Aria's POV
Aria writes down the security code to Kael's study with hands that shake.
1-7-4-2. The numbers mean nothing. They are just symbols. They are just information. But her hand trembles as she enters them into the encrypted device hidden inside her pillowcase and sends them to Silas.
This should feel like victory.
She has been in the pack for five days and she already has access to the alpha's private space. She has the guard rotation schedule. She has documented the patrol routes. She has mapped out the pack house layout and identified the weak points in the security system.
Every piece of intelligence is exactly what the Council wanted.
But she does not feel victorious.
She feels like she is suffocating.
Aria hides the device and lies back on the bed that smells like Kael because he was just here, holding her, kissing her, telling her how much she means to him. Just minutes ago he left to attend a pack meeting and her first instinct was to betray him.
The thought makes her want to scream.
During the day, she plays the role perfectly. She wakes beside Kael and smiles at him. She touches his face gently and acts like waking up next to him is the greatest gift in the world. She attends pack dinners and speaks kindly to the females and listens to their stories about their families and their lives.
She even means it.
That is the problem.
She means every smile. Every kind word. Every moment of genuine interest when someone tells her about themselves. She is not acting when she holds the alpha female's hand and tells her she is grateful to be part of this pack. She is not performing when a young boy shows her his training wounds and she asks him to teach her some of his moves.
But the moment darkness falls and Kael leaves her room, the other Aria wakes up.
The trained one.
The operative.
The weapon.
She moves through the pack house documenting everything. She photographs documents. She records guard conversations. She notes which entrances are guarded most heavily and which ones are vulnerable. She gathers intelligence like it is a hunger she cannot satisfy.
And every moment of it makes her sick.
Two nights ago, she stood in Kael's study while he slept. His security files were right there, full of information about the pack's defenses. About supply lines. About the location of the emergency safe house where the young wolves are protected during threats.
She photographed every page.
She sent the images to Silas.
And then she went back to bed and lay beside Kael while he slept and she wanted to claw her own skin off.
Because all she could think about was how trusting he looked in sleep. How peaceful. How completely vulnerable to the woman lying next to him who was actively betraying him.
Aria sits up and presses her face into her hands.
Her phone buzzes with a message from Silas. Just words but they feel like ice water in her veins.
"Excellent progress, Aria. Your mission timeline is accelerating. Prepare for extraction within two weeks. The Council is ready to move against Blackthorn territory. You have done well."
Two weeks.
In two weeks, she is supposed to leave this place. Leave Kael. Leave the pack that has started to feel like home. Leave the only people who have ever made her feel like she belonged.
The door opens.
Aria jumps and hides the device under her pillow.
Vale stands in the doorway. Not Kael. Vale, with his kind eyes and his loyal expression and his complete trust in her because his alpha trusts her.
"Kael sent me to check on you," Vale says. "He is concerned that you are spending too much time alone."
Aria stands and tries to arrange her face into something that looks normal. But Vale is watching her carefully and she can see that he sees something is wrong.
"I am fine," she says. "Just tired from all the introductions."
Vale steps into the room and closes the door. His expression shifts. It becomes harder. Less kind.
"I need to tell you something," he says quietly. "Not as Kael's second. But as someone who cares about him."
Aria's heart stops.
"I have known Kael since we were children," Vale continues. "I watched him lose his parents. I watched him build walls so high that nothing could ever hurt him again. I watched him reject the idea of mates because he believed the cost was too high."
He pauses and his eyes bore into hers.
"Then you arrived," he says. "And for the first time in fourteen years, I see my alpha actually happy. I see him believing in something he said was impossible. I see him putting his entire trust in you."
Vale steps closer.
"And I can feel something is wrong," he says. "I do not know what it is. But my wolf is screaming warnings about you. My instinct says there is something you are hiding."
Aria cannot breathe.
This is it. This is the moment she gets caught. This is where her mission unravels. Vale is too perceptive. Too loyal. Too protective of Kael to ignore his gut feeling.
She needs to convince him. She needs to make him believe she is genuine.
But she is tired of lying.
"I am not what you think I am," she says before she can stop herself.
Vale's entire body goes rigid.
"What do you mean," he asks quietly.
And Aria stands at a crossroads that will determine everything.
She can lie. She can tell him she is just struggling with the transition. She can charm him the way she has charmed everyone else.
Or she can tell him the truth.
But before she can decide, Kael's voice comes from outside the room.
"Vale, where did you go?"
Vale's eyes lock with hers and she sees the question in them. The doubt. The warning.
He turns and walks toward the door.
"I will say nothing to him yet," Vale says quietly. "But Aria, whatever you are hiding, whatever this is, you need to figure it out soon. Because when Kael finds out the truth about you, and he will find out, the pain is going to destroy him in ways you cannot imagine."
He leaves before she can respond.
Aria stands alone in her room and realizes that Vale has just given her a deadline she did not know was coming.
Not two weeks.
Less than that.
Because Vale's suspicion will grow. His protective instinct will override his loyalty to his alpha. And eventually he will either confront her directly or he will tell Kael exactly what he is thinking.
Her mission is accelerating toward collapse.
And she still does not know which side she is on anymore.