Once the silence eased, Rafe spoke first.“We heard the news and have to know if it’s true.Kamon.Rune.Have you really resigned from the ESE?”
Rune inclined his head.“It’s true.We pledged our fealty to Black Ridge.Our blood is theirs now.”
Dorian narrowed his eyes.“And that’s what you wanted?To trade one brotherhood for another?”
Kamon answered firmly.“No trade.No loss.Just growth.We wanted to belong where our mate belongs.This is where we’re needed.”He cast his eyes at the ESE members and landed on their leaders.“But if you have need of us, call.As long as it is all right with our Alpha, we will come.”
Jackson leaned forward, his grin edged with mockery.“And here you are.Playing house with a Pride.What’s next, boys?Book club meetings?Knitting circles?You actually have to ask permission to go on missions?That’s why we will never swear fealty to anyone.”
Kamon bristled, his tiger roaring in his chest.“Back off, Jackson.We’re here because we chose this.We pledged.With blood.”
Kieran didn’t move, didn’t raise his voice—he simply fixed Jackson with a glare so sharp it might have flayed skin from bone.The effect was instant.Klarissa watched, wide-eyed, as Jackson actually trembled under the weight of it, sweat beading at his brow.The room pulsed with the silent battle of dominance.
Rune leaned closer to her, voice pitched low.“That’s Kieran exerting his dominance.Telling Jackson his lion is bigger, meaner, and not to fuck him off.”
Jackson cursed, then slowly bared his throat in submission.“Fine.Fuck.Point made.”
Caleb barked out a laugh.“Serves you right, little brother.Maybe next time you’ll think twice before running your mouth.”
The tension eased with that, though the undercurrent of dominance never truly faded.Then Victor Hrytsenko cleared his throat.“Enough posturing.We came for more than greetings.You need to know what we found.”
Ivan stepped up beside him.“Columbus.The crime scene.And a few others since then.You’re going to want to hear this.”
The room fell silent again, all eyes turning toward the ESE bears and their allies.Klarissa’s stomach knotted as she braced herself.Whatever they had brought with them, it wasn’t going to be good.
Victor’s deep voice carried across the room like rolling thunder.“The scene in Columbus was worse than you heard.Eight wolves, dead within minutes.Three humans—two waitresses and a trucker—collapsed at the diner where the pack was eating.No chance to save them.”
Josie’s hand flew to her mouth, eyes wide.“God...”
Klarissa’s chest squeezed tight.She’d seen the data reports but hearing it aloud—hearing the weight in Victor’s tone—made it real in a way lines of code never could.
Ivan’s jaw ticked as he added, “It wasn’t just death.The toxin left a trace, a signature.Same base compound your father’s been working on, Klarissa.But it’s refined.Controlled.Someone’s perfecting it.”
Her stomach dropped.“Refined how?”Her voice came out smaller than she intended.
Victor’s eyes softened, just slightly.“Less collateral damage than we expected.Humans weren’t supposed to die.Wrong dosage.Wrong dispersal.He’s getting closer.”
Violet slammed her palm against the table.“Closer?That bastard’s already too damn close!People are dead—shifters and humans both!”
Rafe spoke then, calm but edged with steel.“It’s not just Columbus.We’ve tracked similar chemical signatures at two smaller sites—one outside Lafayette, another in Crescent City.Both written off as freak accidents by human authorities.But we know better.”
The room went very still.Even Kieran’s lion seemed to coil tighter under his skin, dominance vibrating in the silence.
Klarissa’s thoughts whirled.Three sites.Progressing faster than she’d calculated but heading in this direction.Her fingers itched for a keyboard, to tear apart the data again, to find the flaw before it was too late.
Jackson muttered, “Sounds like a war’s already started.”
“No,” Kieran said, his voice a growl.“That was a warning shot.War comes when he brings it to our doorstep.”His gaze flicked to Klarissa, hot and sharp.“Which he will.”
Her pulse thudded in her ears.He was right.She could almost feel Caruso’s shadow stretching toward them.
Josie reached across the table, her hand brushing Klarissa’s.“We’ll be ready.He doesn’t get to win.Not this time.”
Klarissa nodded, but inside she wasn’t so sure.She knew the formula, the way the compounds could be shifted, altered, and weaponized.If her father really had perfected it—if he had taken her beginnings and turned them into endings—the cost could be higher than any of them imagined.
Dorian leaned forward, his wolf sharp in his eyes.“Then we stop him before he tests it again.He’s escalating.That means he’s close to deployment, here in Chicago.”
Caleb Holt folded his arms.“Question is, who the hell is helping him?No way one man refines that compound without a lab and serious backing.”
