Lucas's POV
The medical wing of the compound smelled like blood and pain.
Lucas moved between the injured fighters checking on wounds and giving orders. His healer, an older woman named Margaret, was working with two younger pack members to stabilize a fighter whose leg was nearly severed. Northern Ridge had won the battle but the cost was high.
Six dead. Seventeen seriously wounded. Thirty more with minor injuries.
Lucas had lost better odds against worse enemies. This should have felt like a victory. Instead he felt divided.
Half his mind was on the present moment. On his fighters. On making sure the wounded survived and the fallen were honored. On assessing whether Carson would try another raid or if one battle had been enough to remind him who held the power in these mountains.
The other half of his mind was upstairs in his private quarters with Sophie.
He kept thinking about her sleeping in his bed. Keep remembering the way her body had finally relaxed when she realized he wasn't going to hurt her. Keep feeling the bond pulling at his chest like a rope tied around his heart.
An older fighter named James approached him carefully.
"Alpha, we need to discuss the prisoners," James said. "What do you want us to do with the Blackstone soldiers we captured?"
Lucas forced himself to focus. Prisoners meant interrogation meant strategy meant the present moment and not the girl upstairs who was probably scared and alone and locked in his rooms.
"Keep them secure," Lucas said. "No one gets near them without my approval. They're our leverage against Carson right now."
James nodded and left.
Lucas went back to checking wounds but he wasn't really seeing them anymore. His mind was somewhere else. With someone else.
This was the problem with fated bonds. This was why his father had lost control. This was why his mother had died. Attachment was a liability. Caring about someone meant making stupid decisions. It meant protecting them at the cost of everything else.
It meant exactly what was about to happen with Sophie.
Evening came and Lucas forced himself to stay in the compound instead of running upstairs. He sat in the war room with his advisors discussing border security and retaliation scenarios. He pretended to focus while his wolf paced inside his chest desperate to get back to her.
That's when Derek found him.
His Beta waited until they were alone. Waited until Lucas had dismissed everyone else. Then Derek closed the war room door and looked at him with an expression that said this conversation was going to be complicated.
"We need to talk about what happened during the raid," Derek said.
Lucas's jaw tightened. "I know what happened. We won."
"You abandoned the main battle line," Derek said flatly. "You left me in charge with no explanation. You came back carrying a Blackstone wolf. And now that wolf is locked in your private quarters."
Lucas stood. Using his full height. Using his Alpha presence. Trying to remind Derek who held power here.
"I made a tactical decision," Lucas said. "And it worked."
"Did it though?" Derek stepped closer. He wasn't backing down. That was dangerous. Derek was too smart to back down unless he believed he had leverage. "Because from where I'm standing it looks like Carson sent a female to spy on us and you fell for it. Completely."
The suggestion hit like a physical blow.
Lucas wanted to reject it immediately but the truth was he didn't know Sophie. He'd met her less than twenty-four hours ago. He'd claimed her based on a bond that shouldn't even be real. He'd locked her in his rooms without explanation. He'd risked his pack for someone who could theoretically be a plant.
Except he knew she wasn't. He could feel through the bond that she wasn't. He could sense her fear was genuine and her confusion was real.
But Derek didn't have access to the bond. Derek only had what he could see.
"She's not a spy," Lucas said.
"How do you know?" Derek challenged. "Have you interrogated her? Have you asked her anything besides her name? She could be reporting everything she hears back to Carson right now and you wouldn't even know."
The thought made Lucas's wolf surge forward wanting to protect Sophie from suspicion. Wanting to defend her. Wanting to show Derek exactly what happened to people who questioned her.
He forced the wolf back.
"She's under my protection," Lucas said. His voice was different now. Harder. "That means she stays in my quarters. That means she's off limits to interrogation. That means anyone who tries to hurt her answers directly to me."
Derek's expression shifted.
It was subtle but Lucas caught it. That moment when Derek realized Lucas wasn't going to be reasonable about this. That moment when Derek understood the bond went deeper than pack politics.
"You're making a mistake," Derek said quietly. "A mistake that's going to cost us everything."
"Then I'll pay the price," Lucas told him. "But she's under my personal protection. Anyone questions that, they can challenge me for leadership. Otherwise you accept it and move on."
Derek stared at him for a long moment.
"You know that's an open invitation for someone to challenge you," Derek said. "You know that's weakness in the eyes of the pack. You just told everyone that you care about something more than your position."
"I did," Lucas said. "I'm aware."
Derek's shoulders went rigid. His jaw clenched. When he looked away it was with the expression of someone who'd just discovered a weapon they could use against someone they loved.
Except Derek didn't love him. Derek loved power. Derek loved the idea of leadership. And Lucas had just shown him exactly where the cracks were.
"Get out," Lucas said.
Derek left without another word but the damage was done. The conversation had happened. The seed had been planted. And now Derek knew exactly what Lucas would do for Sophie.
Which meant Derek knew exactly how to destroy him.