bCHAPTER /b85

The static faded, and the recording jolted into life–muffled voices crackling through low distortion, then sharpening with rity

b“/bWe need to move carefully,” said a clipped male voice. “The alliance is almost set. Timing is everything.”

Saphira’s spine straightened, as if tugged by invisible thread. Her fingers tensed where they rested against the table’s edge, skin brushing the wood. Her can tuned with surgical precision. She didn’t recognize the first speaker but then the next voice came, and her stomach turned.

Confident. Arrogant. Laced with the kind of control disguised as concern.

The Alpha. Her old one.

She felt Niks shift beside her, not reacting audibly, but his thigh pressed lightly into hers beneath the table: Grounding. Present.

Another voice joined in–calm and slow, with the cold certainty of someone who rarely repeated themselves.

“I trust the pack is clean now?”

Saphira didn’t need to ask who that bwas/b. The Elder’s voice carried that unnerving stillness she’d only heard described in hushed spection–like the bcalm /bbefore a storm you couldn’t outrun.

Then-

“Yesb./b” That voice. t. Familiar. It mmed into her with unrelenting finality.

Lupus. Her fatherb. /b

“We sent thest non–wolf to the Matchmaker months ago,” the recording continued. “She’s gone. Noplications. No more questions. And if she didn’t survive–well. All the better.”

The words fell into the room like daggers. Saphira stopped breathing. bHer /bhands, braced on the table, trembled once–then curled into fists, nails biting the tender skin of her palmsb. /b

She had known, yes. But this… this was different. His voiceb, /bbso /bcasual, so utterly devoid of remorse, echoed louder than any de or bruise ever could.

The room closed in. The walls too tight. The light too loud.

She shoved her chair back in a scrape loud enough to make Raven flinch, and rose with a precision that belied the bchaos /bbuilding in her chest. Without a word, she walked across the office–deliberate and silent–toward the cold, unlit fireceb. /bHer boots thudded softly against the rug, each step a fight not to burn.

Niks was at her side not ten secondster, as if her anger had called to him directly.

He didn’t bspeak /bright away. Just stood nearb, /bclose enough that she could bfeel /bthe heat bof /bhim, but not touching. Letting her hold her own silenceb. /b

“Saphira?” he asked gently, his bvoice /bthreaded with concern.

She turned her head just enough to reveal her jaw–tight, rigid. “That was him,” she said, a brittle edge cracking through the words. “Lupus. My father.”

Niks’s breath shifted, and then his hand was there–settling against the curve of her back. No pressure. Just steady warmth. Solid. Real.

She gripped the mantel with both hands, the stone cool beneath her fingers. b“/bI knewb,/b” she whispered. “I knew what he did. What bhe /ballowed. bBut /bbhearing /bit like that–he didn’t hesitate. Didn’t even pause./I wasn’t a daughter. I was a problem to be cleaned up.”

Niks’s touch became firmer, not pushing anchoring.

“I wasn’t even worth wondering about,” she continued, voice thick with fury barely restrained. “Justb… /bgone. bBetter /bbthat /bbway/b.”

173

bCHAPTER /bb85 /b

A bbeat /bpasserl. bThen /banother.

Behind them, ted cleared his throat. “There’s more, he said gently. b“/bYou need to hear the rest.

Saphira let her shoulders rise with a breath that barely made it past the knot in her chest. Then she exhaled, Enna bContr /b

She released the mantel and turned back to Niks. Their eyes met, and in his, she saw no pity only promise. Steadfast and sweating,

She nodded once. A single act of resolve.

Then without a word, she walked back to the table. The fire behind her hadn’t been lit, but she burned just fine on her own.

Chairs scraped faintly as Saphira and Niks settled back at the table, the silence thick but expectant. Her jaw was still clenched, but the fire behind her eyes had shifted–less raw, more focused. Niks gave her hand a brief squeeze beneath the table, just once, before releasing it.

Jasper tapped his phone again. The recording resumed.

“…the circle is thinning,” came the crisp,posed voice–undeniably the Elder again. “And it’s time to expand. We’ve chosen to fill the openings quietly. Strategically. We’ll take the strongest two from each bloodline. Werewolves. Vampires. Witches.”

Saphira stilled.

Next came a voice she hadn’t realised she was bracing for–the Alpha from her old pack Arrogant. Pompous. “Will they be initiated fullyi?/ii” /ihe asked. “bWith /bthe ancestral rite? The power thates with the bloodline?”

A pauseb. /b

“No,” the Elder said, clipped. Final. “If bwe /bcontinue to dilute the bond with new initiatesb, /bthe bancestral /bconnection will weaken. Their power willpromise ours. That cannot happen.”

Saphira’s lips parted slightly. Not just recruitment. A masquerade.

“But,” the Elder continued, “we need the appearance of numbersb. /bStrength. Bnceb. /bNo one can know they bweren’t /btruly initiated. Not even the bnew /bmembers. They must believe it themselves.b” /b

Niks shifted beside her, his elbow brushing hers lightly. She didn’t nce at him–her eyes were locked to the deviceb–/bbbut /bshe could feel the storm rising in both of them.

Another voice broke through–Lupus.

“Well that’s the problem,” he said, irritated. “You want two vampires and two witches–like bwe /bcan just conjure them out of nowhereb? /bThat’s not how this

worksb./b”

“You agreed to provide them,” the Elder snapped. “Or we find another pure pack to fulfil the pact.”

Saphira’s nails dug into her thigh beneath the table. Another pure pack. Like they bwere /bmodities. Bargaining chips.

Her father’s voice sounded strained beneath its veneerb. /bIt won’t be beasy/bb./b”

“Then make bit /bbeasy/bb,/bb” /bthe Elder said coldly. “Or your position dissolves. And your wolves lose everything.”

The recording faded into static again.

Saphira’s pulse thundered beneath her ribs. This/bwasn’t /bjust corruption. It was orchestration. Smoke and mirrorsb, /bhiding bsomething /bbdeeper/bb–/bbsomething /bancient.

She looked toward Niks.

He was already watching her. No words bpassed /bbetween them—bbut /bin the set of his jaw and the quiet, electric fury bin /bbhis /bbgaze/bb, /bshe bsaw /bbit /bbclearly/bb. /b

b2/3 /b

They were past the line of negotiation. Now came the reckoning.

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