Nicholas’s POV
Finn knocked at his office door around eight thirty that morning.
He entered and then sat down across the desk.
"Talk," Nicholas said immediately he sat down.
Finn put a folded piece of paper on the desk.
Nicholas didn’t pick it up, he just stared at Finn.
"I got into Shadowmere through Cael," Finn said. "Old contact. Owes me. He gave me access to the informal channels....the pack networks, the gossip boards, the back room conversations that never make it into official records." He paused. "It took me two days but I found the thread."
"And...." Nicholas said.
"The posts are coming from inside Shadowmere. That much we already knew." Finn leaned forward slightly. "But it is not a rogue pack member venting. It is not someone with a grudge looking for attention." His eyes were steady. "It is organised. Deliberate. Someone who has been building this narrative carefully for weeks. Maybe longer."
Nicholas said nothing but he gestured to him to continue.
"The account that posted the sixth post," Finn continued. "The one claiming Victor was false-fully accused and then murdered. I traced it back through three proxy accounts to a single origin point." He nodded at the paper on the desk. "That is the name."
Nicholas picked up the paper and unfolded it.
He read it twice, then he dropped it back on the table.
"You are certain?" he asked.
"Yes," Finn said. "Cael confirmed it independently. Two separate sources pointing to the same person."
Finn pursed and took a long breath.
"Nicholas, this person has been inside Shadowmere pack for years. Had direct access to the records. Knew Victor personally." He held his Nicholas’s gaze. "This is not a stranger. This is someone who was close to that family."
Nicholas looked at the name on the paper.
"Is Garrett aware of this?" Nicholas asked.
"I don’t think so," Finn said carefully. "Cael says Alpha Garrett has been trying to trace the posts himself. Someone is operating inside his territory without his knowledge or blessing." A pause. "He is not going to be happy when he finds out."
"No," Nicholas said. "He won’t be."
He looked at the name again, and thought about what it meant, about the connection it represented.
"Does Callum know yet?" Nicholas asked.
"I came to you first," Finn said.
"Good." Nicholas folded the paper and then put it inside his drawer. "I want Callum and Eli in my office in twenty minutes. He looked at Finn directly. "And Finn...."
"Yes Alpha."
"Good job," Nicholas said.
Finn nodded once, stood up and moved toward the door, but he stopped before opening the door.
"There is one more thing," he said and then turned back to look at Nicholas.
Nicholas looked up from the document he had picked up.
"This person," Finn said carefully. "The one behind the posts." He paused. "They are not just building a narrative about her father’s crime." He held Nicholas’s gaze. "They are building toward something bigger, each post is a step. The service records. The murder claim. The details about the family."
Finn took a deep breath and then said "Cael thinks the next post....if there is one...will mention her by name. Full name. And it will mention the mark."
The room went very quiet.
"They know she has been marked?" Nicholas asked.
"Yes," Finn said. "Someone talked. Someone inside our territory or close enough to it." He exhaled. "I don’t know who yet. But they know."
Nicholas sat back on his chair. his fingers tapping the desk.
Someone knows they have marked Victor’s daughter, which means the clock... already ticking, just got louder.
"Find out who talked," Nicholas said. His voice came out completely even. "Make it your priority."
"Yes Alpha," Finn said.
He walked out and pulled the door shut behind him.
***
Nicholas sat by himself inside the office long after Finn left.
He stared at the wall but didn’t really see it
He thought about the name on the paper.
He thought about what that name meant, and It’s connection to Lilith’s family.
He knew she meant it when she told him she trusted him and would wait for him to tell her the truth when he is ready.
He could feel Kael pacing inside him. "She needs to be safe first," Kael said.
"Yes," Nicholas replied.
"But Nicholas..." Kael started.
"What?" Nicholas replied.
"Keeping her safe and lying to her are not the same," Kael said. "You know that.
"Nicholas didn’t answer.
Because Kael was right.
He looked out the window and thought about everything coming.
And everything he still had to do before it got here.
***
Lucian’s POV
Lucian had been awake since two in the morning.
The curse was sitting on him like something physical tonight. Not the usual feeling that feeling he had learned to manage over the years. This was different. Sharper. Like something pressing from the inside out. Like Zev throwing himself against a wall that was getting thinner every night.
Lucian had tried training. Two hours on the bag until his knuckles bled.
Tried running. Three full laps of the territory border in the dark.
Tried sitting in his room with a glass of whiskey he did not touch.
Nothing worked.
Nothing ever worked on nights like this.
He found himself standing in the corridor outside Lilith’s room at four thirty in the morning without remembering deciding to go there. His feet had simply taken him. His body moving toward her the way it had been trying to move toward her for days now.
He stood at the door, contemplating if he should open it or not.
His hand stayed on the frame of the door for a long time while he Just stood there.
The corridor was completely dark and completely quiet now. The estate sleeping around him. No sound except the distant night birds outside and his own breathing and the weight of Zev pressing steady and insistent in his chest.
"Go back to your room,"Lucian told himself.
Zev said nothing.
Just pressed harder as if telling him to go inside, as if to say that he was doing the right thing.
Then her scent hit him through the gap under the door.
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