LOGINChapter 144BIANCAHe was carrying something. A small bag, canvas, worn at the strap in the way that meant it had been used constantly and handled with the particular intensity of a child who didn't separate easily from objects they'd decided were important.I recognized the bag.I'd bought it for him at a market stall eight months ago, before everything, because he'd seen it and pointed at it with the wordless urgency of a child who doesn't yet have language for wanting something. It had been red then. It was still red, faded now at the edges, one of the strap buckles replaced with something that didn't quite match.He'd kept it. Matthew had kept it for him.My throat closed.Theo moved to a section of the playground near the far fence—not the climbing equipment, not the open space where most of the children were running, but a quieter corner near a low bench where there was a small patch of level ground. He set his bag down with the careful
Chapter 143KLAUS"Yes. The full information needs to come from someone he has reason to trust and context to understand. Klaus Blackwood from BloodMoon City is—" I paused. "He has no reason to trust me beyond the fact that I have resources and I called. That's not enough for what he actually needs to know." "Tell me what you know about the preparation work Voss is doing. Specifically what she's building, what it will look like from a magical signature standpoint, and what I'd need to do to counteract it."This was what I'd hoped for and expected. Bianca operating as the resource she was—not as the object of everyone's protective instincts but as the person best equipped to address the specific problem at hand.I pulled up Roy's documentation and began walking her through it.We worked for ninety minutes, until Lucian appeared in the doorway looking like a man who'd also not slept, followed shortly by Elijah and Mikael and Roy in various states of early-morning functionality.By five
Chapter 142KLAUS"I'm going to tell her everything tonight," Lucian said. "About the call with Matthew, about Thorne's positioning, about where Voss is. And then I'm going to tell her the thing I've been holding back since she arrived in this city."I didn't need to ask what he meant. There was only one thing left, and we both knew it."Lucian," I said. "It's time.""I know." A long exhale. "Klaus, if she leaves after—if she decides she can't—""Then you will have been honest, and she will have made an informed choice," I said. "Which is all you ever owed her." I paused. "But I don't think that's what happens. I've watched her with you. With Louis. With the life she's built here. That doesn't disappear because the foundation turns out to be more complicated than she knew.""You can't know that.""No," I admitted. "But I can observe evidence and draw reasonable conclusions. And the evidence suggests that Bianca Morrison is not a woman who makes her choices based on convenience or simp
Chapter 141KLAUSLucian needed to tell Bianca about the call with Matthew before she found out from any other direction. She was already planning to go to Silver Moon territory. She was already, I suspected, further along in her decision-making than she'd been willing to say to Lucian on the phone earlier today. If she arrived at that assembly operating on information that didn't include this conversation, if she made decisions based on an incomplete understanding of what groundwork had been laid—My phone buzzed. Elijah.*Lockwood's movements for the past six hours tracked. He left BloodMoon City at fourteen hundred, driving toward Silver Moon territory. Took secondary roads rather than the main route. Arrived at a location seventeen kilometers outside Silver Moon pack boundary approximately two hours ago. Currently stationary.*I read the message twice.Thorne had left the city before I'd even made the call to Matthew. Had been positioning himself in Silver Moon territory for hours
Chapter 140KLAUSHe was sharper than I'd been giving him full credit for. The therapy had done more than improve his parenting—it had apparently cleared some of the self-absorption that had been obscuring his analytical instincts.I made a decision in the space of two seconds, which was about as long as I could reasonably pause before he read the pause itself as information."The intelligence we've shared is accurate," I said. "The threat to your son is real and you're right to take it seriously." I kept my voice even, informational, the tone of someone confirming rather than warning. "What I'd ask is that you continue to prepare for the assembly as planned. Don't change your announced schedule, don't alter the guest list, don't take any actions that would suggest you've received specific intelligence about particular attendees." I paused. "My office is managing some related matters in parallel. Your cooperation in maintaining normal appearance will be more helpful than additional pr
Chapter 139KLAUSThe secure line to Silver Moon territory connected on the third attempt, which told me either Matthew Morrison had screening protocols in place or he'd been fielding enough unexpected calls in the past forty-eight hours that he was developing selective answering habits. Both would have been reasonable responses to his current circumstances.I was alone in the war room. Lucian and Bianca had gone to put Louis to bed together—a domestic ritual that had become important in ways that went beyond routine, especially in the past few days when Louis had been waking with nightmares and needed both of them present. Elijah had stepped out to coordinate with the expanded security team. Mikael was somewhere in the building running financial trace work.Just me, the secure line, and the particular stillness of a room that had been full of urgent people for three days straight.Matthew Morrison answered on the fourth ring."Alpha Morrison." I kept my voice level, professional, the
Chapter 43.BIANCAIt had been a week since Rivera brought me to his home, and for the first time since waking up in that hospital bed, I felt almost human again.The dizziness had faded to occasional lightheadedness. The nausea had subsided enough that I could eat without feeling like I might imme
Chapter 42MATTHEW Over the next few days, I found myself watching Mia with different eyes. Noticing things I'd dismissed or ignored before.How quickly she'd moved into my home after Bianca's death. How she'd taken over the master bedroom without asking, had moved her clothes into the closet wher
Chapter 47MIAI stood in the kitchen of the house I'd dreamed about for over a year, surrounded by expensive appliances and I felt nothing but hollow frustration because I had it and still I wasn't satisfied.This was supposed to be my victory. My triumph. This took thirteen months or careful and
Chapter 46BIANCA When we pulled into the driveway coming back from grocery shopping,, Rivera was waiting on the porch, waiting for us with a smile on his face which immediately shifted to that of concern when he saw my face."What happened?" he asked, moving down the steps to help with the grocer







