“One escaped,” Jaxson said, his voice rough, his hands clenched tightly together. “The other…we found him.”
Silence. Not the peaceful kind—the kind that made your skin crawl. I watched the alpha across from me, and I could see the pain.
“They took the young to cause panic, confuse them, distract them,” Diesel murmured.
Killian leaned forward. “Why didn’t you go to the Pack Council?”
Jaxson’s beta laughed darkly. “We did.” His eyes burned with hot anger. “We sent an official request for aid. Investigation. Something!”
Jaxson placed his hand on the male’s arm. “Tariq.” His voice was calming. The male took a shaky breath and then nodded. Jaxson looked back at me. “We asked. Ibeggedthem to help us.”
“And they ignored you?” I asked.
Tariq leaned in, anger boiling over with fury. “They told us rogue attacks are a ‘natural correction.’ That weak territories fall and strong ones survive.”
Diesel’s growl was low and lethal. “They said that?”
“Yes,” Tariq replied. “And they threatened Emberfell withsanctionsif we pressed the issue.”
I felt my vision narrow. “The Pack Council punished you for asking for help?”
Jaxson nodded. “My father stepped down. I stepped up.” He licked his lips. “Which is why I’m here. If they want our territory cleared the way they cleared the others, then my pack is already dead if we go back.” His jaw set. “I’d rather keep my pack whole and together than worry about standing ground as we are.”
Rowen’s voice was soft but steel-edged. “Why Blueridge Hollow? Why us?”
Jaxson didn’t hesitate. “Because Dex saw what they tried to do to you in that Pack Council chamber. Because he watched the Pack Council flinch when the land responded to you two.” He looked between us, eyes as fierce as his beta. “Because whatever is happening isn’t about strength. It’s about control. And you two,” Jaxson said quietly, “are the first crack in their authority in decades.”
My teeth ground together. “I don’t seek to overthrow anyone,” I told him coldly.
“I know that,” Jaxson agreed. “But you disrupt the control they want to maintain, and Dex watched them when you were there, and he told me the only thing that’s given me hope since they took my son from me.” He ignored Rowen’s gasp. “You,” he said, voice like ice as he held my gaze. “Youterrify them, and I will stand beside the alpha who strikes fear into their black souls, and I will help you cut every last one of them down, Alpha, if you let me. Name what you need done, my pack will do it.”
Rowen’s hand slid onto my thigh under the table, grounding me. Grounding herself. We knew what the alpha had just offered me—more than loyalty.Surrender.
Killian cleared his throat. “How many have you lost?”
“Twenty-eight.” Tariq’s voice was as gruff as his attitude, but I found his harsh honesty refreshing.
Diesel took a step forward, standing to the side of me, so I could see him. “And you ran?”
The air sucked out of the room.
“No,” Jaxson snapped. “We didnotrun. Wesurvived. There’s a difference between cowardice and strategy.”
Diesel’s grin was sharp. “Good answer.”
“I offer my condolences for your loss,” I said carefully. “For the loss of your son.” My hand gripped Rowen’s knee. “Just to be perfectly clear, are you telling me the Pack Council is intentionally allowing small packs to fail?”
“No,” Jaxson corrected, leaning back. “They’re directing the fall.” His look was sharp. “And you already know it.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine. I leaned back, fingers steepled. “You want refuge. Fine. You’ll have it. But if you know something—anything—that can help me understand why they want this territory emptied, now is the time.”
Jaxson exchanged a look with his beta. Then he said the one thing I did not want to hear. “It’s not just territory they’re after.”
Rowen’s spine straightened beside me. “What, then?”
Jaxson held my gaze. “You’re not stupid, Wolfe. They know exactly what the Hollow contains. They’re after the land itself.” His next words scraped across the air like cold steel dragged over a whetstone. “And they’ll burn every packbetween here and the mountains to get it. Including you with it.”
The silence that followed resonated with the impact of his statement. Even the air seemed to shift—it felt thinner and heavier—bowing under the weight of what he’d said.
