiting. Heart pounding with the baby kicking.The pack had gathered. Hundreds of wolves watching. Silent. Tense.Erik stood as witness, holding the Old Codes book.Lyanna was at the front with Elara and her women. Theo looked pale. Jets
Day two before Marcus's deadline brought a surprise. Alpha Erik from Northern Frost arrived unannounced. No delegation this time. Just him and two guards. "Erik," Jasmina said, meeting him at the gates. "I wasn't expecting you for another month."







