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“He recruited them specifically because he knew their loyalty wasn’t as long-standing as some others.” Mia’s eyes move to the map, contemplative. “Which means he has someone on the inside, feeding him names. Who’s vulnerable. Who’s dissatisfied. Who can be flipped or frightened.” Her voice stays level, but I can hear the controlled fury beneath it. “He's not just building an army outside our walls. He’s already inside them.”

The room erupts into overlapping voices—Dutch and Razor talking over each other, Donahue asking about a security audit, Andy conferring with Lexi and typing on her tablet.

Grey raises a hand, and the noise subsides.

He looks at Mia. “We’re on a hiring freeze until further notice. No new names added to the patrol schedule.”

“Agreed.” She looks at Donahue and Camila, who nod.

“Nash,” Lexi says, turning every head toward me. “Did you see his pack members when you met with them? Or have you done any research on them on your own?”

The room is completely silent, like they’re all hoping I have the answers they don’t.

Marcus and I exchange a look because they aren’t going to like those answers. “From what we could gather, most of his new pack is made up of disaffected wolves,” I say. “Vincenzo's former arms buyers whose supply chain died with him. Franco loyalists who fled after the leadership change. Anyone who built their livelihood around the old regime and now has nothing to show for it.” I pause. “He’s not promising them ideology. He’s promising them wealth. Territory. A return to the way things were. Most of his pack is willing to fight to get that back.”

“The way things were was a nightmare,” Camila says flatly.

“For good people,” Donahue reminds her. “Not for the people who were profiting from it.”

“So, he’s one step ahead on everything,” Razor says in disbelief.

No one has an answer for that.

“We have a lot of data,” Mia says. “Wolf recruitments. Abandoned camps. Broken ward lines. We just need to figure out which intel is a distraction and which is a clue.”

Mia moves to the map on the wall—pointing out new ward line outages, patrol grids, the gaps they’ve been working to close. I watch her work and feel something tighten in my chest that has nothing to do with tactics.

She runs this room without forcing her own authority. She just has it—the kind that comes from being the most prepared person in any space she occupies, from never asking anything of anyone she hasn’t already done herself. Grey and Lexi lead this pack. Mia is the architecture it runs on.

Marcus shifts almost imperceptibly beside me. I don’t look at him, but it’s clear he’s noticed me watching her. I already know he’ll file it away and bring it up at the worst possible moment later.

“I still can’t believe that fucker managed to become an alpha,” Dutch gripes. “He’s the least likely of all of us to be strong enough for something like that.”

Razor mutters his agreement.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” I say. “When we met, his alpha wolf was unmistakable, but there was something off about it. Natural alpha dominance has a particular weight to it. Consistent. His had edges and unpredictability. Like something assembled rather than inherent.”

The room is quiet in a different way.

Then Dutch swears. Loudly.

“What if he got his hands on the serum?” Razor asks everyone and no one.

Every person at the table goes still.

Marcus clears his throat in a prompt of confusion, and I ask what we’re both wondering. “What serum exactly?”

Grey and Lexi exchange a look. She nods, and he turns to me and says, “Franco spent the last few decades secretly funding a lab where he developed and tested a serum that activated what’s called the LAG gene.”

“Basically, the fucker tried to lab-rat himself into becoming a super alpha,” Dutch adds.

“And it worked?” I ask, startled. Partly at the idea that this tech exists and partly because I’ve never heard of it. Which is a problem for the guy who runs a company that prides itself on knowing what everyone else in the wolf community doesn’t.

We deal in secrets, and the one they just dropped is a jackpot.

“Yes and no,” Grey says slowly. He glances at Lexi again, and suddenly their immense power makes perfect sense to me.

“You both took the serum,” I realize.