“I know where he’s anchored now. Northern ridge, half-mile in.” She flexes her hands, still tinged with black residue. “I can find him.”
I process this, weighing options and consequences. There’s no time for half-measures or secrecy.
“We tell the pack,” I say. “Tonight.”
Nova hesitates, eyes calculating. Finally, she nods. “They need to know what they’re fighting.”
I move to the door and hold it open. Nova walks through, back straight despite everything her body just endured.
Together we step into the night, shoulder to shoulder.
Alpha and hunter, preparing for war.
The entire pack is already assembled when Nova and I enter the lodge. All twelve of them—Callum and Ben by the far wall, arms crossed, faces tight. Kari near the window, eyes tracking every movement. Harper by the doorway, hands steady but shoulders tense. Marcus and Derek clustered near the back. Wyatt, Mateo, Reyna, Torres, Elena. Even Kevin has stepped away from the kitchen.
They smell the residual magic on Nova. See the blood still crusting at her hairline. No one asks what happened at the circle. They’ve been waiting to find out.
Rafe lingers in the corner. I nod toward him. “You too.”
He moves forward without argument.
Lyanna enters last, smelling of fresh herbs and protective spells. She closes the door behind her with a soft click.
“We knew Faelan was inside Ash Hollow,” I start, voice even. “What we didn’t know was how deep the infection ran.”
I plant my feet, let my gaze touch each face in the room.
“The aggression you’ve been feeling. The tension. The moments where pack bonds feel wrong or fractured. None of it is random. And it’s not just manipulation through Marcus or secret meetings.”
I pause, letting that sink in.
“He’s been using our pack bonds as conduits.”
The room goes still. Not confusion—dawning horror.
Nova steps forward. Her voice is raw but steady. “When the hikers disappeared, when Jensen and Tomas and Kira went missing near the boundary—he wasn’t just taking them. He was tagging them. Creating access points into your network.”
She looks at each face in turn, no softness in her assessment.
“I saw how he moves through wolves. He’s not breaking your structure from the outside. He’s rewiring it from within. Every bond you share with each other—he’s threaded himself into it.”
“For what?” Ben asks.
“Control,” Nova answers. “He doesn’t need to kill you. He just needs you to stop trusting each other. And the more you fight among yourselves, the stronger his hold becomes.”
The room absorbs this truth without panic. These aren’t civilians. They’re soldiers who’ve been fighting blind and just learned exactly how the enemy has been playing them.
Kari’s jaw tightens. “How do we cut him out?”
“We don’t. We go to him.” I cut off questions before they start. “Nova tracked his anchor point. Northern ridge, half a mile in from the boundary line. He’s been using the elevated position to amplify his connection to the network he’s built.”
“I can find the exact spot,” Nova adds. “His signature is burned into my senses now. He can’t hide from me.”
“We move at dawn,” I say. “This ends now.”
The pack looks to me—not with doubt or fear. With certainty and readiness. Whatever fractures Faelan created, this moment seals them shut.
Ben nods once, already calculating logistics. Callum shifts his weight, combat-ready. Kari’s shoulders set in that familiar, lethal line.
