JACK’S POV

The television shattered against the wall of my quarters in Silverpine hard enough to send sparks bursting across the room.

Glass exploded across the floor. One rogue by the door flinched and lowered his gaze before I could turn my fury on him next.

On the screen—before I destroyed it—Seraphina Blackthorne had stood beneath the lights beside Kieran as if she belonged there.

Calm.

Controlled.

Untouchable.

‘This is your last chance, Jack. Stop hiding behind innocent rogues and own up to your crimes.’

My jaw clenched so violently it hurt.

I grabbed the nearest chair and hurled it across the room. It crashed into a metal shelving unit hard enough to dent steel.

“I should have killed that bitch when I had the chance,” I snarled.

Nobody answered.

Nobody was stupid enough to.

The rooms my father had shoved me into in Silverpine’s lower compound reeked of oil, rust, damp concrete, and fear.

The underground section of the pack territory had once been used for military storage decades ago, before Marcus converted portions of it into hidden operational space.

Now it was where I was hiding from the world.

How fucking fitting.

Men moved carefully around me, pretending to focus on weapons inventories and transport manifests while avoiding direct eye contact.

Cowards.

Every last one of them had started acting like prey ever since Kieran’s announcement.

I could smell it on them—anxiety, doubt, the sickening instinct to survive by abandoning ship the moment pressure started mounting.

The worst part was that Seraphina had done it brilliantly.

That damned runt had taken the narrative right out of my hands.

Before her press conference, people had been afraid enough to lash out blindly.

Rogues were angry. Packs were angry. Humans were angry. The whole damn world had been one push away from chaos.

Chaos was useful.

Chaos buried tracks and muddled evidence.

But then she stepped in front of the cameras and drew a line so cleanly that now every rogue with half a brain was starting to distance themselves from me instead of rallying behind me.

Jack Draven the trafficker.

Jack Draven the terrorist.

Jack Draven the enemy.

I slammed my fist into the wall. Concrete cracked beneath the impact.

“That manipulative bitch,” I hissed.

A low voice came carefully from behind me. “The northern routes are collapsing.”

I turned slowly. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The rogue messenger almost swallowed his tongue.

“Explain.”

“The border contacts are pulling out,” he said quickly. “Some of them are burning records before allied forces can raid them. A few safehouses already emptied overnight.”

Because they were scared.

Because Kieran Blackthorne had finally stepped into the light publicly instead of fighting through whispers and hidden retaliation.

Because Seraphina had made it politically safe for people to betray me.

And they had the nerve to give me a fucking ultimatum.

Three days...

Rage burned hotter in my chest.

I should have fucking killed her when I had the chance.

It would have been so easy, too.

She’d been so weak, so vulnerable, so breakable before she transformed into this impossible thing standing beside Nightfang like a queen born for war.

I should have snapped her neck before Kieran ever had the chance to turn her into a symbol.

The thought barely settled before the doors at the far end of the underground room opened.

The rogues around me stiffened instantly.

Marcus entered first.

My father carried silence with him the same way Kieran carried authority. Heavy. Absolute. Suffocating.

Two Silverpine wolves followed behind him, both members of his personal guard, but they remained near the entrance instead of approaching directly.

Marcus did not look angry—which was bad.

My father’s anger was predictable and manageable.

But when his expression turned cold and bland, I never knew what was coming next.

“Your temper tantrums were always expensive,” he said mildly, glancing toward the destroyed television.

I laughed sharply. “You’re worried about a fucking television right now?”

“I’m worried about your incompetence.”

The room went still.

My wolf surged beneath my skin. It was dangerous to lose control in front of my father, but I was too furious to care.

“You saw the press conference,” I snapped. “You saw what they’re doing.”

“Yes.”

“They’re choking the routes, freezing accounts, raiding warehouses—”

“And?”

The single word hit like a slap. My hands curled into fists.

“And?” I echoed incredulously. “That’s your response?”

Marcus looked at me for a long moment, and suddenly I felt fourteen again.

Bleeding. Bruised. Standing in front of him after my first failed operation, while he explained calmly why weak wolves died.

Why I would die.

“Your problem,” he said evenly, “is that you keep confusing noise with power.”

I took a step toward him, and one of the guards tensed. I ignored him. My wolf was so riled up that the slightest scent of a threat and the broken television would be the least of my father’s problems.

“Lend me troops,” I demanded. “Enough to move aggressively. I’ll rally the rogues still loyal to us and crush Nightfang before they finish consolidating.”

Marcus stared at me like I had said something profoundly disappointing.

“You think this is the time for open war?”

“It’s already war.”

“No,” he said coldly. “This is positioning.”

My pulse hammered violently.

“Positioning?” I barked. “Kieran’s dismantling everything we built!”

“Not everything.”

His calm made me want to tear the room apart.

“He’s turning the public against us,” I snarled. “Even rogues are starting to panic.”

Marcus remained unmoved.

“Public opinion is temporary.”

“Maybe,” I shot back. “But fear isn’t temporary. That shit grows and mutates, and once it gathers enough momentum, I’ll be finished.”

For the first time, something sharpened faintly in his gaze—annoyance.

I pressed harder.

“Give me enough men to strike first,” I said. “We hit their supply lines. Their communications. Their outer patrols. Make the allied packs bleed before they finish organizing.”

Marcus’s voice dropped lower.

“And then what?”

I bared my teeth. “Then we rip Kieran Blackthorne apart and make Seraphina watch.”

Silence stretched.

Then Marcus sighed.

“You’re so fucking emotional,” he said.

“I’m reacting appropriately to a threat.”

“You’re reacting like a wounded wild animal.”

The insult hit its mark, and my wolf lunged inside me.

The nearest lights flickered from the surge of pressure exploding out of me.

“You think I’m weak?” I growled.

“I think you’re impatient.”

“Who gives a shit about patience when Seraphina Blackthorne is turning the entire continent against us!”

At her name, something ugly flashed through me again.

White hot hatred.

I hated that she kept surviving.

Hated that every time someone tried to break her, she came back stronger.

Hated the way people looked at her now.

Like she was something righteous. Something worthy.

I spat onto the floor. “I should’ve carved her fucking heart out.”

“And yet you could never quite manage to.”

The new voice drifted smoothly through the room.

Lucian.

I hadn’t even heard him enter.

He stood near the far hallway, dressed entirely in black, his expression unreadable beneath the dim industrial lighting of the underground compound.

My irritation sharpened further.

There was something wrong with him now, different from the last time I saw him.

Something restrained.

Something hollowed out beneath the surface.

Even his movements seemed controlled, as if invisible chains bound his throat and limbs.

His eyes settled on me calmly.

“You underestimate Sera and Kieran if you think you can storm their fortress with some rogues and come out victorious.”

I barked out a harsh laugh. “You sound awfully biased toward her.”

A flicker crossed his expression so quickly most people would have missed it.

But I saw it.

Interesting.

Marcus’s gaze shifted toward Lucian briefly before returning to me.

“You will not attack Nightfang,” Marcus said. “You will do nothing but stay here and wait for my instructions.”

My temper finally snapped.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” I roared, the pressure from my wolf exploding outward hard enough to rattle the metal shelves again.

Several rogues backed away immediately. One actually stumbled.

Good.

Fear felt better than weakness.

“We are bleeding resources while you sit here with your thumbs up your ass!” I shouted. “You and Catherine keep talking about your stupid covert plans while Kieran gains more allies every day!”

Marcus’s eyes darkened. “You speak as though you understand the full scope of what is happening.”

“I understand enough!”

“No,” he said. “You don’t.”

A red haze tainted my vision, and I felt the telltale sting of my claws piercing through my skin. “Then make me—”

I froze as a chill slid down the back of my neck.

My wolf jerked fiercely beneath my skin.

I turned sharply—

Lucian stood closer now, his gaze locked onto mine with eerie stillness.

“Jack,” he said quietly.

Every instinct I had screamed. I moved instantly, lunging toward him—

Pain detonated inside my skull, and my vision fractured violently. The room tilted sideways.

“What—”

My knees hit the floor hard enough to crack concrete. Rage exploded through me immediately.

“You—”

The next wave hit harder.

My thoughts tangled. The room blurred at the edges.

I tried forcing my wolf forward, but something icy wrapped around my mind and dragged downward.

Suppressing. Binding.

Lucian’s expression remained horrifyingly calm.

“What did I say about acting out of line?” he said softly.

‘....Whether you can stay in line long enough not to become a problem again. Feel free to act out of line; it’ll be my pleasure to set you straight.’

I snarled and tried to rise.

The floor swayed beneath me, and I dropped to my knees again. My limbs suddenly felt too heavy.

“Get...out...me...” I slurred.

The pressure inside my head thickened like drowning in black water.

Through the haze, I heard Marcus moving.

Boots against concrete.

Steady.

Unhurried.

He stopped beside me, but I could barely focus on him anymore.

“You lack discipline,” he said. “But you are the curse I have to bear.”

I couldn’t formulate a response more than a snarl.

I hated him.

In that moment, I truly loathed my father.

“Leave him," he said. "Let him sleep it off. We need to go now. Catherine is ready for you.”

“For what?” Lucian asked quietly.

Marcus answered, “The experiment has reached its final stage.”

Cold unease cut faintly through the drugged fog swallowing my mind.

I tried forcing myself upright again, but nothing obeyed properly.

The last thing I heard before unconsciousness swallowed me completely was the sound of footsteps retreating deeper into Silverpine’s underground compound.

And my father’s low murmur to Lucian: “It’s finally time for your true contribution.”