BLAKE POV
Blake's phone buzzes at four in the morning.
He's standing on the balcony of the compound watching the sky prepare to shift from black to gray. The air is cold and he's completely alone except for the weight of everything he knows is coming.
He answers before the second ring.
"Blake," Cross says. His brother's voice sounds different. Older. Tired. "We need to talk."
Blake's entire body goes rigid.
"I'm listening," Blake says.
"Come home," Cross says. "Right now. The Alpha knows everything. Jayce reported back. He told the Alpha about the compound. About Iris. About you choosing her."
Blake closes his eyes. He knew this was coming. He's known since the moment he decided to stay. But knowing and hearing are two different things.
"I'm not coming home," Blake says quietly.
"You have to," Cross replies. His voice cracks slightly. "If you don't come back and renounce your alliance with the rebellion immediately, you're marked as a traitor. By tomorrow morning, the entire pack will know. By tomorrow night, you'll be hunted."
Blake doesn't answer. He's looking through the glass door at Iris sleeping on the bed inside. She's curled on her side and her face looks peaceful. She has no idea what's happening. No idea that the male she's choosing is about to lose his entire family.
"What if I don't come back?" Blake asks.
There's a long silence on the line. Blake can hear his brother breathing. Can feel the weight of the question hanging between them.
"Then you're choosing her over everything," Cross says finally. "Over me. Over our family. Over the pack we were born into. Over the life we built together."
"Yes," Blake says.
"Are you sure?" Cross asks. The question has teeth. "Blake, are you absolutely certain about this? Because there's no going back from this choice. Once you choose her, you're exiled. You're a traitor. You're enemy to everyone who raised you."
Blake watches Iris sleep. He thinks about the cage his life has always been. He thinks about years of following orders. Years of being useful instead of necessary. Years of disappearing into a role that was slowly suffocating him.
He thinks about the first moment Iris looked at him like he was more than just a weapon.
"I've never been more sure of anything," Blake says.
Cross is quiet for a moment and Blake can hear the resignation in his breathing.
"I hope she's worth losing me," Cross says quietly.
"She is," Blake replies. "But I hope I don't lose you."
"You don't get to have both," Cross says. "That's the choice you're making. You choose her and you lose us. That's how it works."
Blake feels something break inside his chest. Losing his brother hurts in ways he didn't expect. Cross has always been there. Always supported him even when Blake didn't deserve it.
"Tell Mom I love her," Blake says.
"Tell her yourself," Cross says. "If you survive this."
The line goes dead.
Blake stands on the balcony for a long time after that. His hands are shaking. His entire world just shifted and now it's only held together by one thing. One female. One choice. One future that might not even exist if they fail.
He walks back inside.
Iris is awake now. She's sitting up in bed and she's looking at him with eyes that see everything.
"What happened?" she asks immediately.
Blake sits on the edge of the bed and tells her. Jayce reported everything. The Alpha knows about the rebellion. Blake is marked as a traitor. He has until tomorrow before his own pack starts hunting him.
Iris listens without interrupting. When Blake finishes, she doesn't tell him to leave. She doesn't tell him to protect the rebellion. She doesn't tell him to cut him loose.
Instead, she pulls him down and kisses him like she's been waiting two weeks for permission. Like she's been waiting her entire life for someone to choose her completely.
When they break apart, Blake is breathing hard and Iris is looking at him with absolute certainty.
"Then we fight together," she says. Her voice is steady. Unwavering. Complete. "If you're staying, we do this as partners. Not as spy and leader. Not as someone following orders. As equals."
Blake feels something shift inside him. Not breaking this time. Building. Like all the broken pieces of himself are coming together into something stronger.
"You're not going to tell me to leave?" Blake asks.
"No," Iris says. "I'm going to tell you to fight. I'm going to tell you that you just burned every bridge you had so you better make sure this matters. So you better make sure we win."
She pulls him closer and there's something fierce in her expression that Blake has never seen directed at him before.
"You just chose me over your family," Iris continues. "That means I don't get to treat you like you made a mistake. That means I have to treat you like you're the most important thing I've ever chosen."
Blake realizes she's right. He just gave up everything. His family. His pack. His name. His history. All of it gone in a single phone call.
And somehow that's exactly what he needed.
"What happens now?" Blake asks.
"Now we tell the rebellion," Iris says. She stands and starts moving around the room with purpose. "We tell them that Granite Peak is coming. That we don't have as much time as we thought. We accelerate everything."
She turns back to face Blake.
"And we tell them that we have someone inside Granite Peak now," Iris continues. "Someone who knows their strategy. Someone who can teach us how to defend against a Striker. Someone who's already proven he's willing to die for this."
Blake stands and pulls Iris against him. She wraps her arms around his neck and they stand like that in the darkness of early morning.
"I'm terrified," Blake admits.
"Good," Iris says. "Fear means you understand what you just did. Fear means you're not stupid about the choice you made."
She pulls back and looks at him directly.
"But don't be afraid of loving me," Iris says. "That's the only choice that's going to get us through this."
Blake nods and kisses her again. Not desperate this time. Certain. Like he's marking this moment as the exact point where his old life ended and his new one began.
They walk to the war room together. By the time they reach the door, Iris has already shifted into rebellion leader mode. But she squeezes Blake's hand once before they go in.
The fighters are already gathering. News travels fast in the compound. Everyone knows that Jayce came. Everyone knows Blake chose to stay. Everyone knows the pack is coming.
Iris steps forward and her voice carries through the entire room.
"Granite Peak is hunting us," she says. "Blake's family has decided he's a traitor. Which means they're about to make a very big mistake."
She looks at Blake standing beside her.
"Because now they don't just have a rebellion," Iris continues. "They have a Striker who knows their entire playbook. And they have no idea how much trouble that's about to create."
As Iris is speaking, Maya rushes in with her phone in her hand.
"We just intercepted a message," Maya says. She's breathless. Panicked. "It's from Jayce. It's an ultimatum from the Alpha."
She reads it aloud:
"Blake Sterling. You have forty-eight hours to execute Iris and the rebellion leadership or you will be executed as a traitor to Granite Peak. The choice is yours. Kill her or die trying to protect her. Either way, you're finished."
The compound goes completely silent.
Blake looks at Iris and she's looking back at him with an expression that says she understands. Understands that loving her might cost him his life. Understands that saving the rebellion might require him to die for it.
But she's not backing down. And neither is he.
"Forty-eight hours," Iris says quietly. She looks out at all the wolves watching them. "Then we use forty-eight hours to become unstoppable."
Blake reaches for her hand and holds it tight.
In forty-eight hours, everything changes.
In forty-eight hours, Blake will either kill the female he loves or die protecting her.
And there's no path that ends with him surviving either choice.