Chapter 215
Ben watched my face closely. “She knows.”
“She does,” I said. “And she’s sealing the pack.”
A faint, humorless smile tugged at his mouth. “Good. He won’t get his claws into them tonight.”
A sound carried faintly through the trees.
Voices.
Ben stilled instantly, one hand lifting in warning. We shifted closer to the ravine wall, melting into shadow, bodies pressed low as two figures moved into the clearing above us. I recognized one of them by scent before I saw him.
My breath caught.
Ben went rigid beside me.
“That’s Caleb,” he whispered, barely audible. “I trained him when he was sixteen.”
Caleb’s voice drifted down, low and tense. “We lost them.”
A second voice answered. Older. Controlled. Calm in a way that spoke of authority rather than uncertainty. “They didn’t double back?”
“They did,” Caleb said. “But she turned. She growled.”
There was a pause.
“You felt it,” the second wolf said.
“Yes.”
Another pause, heavier this time, the weight of reassessment settling in. “Then pull back. This changes things.”
“Alpha Silvermen won’t like that.”
A faint, humorless laugh answered him. “Alpha Silvermen didn’t expect her.”
My pulse hammered. Slowly, carefully, I slid my phone from my pocket, shielding the screen with my palm. The glow was muted, barely there. I tapped the record function without looking, angling it toward the voices.
“She wasn’t supposed to be Alpha-blooded,” Caleb said. “He said she’d be human adjacent at best.”
“He was wrong,” the older wolf replied. “And you know what that means.”
Footsteps shifted. Someone else joined them, presence heavy before the voice ever
came.
“Report.”
Every muscle in my body went cold.
Silvermen.
“We made contact,” the older wolf said. “The male escaped with her. One vehicle disabled. No casualties.”
“And the target?”
“She asserted dominance.”
Silence stretched, thick enough to choke on.
Then Silvermen exhaled slowly. “Of course she did.”
My fingers tightened around the phone, knuckles aching.
“She’s more than he told us,” Caleb said. “This wasn’t a rogue.”
“I know exactly what she is,” Silvermen replied. “And that is precisely why she
cannot be allowed to reach Morgan.”
My blood roared in my ears, heat surging beneath my skin.
“Pull back for now,” Silvermen continued. “Let them believe they frightened us off. I will handle the narrative.”
“And the others?” the older wolf asked.
Silvermen’s tone sharpened, steel slipping into his voice. “Anyone who hesitates
again joins the rogues they claim to fear.”
A chill slid down my spine.
“Yes, Alpha,” they answered in unison.
Footsteps retreated. The clearing emptied. The forest resumed its breathing, as if nothing had happened at all.
I stopped the recording and shoved the phone back into my pocket, heart
hammering hard enough to hurt.
Ben stared at me. “Did you get that?”
“I did,” I said. “Every word.”
His expression shifted from shock to grim satisfaction, something dark and resolute settling behind his eyes. That’s his voice. No couner Will deny it.”
“We still need to get out,” I said. “Before they sweep wider.”
Ben nodded. “I know a way.”
He led us downslope toward a narrow cut in the ravine where water trickled over stone, cold and steady.
“Hunters used this he said t
breaks scent. Forces pursuers to split.”
We followed the creek bed downstream, wading through the water until my calves ached and my teeth threatened to chatter, then climbed out onto bare rock where scent scattered uselessly into the night. From there, we moved in Silence, doubling back twice, then
climbing sharply uphill before
circling wide.
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By the time we stopped, dawn was beginning to pale the sky, gray light bleeding slowly into the edges of the world.
I reached for Morgan again, pushing the recording through the bond like a blade.
Her response came instantly.
Clear. Furious. Controlled.
I have it.
Her presence withdrew, already moving pieces into place.
I leaned against a tree, exhaustion finally crashing through me, leaving my limbs
heavy and my thoughts sharp in a dangerous way.
“This isn’t just a lie,” I said quietly. “It’s a purge.”
Ben nodded, eyes dark. “And now he’s been caught in it.”
Somewhere far away, I knew Morgan was listening to the recording again. Hearing
Silvermen’s voice. Hearing the truth unravel.
The war had not started tonight.
But the lie had finally broken.