Logan's POV
Victor Blake's message comes during breakfast.
The Alpha is requested for a private meeting in the council chambers. Now.
I don't like Victor. I haven't liked him since the moment I became Alpha seven years ago and realized he was the only council member who didn't bow. He didn't show disrespect but he also didn't show submission. He just watched me like he was calculating whether I was worth his time.
The answer was always no. I was never going to be worth his time because I had something he wanted and I wasn't going to give it to him.
Now he wants to meet about Sophia.
The council chambers are deep inside the compound. Stone walls and heavy furniture designed to intimidate. Victor is sitting at the head of the table when I arrive. He's older than me by thirty years and he carries that age like armor.
"Logan," he says warmly. Too warmly. "Thank you for making time."
"Of course," I respond. I sit across from him and wait.
Victor doesn't start immediately. He pours water from a pitcher and takes a long drink. He's trying to set the pace. Trying to make me uncomfortable by making me wait.
It doesn't work.
"I wanted to check on our young Sophia," Victor says finally. "She's quite the addition to the pack. Quite the surprise."
"She's adapting well," I say carefully.
"That's good to hear," Victor continues. He leans back in his chair and studies me. "How is the training progressing? Is she stable? Can she control her abilities or is she still struggling?"
The questions sound surface level. Concerned. Like a council leader checking on a new pack member. But underneath the words I hear the real questions he's asking.
How strong is she really? Is she a threat? Is she someone I can control?
"She's learning to manage her abilities," I tell him. "Her instinct is excellent. She's strategic and intelligent. She's going to be an asset to the pack."
Victor nods slowly. "That's impressive given her background. An omega suddenly developing such power. It's quite unusual. Does she understand her responsibility to the pack?"
I consider my words carefully. "She's still adjusting to her new reality. But yes, I believe she understands that her power comes with responsibility."
Victor stands up and walks to the window. From here he can see part of the training grounds. He can see where Sophia and Marcus were working an hour ago.
"Of course," Victor says quietly. "Well we'll need to monitor her carefully. New power can sometimes make people unstable. We just want to make sure she doesn't become a liability."
My skin prickles.
"A liability how?" I ask.
"You know how it is," Victor says. He turns back to face me. "Young wolves with sudden power sometimes lose control. Sometimes they become dangerous. Sometimes they need to be contained for the safety of the pack."
He's talking about exiling her. Or binding her. Or worse.
"Sophia is under my personal protection," I say coldly. "She's not going to be contained by anyone."
Victor smiles. It's not a kind smile. "Of course not, Alpha. I wouldn't suggest otherwise. I'm just concerned about the welfare of everyone involved. Including Sophia herself. Surely you understand."
I stand up. The meeting is over.
"I understand perfectly," I tell him. "And I also understand that if anyone moves against Sophia, they move against me. Make sure the council knows that."
I walk out of the chambers without waiting for his response.
Marcus is waiting for me in the hallway. He has that look he gets when something is very wrong.
"We need to talk," he says.
"Not here," I respond. We walk toward my private quarters, checking to make sure no one is following us.
Once we're inside with the doors locked, Marcus tells me everything.
About Sophia's parents meeting with Victor. About the seventeen documented meetings. About the coalition forming against me. About the video evidence of my father being involved in coordinating the rogues.
I listen without interrupting and feel something inside me start to crack.
"They're moving faster than I thought," Marcus says. "Victor's calling an emergency council meeting tonight. The topic is Sophia's status in the pack."
"What does he want?" I ask.
"To either control her or destroy her," Marcus says bluntly. "And if he can do it while undermining your authority, he'll take that as a bonus."
I walk to the window and look out at the training grounds. Sophia should be there. She should be training with Marcus. But Marcus is here with me which means she's with someone else. Or she's alone.
That's worse.
"He's going to propose a binding contract," I realize. "He's going to suggest that Sophia needs to be contractually bound to the pack. That her power is too dangerous to let run free."
"That's one option," Marcus agrees. "Another option is exile. Make her leave the territory. Make her a rogue. Once she's separated from pack protection, the coalition can move against her without it being an act against the pack."
"Who else is in the coalition besides Victor and Sophia's father?" I ask.
"At least three other council members," Marcus says. "Possibly more. They're being careful about who they trust."
I think about Victor's words. New power can sometimes make people unstable. We just want to make sure she doesn't become a liability.
He wasn't talking about Sophia being unstable. He was talking about her being a liability to his power structure. He was talking about her bloodline threatening the authority that men like him have spent decades building.
"Call an emergency council meeting before Victor can," I say. "Two hours from now."
"Logan, that's not going to give us enough time to prepare. That's not going to give Sophia enough time to understand what's happening."
"I know," I say. "But Victor's move is going to come tonight either way. Better to control when it happens than to let him choose the moment."
Marcus leaves to set up the meeting. I stand alone in my quarters and realize that this is the moment everything changes.
I have two hours to figure out how to protect Sophia without destroying the pack. Two hours to position her as valuable instead of dangerous. Two hours to prove to the council that her bloodline is an asset instead of a threat.
Two hours to stop myself from doing something that would make me just like them. Something that would involve using her as a tool instead of seeing her as a person.
My phone buzzes with a message from an unknown number. Another video.
This one shows the council members meeting in secret. Victor is presenting a document. A contract. Terms for Sophia's binding.
The document includes clauses that would essentially make Sophia a prisoner. A slave. Bound to the pack and to whoever the council decides should control her.
The video ends with Victor saying something that makes my blood burn.
"Once she's bound, we can use her power however we see fit. The Alpha won't be able to protect her because she'll legally belong to the pack, not to him."
I realize in that moment that the threat to Sophia is more serious than I thought. And I realize something else.
I'm about to go to war with the council over a girl I've known for less than a week.
The girl I'm completely obsessed with.
My security team arrives and tells me that Sophia has gone missing from the training grounds. Marcus can't find her anywhere in the compound. Her room is empty. Her belongings are still there but she's gone.
I feel panic move through my chest like ice water.
"Find her," I order. "Search every inch of this compound. Every building. Every underground passage. I want her found in the next thirty minutes."
But even as I'm giving the orders I know what's happening.
The coalition moved faster than anyone expected. They didn't wait for the council meeting. They didn't wait for anything.
They took Sophia.
And if I don't find her before Victor uses her as leverage, everything is about to fall apart.