“Theo briefed me on the basics,” Lucian said, his voice tight. “How many?”
“Five that we've identified,” I said, pulling my phone from my pocket and bringing up the images Theo had sent me. I passed the phone to Lucian, watched his face harden as he scrolled through each photo. “Could be more. They've been conducting surveillance since at least noon today, probably longer.”
Lucian's jaw clenched. “They know she's here.”
“Yes.” The single word tasted like ash. I'd promised Jasmine safety, and now her nightmares were literally watching our building. “The question is what they're planning to do about it.”
“We could grab one of them,” Lucian said, handing my phone back. “Bring them in quietly, and have a conversation about why watching our building is a bad idea.”
I considered it. The appeal was immediate, but it was reactive, emotional. Not strategic.
“Not yet,” I said, pushing off from the desk and moving to the windows. The city spread out below me, and I tracked the angles,trying to see where the watchers would be positioned. “We need to understand what they're planning first. Grabbing one of them tips our hand, lets them know we're aware of the surveillance.”
“They have to assume we'll notice,” Theo said, his voice a low rumble. “Five people watching a building this aggressively? They're not trying to be subtle.”
“Exactly.” I turned back to face them, my mind working through the possibilities. “So, either they want us to know they're there, or they don't care. Both options suggest they're confident about whatever they're planning.”
Lucian shifted his weight, his hands tightening on the chair back. “So, we watch them watching us.”
“We watch them,” I confirmed. “Covert observation. I want to know where they go when they leave here, where they're staying, and who else is with them. Every detail we can gather.”
“I can arrange that,” Lucian said, already pulling out his phone. “I know people who specialize in this kind of thing. Discreet, professional. They'll never know they're being followed.”
“Do it.” I moved back behind my desk, needing the solid wood between me and the violence I wanted to commit. “And pull everything you can on Bane's pack. Financial records, property holdings, legal issues. Anything that might give us leverage.”
Theo stepped forward, his posture aggressive despite his controlled tone. “We should confront them. Make it clear that coming near her again is a death sentence.”
The bluntness of it should have surprised me, but it didn't. Theo's protective instincts had always run toward direct action, toward putting his body between threats and what he cared about. It was effective, usually. But not always smart.
“And if we confront them and they escalate?” I asked, keeping my voice reasonable even though I wanted the samething he did. “If they decide to move up whatever timeline they're working on? If they try to grab her before we're ready?”
Theo's jaw worked, but he didn't answer.
“We need information first,” I continued, gentler now. “Once we know what they're planning, understand the full scope, then we can act. Decisively. Permanently.”
The word hung in the air between us, heavy with implication. Lucian's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't object. Theo's expression shifted from frustrated to grimly satisfied.
“Permanently,” Theo repeated, and it sounded like a promise.
I nodded and then turned my attention back to the immediate concerns. “Until we have that information, we go into full protection mode. Jasmine doesn't go anywhere alone. Not to the studio, not to the lobby, nowhere. One of us is with her at all times.”
“She's not going to like that,” Lucian observed.
“I don't care.” The words came out harder than I'd intended, but I didn't soften them. “Her comfort is less important than her safety right now. We can deal with her feeling trapped after we've eliminated the threat.”
Both of them nodded, understanding. This wasn't about making Jasmine happy. This was about keeping her alive.
I walked around my desk, leaning against the front edge, and looked at both of them. My pack. The men I'd trust with my life, with everything that mattered. “We protect what's ours,” I breathed. “Whatever it takes.”
“Whatever it takes,” Theo echoed, and Lucian murmured his agreement.
The moment settled over us, a pact sealed in shared fury and protective instinct. Then I straightened, reaching for my phone again, and pulled up a contact I hadn't called in over a year.
“I need to make some calls,” I said, my voice dropping to something colder. “Pinpoint who we're dealing with and what leverage we can use against them.”
Lucian and Theo exchanged a look, and something passed between them. Recognition maybe, of what I was about to do. They'd seen me like this before, seen me pull strings and apply pressure in ways that made problems disappear. But never for something this personal. Never with this much fury driving me.
“We'll coordinate the security details,” Lucian said, moving toward the door. “And start the background surveillance.”
