Calix POV
"One million dollars for my mate's head."
I say the words out loud, testing how they feel. They taste like ash and fury.
Kieran stands in my office, still holding the tablet with Corvin's smug face frozen on screen. "Every bounty hunter, rogue pack, and desperate wolf in the world will be coming for her."
"I know."
"We can't protect her from everyone, Calix. Our fortress is strong but not impenetrable. If enough wolves attack at once—"
"Then we make it impenetrable." I stand, moving to the weapons wall. "Double the guards. Triple them. No one gets within a mile of this fortress without us knowing."
"That's not a long-term solution."
"Then what do you suggest?" I spin on him. "Let them take her? Let Corvin win?"
Kieran holds up his hands. "I'm on your side. But we need to think strategically. Corvin just painted a target on Sable's back. He's turned her into public enemy number one."
"By lying. She didn't steal those artifacts. She's not a traitor."
"Doesn't matter. Most wolves will believe him. He's a respected Alpha. She's a nobody—sorry, but it's true. No pack affiliation now. No allies except us." Kieran sits heavily. "We're outnumbered a thousand to one."
The mate bond pulses in my chest. I feel Sable through it—exhausted, scared, but still fighting. Still standing despite everything trying to break her.
She's stronger than Corvin ever deserved.
"Then we even the odds," I say.
"How?"
Before I can answer, the door crashes open. Stellan storms in, fury radiating off him in waves.
"Did you see it?" he demands. "Did you see what that bastard just did?"
"The bounty? Yes."
"Not just the bounty. He's claiming Sable murdered pack members during her escape. Saying she's dangerous. Unstable." Stellan's fists clench. "He's making her into a monster so no one questions killing her."
My wolf snarls beneath my skin. The mask feels too tight suddenly. I want to rip it off, shift fully, tear Corvin apart with my bare hands.
But I can't shift fully. Haven't been able to since the wolfsbane torture seven years ago.
Another thing Corvin took from me.
"We need to respond," Stellan continues. "Put out our own statement. Tell the truth about what happened."
"No one will believe us," Kieran says. "We're rogues and exiles. Corvin controls the narrative."
"Then we change the narrative." The voice comes from the doorway.
Sable stands there, still in the bloodstained clothes from the Council facility. She should look weak. Broken. Instead, she looks like a queen preparing for war.
"You should be resting," I say.
"I'm done resting." She walks into the room. The twelve rescued children trail behind her like ducklings following their mother. "These kids told me something interesting while Vesper was treating them."
The smallest one—a boy maybe five years old—steps forward. "The Council lady talked about you. Said you were important. Said lots of wolves would want you dead."
"She also said—" a girl with copper hair continues, "—that someone paid them to capture you specifically. Paid a lot of money."
My blood runs cold. "Who?"
The children look at each other nervously. Finally, the copper-haired girl speaks. "A pack Alpha. She had pictures of him. Said he wanted you brought to him alive."
Sable's face goes white. "Corvin."
"No." The boy shakes his head. "Different Alpha. Older. Mean eyes. The lady called him..." He scrunches his face, trying to remember. "Stone something."
"Stoneheart?" Kieran suggests.
"Stoneclaw!" the boy says triumphantly. "Alpha Stoneclaw."
The name hits me like a physical blow.
Remus Stoneclaw. High Alpha of the Northern Territories. One of the most powerful wolves in the world.
And he wants Sable.
"Why would Stoneclaw want her?" Stellan asks the question we're all thinking.
"Because she's Nightborn royalty," I say slowly. "And Stoneclaw collects powerful wolves like trophies. Forces them to fight in his arena for entertainment."
Sable's eyes narrow. "He buys Nightborn wolves from the Council?"
"He's one of their biggest customers. Has been for decades." I turn to the children. "Did the Council lady say anything else?"
The copper-haired girl nods. "She was mad because you escaped before they could deliver you. Said Stoneclaw would be angry. Said he paid extra for you because you're a..." She pauses, uncertain.
"A breeder," another child finishes quietly. "He wanted to breed you. Make more Nightborn wolves he could control."
Sable makes a sound like a wounded animal. I move toward her instinctively, but she holds up a hand.
"I'm fine." Her voice is steel. "Just processing that I was going to be sold as breeding stock."
"You're safe now," I assure her.
"Am I? There's a million-dollar bounty on my head. A High Alpha wants to buy me. The Council wants to kill me. And Corvin—" Her voice breaks slightly. "Corvin just convinced the world I'm a monster."
She's right. And I don't have a good answer.
"We fight," Stellan says simply. "We gather allies. Build an army. Take the fight to them instead of waiting for them to come to us."
"With what army?" Kieran asks. "We have maybe two hundred wolves total. Corvin alone commands a thousand. Stoneclaw has five thousand. And if other packs join the bounty hunt—"
"Then we don't fight wolves with wolves." Sable's eyes are distant, calculating. "We fight them with information."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
She looks at me. "Corvin framed me for theft. But I know where the real Moonstone Tears are. Maris took them. I saw her hiding them in her chambers weeks ago. I didn't say anything because I thought—" She laughs bitterly. "I thought I was being paranoid."
"If we can prove Maris stole them—" Kieran's eyes light up. "—then Corvin's whole story falls apart."
"Exactly. He said I stole the artifacts. But if we show proof that Maris has them, then he's either a liar or an idiot who let his own mother commit treason."
"Either way, his reputation is destroyed," Stellan finishes. "Good. But how do we get proof?"
Sable smiles. It's not a kind smile. "We break into Maris's chambers and take pictures."
"That's suicide," I say immediately. "The pack house is heavily guarded now. You can't just—"
"I can." She touches her chest where the mate bond sits. "I'm bonded to you now. That means I can use our connection to mask my scent. Make myself smell like a rogue nobody would recognize."
I didn't know that was possible. But then again, our bond isn't normal. The forced completion, the Nightborn bloodlines combining—we're in uncharted territory.
"Even if you can mask your scent," I argue, "you'd need to get past guards, security systems, other wolves—"
"I'll go with her." Vesper appears in the doorway, still wearing her tracking collar. "I know that pack house. Spent years there before my exile. I can get us in and out."
"Why would you help after betraying us?" Stellan demands.
"Because my daughter is somewhere in the Council's facilities. And the fastest way to find her is to destroy the Council's funding." Vesper's jaw sets. "Stoneclaw funds half their operations. If we expose him, the Council loses their biggest supporter."
"And other wolves might think twice about hunting Nightborn," Sable adds. "If they know a High Alpha has been buying us like cattle."
The plan is insane. Risky. Probably going to get them both killed.
But it might work.
"No," I say anyway. "I won't risk you."
"It's not your choice." Sable's eyes flash violet. "I'm not your possession, Calix. I'm your partner. Equal. Remember?"
She's right. I hate it, but she's right.
"Fine. But you take backup. Kieran goes with you."
"Deal."
We spend the next hour planning. Routes. Timing. Contingencies. The children are moved to a secure room with armed guards.
As everyone prepares, I pull Sable aside.
"If this goes wrong—" I start.
"It won't."
"But if it does, promise me you'll run. Don't try to be a hero. Just run."
She studies my masked face. "Why do you care so much? You barely know me."
"Because you're my mate. Because the bond—"
"No." She steps closer. "The bond is new. You cared before that. In the Wastes. You saved me before you knew what I was."
She's asking why I care. Why I risked everything for a stranger.
I should lie. Keep my distance. Protect what's left of my heart.
Instead, I tell the truth.
"Because when I saw you in those woods, broken and ready to die, I saw myself seven years ago. After the exile. After the torture. I was ready to give up too." I reach up, touch my mask. "Someone saved me that day. Gave me a reason to keep fighting. I wanted to do the same for you."
Sable's eyes shimmer with unshed tears. "Who saved you?"
"A little girl. Maybe six years old. I found her in the Wastes, abandoned by her pack for being too weak. I saved her, brought her here, gave her a home." I pause. "Her name was Lyra. She died two years ago. Sickness we couldn't cure."
"I'm sorry."
"She made me promise before she died that I'd keep saving people. Keep giving second chances." I meet Sable's eyes. "You're me keeping that promise."
Sable opens her mouth to respond when alarms blare throughout the fortress.
Kieran's voice crackles over the intercom. "We have incoming! Multiple vehicles! They're not slowing down!"
We rush to the command center. Screens show twenty trucks racing toward the fortress. Armed wolves hanging off the sides.
"Bounty hunters," Kieran says grimly. "That was fast."
"How many?" Stellan demands.
"At least two hundred. Maybe more."
Two hundred wolves. All coming for Sable.
"Get her to the safe room," I order.
"No." Sable's power flares. Frost forms on the windows. "I'm done hiding."
"Sable—"
"They want the Nightborn Queen?" Her eyes blaze full violet now. "Then let's show them what a queen can do."
She walks toward the main doors.
I follow because I'm her mate and where she goes, I go.
But as we reach the entrance, one of the children—the copper-haired girl—runs up to Sable.
"Wait! I remembered something else!"
"What?"
"The Council lady said Stoneclaw was coming himself. Said he wanted to see you in person." The girl's voice drops to a whisper. "She said he's your grandfather."
The world stops.
Sable goes absolutely still. "What?"
"Your mother's father. The lady said that's why he wants you so badly. You're the last of his bloodline."
I look at Sable. At my mate who's just learned her grandfather—a monster who buys and sells wolves—is alive.
"That's impossible," she breathes. "My mother's family died in the Nightborn Wars. Everyone said—"
The fortress shakes.
Not from trucks.
From something much bigger.
Through the windows, I see him.
A wolf the size of a bear. Pure silver fur. Eyes like burning coals.
Remus Stoneclaw.
And he's brought an army.