Cade's POV
Cade's hands were steady as he spread the photographs across the council table.
Photo one: Victoria meeting with Silas Cross in an abandoned warehouse. Photo two: Victoria handing him a folder. Photo three: Victoria getting paid. Money changing hands. Betrayal caught in image.
Jaxon had brought them an hour ago. Evidence that his scouts had gathered over the past two days. Evidence that proved everything Cade had suspected about his Luna was true.
She was a spy. A plant. An infiltrator sent to destroy him.
"This can't be real," Marcus said, but his voice wavered. The pack council leader was sixty years old and had served three Alphas before Cade. He knew what these photographs meant. He just didn't want to accept it.
"It's real," Jaxon said quietly. He stood against the wall with his arms crossed. His Beta stance. Ready for anything. "My scouts have been following her for three days. She's been in contact with Silas Cross at least five times in the past week. She's stealing information from your office, Cade. Security protocols. Territory maps. Protection spell locations."
Cade didn't say anything. He just kept looking at the photographs. At Victoria's face in that warehouse. At the expression on her face when she handed over the folder. She'd looked happy. Proud. Like she was accomplishing something important.
The full moon was tomorrow. The hunt was scheduled for tomorrow night. And somewhere out there, Silas Cross was preparing his attack.
"We need to cancel the hunt," Marcus said. "We need to keep everyone on pack grounds. We need to keep this quiet and handle it without causing panic."
"No." Cade's voice was ice. "If we cancel the hunt, the pack will know something is wrong. They'll start asking questions. They'll get scared. They'll lose focus. Silas is expecting us to be unprepared. He's expecting a normal hunt where our wolves are scattered across the territory."
"Then what do you propose?" Marcus leaned back in his chair. He looked like he'd aged five years in the past hour.
"We hunt like normal," Cade said. "But we're ready. Every wolf knows to be ready. We strengthen the borders. We position fighters at the perimeter. We make it look like a normal hunt but we're actually preparing for war."
Jaxon nodded. He'd already understood the plan. "How long do we have?"
"Twenty-four hours. Maybe less. Silas won't wait much longer. He's had the information now for days. He'll want to move before anything changes."
Marcus stood up and walked to the window that overlooked the pack grounds. Wolves were moving around normally. Training. Eating. Living their lives without knowing that war was coming. Without knowing that their Alpha's mate was a traitor.
"You can't do this without telling the pack," Marcus said finally. "They deserve to know what's coming."
"They'll know when it matters," Cade said. "Right now they need to act normal. They need to hunt normally. Because if Silas has scouts watching us, if he sees that we're panicking, he'll change his plan. He'll come at us differently."
Cade stood up and moved to the door. "I want every border guard doubled. I want fighters positioned in the forest near the hunting grounds. I want weapons hidden in strategic locations. And I want every single wolf on this pack to receive a message that tomorrow night, they hunt ready for anything."
"And Victoria?" Jaxon asked.
Cade's jaw clenched. "She stays in the pack house. Under guard. I don't want her near the hunt. I don't want her near anything that matters."
He left the council room and moved through the pack house with purpose. There were things that needed to happen. Things that needed to be organized. There were three hundred wolves who needed to be warned without panicking. There were territories that needed to be secured. There was a war that needed to be prepared for in less than a day.
But underneath all of that, underneath the Alpha role and the leadership decisions and the military strategy, there was something else burning inside Cade. A desperate, aching pull through the mate bond toward Rowan.
She was miles away. Still running from him. Still blocking him from the connection between them. But through the fractured bond, he could sense something. Could sense that something was coming. Could sense that the universe was about to change everything.
He reached out through the bond, pushing through her mental walls. Just for a moment. Just to try to warn her.
Run, he tried to communicate. Whatever you're doing, wherever you are, get somewhere safe. Something bad is coming.
For a second, just one, he felt her respond. Felt her fear spike. Felt her understanding that something had shifted. Then she slammed the wall back down between them.
Cade kept moving. He sent messages to every border guard. Silent alerts that told them to prepare without spreading alarm. He positioned fighters in strategic locations across the territory. He made sure that when Silas Cross tried to flood into Stone Pack land, his wolves would be ready.
The hunt would happen tomorrow night. The moon would be full. And Cade's wolves would be prepared for anything.
He was in his office reviewing final preparations when Jaxon burst through the door.
"A scout just came in from the northern border," Jaxon said. His voice was tight. Controlled. The voice of a Beta who was trying not to show panic. "Cade, there are intruders."
Cade stood up slowly. "How many?"
"Multiple packs. They're not trying to hide. They're moving fast. They're already crossing into our territory."
The words hit like an explosion. Cade moved to the window. In the distance, he could see movement. Wolves. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. Flooding across the northern border like a tide.
Not tomorrow. Tonight. Silas was attacking tonight.
Cade's wolf surged to the surface. This was what he'd been preparing for. This was the moment everything changed.
"Sound the alarm," Cade commanded. "Call in every wolf. No more hiding the preparation. Full mobilization. Every fighter to the borders. Every non-combatant to the safe houses. This is war."
Jaxon was already moving. Already pulling out communication devices. Already sending the messages that would alert the entire pack.
Cade watched the wolves flooding across the border and felt something shift inside him. The mate bond pulled harder. Through the distance, through her mental walls, through every barrier she'd built between them, Cade felt Rowan sense his danger.
She was coming back. Not because the bond was forcing her. But because somewhere deep in her chest, in the part of her that was still tied to him, she understood that he needed her.
The hunt began not under the full moon but in darkness.
And somewhere on a distant highway, Rowan Mitchell felt the call through their fractured mate bond and made a decision that would change everything.