Chapter 38

[ 993 words ]

Delicate flower

38: 38.

Delicate flower Theo

I can see the moment the reality crashes into Aria.

She stands looking out into nothing, her eyes wide, anxious, and then the dark creeps in.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Aria yells.

“We have to get him back.” She panics.

“They’re going to hurt him. They’re—”

She makes a sound like her words hurt.

I couldn’t hold myself back from wrapping my arms around her in a firm hold.

Not enough to restrict her, but enough to ground her wolf.

I keep my voice calm.

“Liam will be fine.”

She jerks against me like I’ve offended her.

“Fine… fine… he was fucking kidnapped or wolf napped or whatever.”

“Your brother is a lot more capable than you realize,” Barric says.

“That’s not to say we won’t go and get him. We Will. But he’s no delicate flower.”

Kade laughs at the sound, filled with amusement and disbelief.

“Sometimes I forget there’s still a lot you don’t know.”

Aria moves from my hold, and it’s almost torture to let her move away.

She looks at all of us.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Her anger strokes my wolf’s, and he urges me to calm our mate, to let her know we will make sure anyone who upsets her doesn’t make it to the next sunrise.

“Liam is a damn good enforcer with a romance level that makes him a hard male to handle. He’s also ruthless when he needs to be. They may have taken him, but he won’t make it easy on them,” Ronan said.

Aria blinks, and the look on her face becomes unreliable.

Marcus runs up to them.

“Everyone is secure.

We were able to find out where they made the breach; it was by the west gate.”

“Did you scent who they were?” Barric asked

“Wolves from the Nightbane pack,” Marcus states.

“Shit,” I curse.

“We’ve got to move now,” Ronan orders.

“Those fuckers are probably halfway home by now.”

I grab Aria’s hand as we rush to the enforcer building to make a plan.

“Who are the Nightbane pack?” Aria asks as we cross the threshold to the building.

Inside, the enforcers were running around, moving to their assigned positions.

“They’re the closest pack to ours. Let’s just say we don’t have the friendliest of relationships.”

I could tell she wants to ask more questions, but she stops.

“Mercer, Axton, Hudson, and Wray, you’re with us in conference room one,” Ronan called.

Three males and one female turn and immediately head to the room designated for warfare and planning.

We all enter the room, taking seats around the table.

“I assume we’re going on a hunt,” Kiara Axton says, her focus completely on Ronan.

“Those fuckers got some balls trying to start shit,” Marcus states.

Dex Mercer starts chuckling.

“Just wait until Liam starts causing chaos. They’re gonna be wishing they chose someone else in about five minutes.”

He’s right.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that Liam was a Grim with a gift almost as unique as Aria’s.

Now, knowing his mother was a Sypher, it makes a little more sense how he got it.

Liam has the rare ability of a complete merge with his wolf.

We’re her turns not quite human but not quite wolf.

He’s in between.

This beast state gives him a straight and animal instinct that the males, even shifters, weary.

When he’s in that state, the only person truly a match for him is Ronan.

The conference room feels too small for the tension packed inside it.

I stand and walk to the corner of the room, needing movement to tame some of the restless energy inside, while Ronan goes over an initial plan.

Kade stays close to Aria, his hand resting lightly against her back like he’s anchoring her in place.

And Aria…

She’s quiet.

Too quiet.

My wolf shifts under my skin, pacing.

Something’s wrong.

She is worried for her brother, I reply.

She doesn’t know enough about our world.

Enough about herself.

Yeah.

That’s what worries me.

Aria has a lot of ground to cover, and she may not have the time she needs to learn.

Ronan’s voice cuts through the room, steady and controlled.

“Nightbane territory runs along the eastern ridge. Patrols rotate every four hours. We go in between shifts—fast, precise, no unnecessary contact.”

He taps the map spread across the table.

Lines, markers, entry points.

A rescue mission drawn in ink, but it smells like blood already.

“They’re most likely holding Liam here. Everett doesn’t like change, so I doubt his prisons have changed much.” Ronan continues, pointing to a structure near the tree line.

“Old logging compound. Reinforced. Guarded.”

Dex exhales sharply.

“So basically a fortress.”

“Not a fortress,” Barric rumbles.

“A trap waiting to be sprung.”

Silence follows that.

My gaze drifts to Aria again.

She’s staring at the map, but I don’t think she’s really seeing it.

Her arms are wrapped around herself, shoulders tight.

My wolf growls low.

She’s scared.

Of course she is.

Almost every minute in this world has been filled with uncertainty and violence, I say.

But fear isn’t the only thing I see.

There’s something else.

Questions.

Too many of them.

I push off the wall and step forward, breaking the rhythm of Ronan’s briefing.

“Why now?”

Every head turns toward me.

I gesture toward the map, frustration simmering.

“Nightbane hasn’t made a move in six months.

Not one.

No border skirmishes, no challenges, nothing.

We weren’t allies, sure—but we had a truce.”

“A tense one,” Sebastian adds.

“Still a truce,” I snap.

“So why grab Liam now? Why risk breaking it?”

The room stills.

Because that’s the real problem, isn’t it?

This isn’t just an abduction.

It’s a message.

Marcus leans forward, elbows on the table.

“Power play?”

“Or retaliation,” Kiara says quietly.

“For what?” I counter.

“We haven’t done anything.”

Barric’s lips press into a thin line.

“That likely doesn’t matter, though, does it. Word is that Everett has been slipping. Overheard a few of his wolves talking about more frequent outbursts he’s been having over a Henry’s.”

My wolf bristles, not liking the sound of that.

An Alpha going rogue isn’t just dangerous for his pack, it’s dangerous for all of us.

What if he gets brash, makes a scene in front of the humans?

That could be the piece of information the Hunters need to start being more active in this war again.

Kiara speaks, her voice soft but cutting through the tension like a blade.

“What if it’s not about us?”

All eyes shift to her, but hers are on Aria.

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