Kade

I can smell the lie before Jasper even opens his mouth.

It’s sharp and metallic under the stale scent of self-importance and old arrogance—but it’s there. If it were anyone but me in this room, they’d miss it.

Unfortunately for Jasper, I’m not anyone.

I lean back against the mantle in the drawing room, arms folded, letting the silence stretch until it turns uncomfortable.

“Is this really necessary?” Henry says.

His voice is tight, controlled, but his knee keeps bouncing. He wants to bolt. Every instinct in his body screams at him to run, but he doesn’t move. He knows better than to defy a direct order from an Alpha on his own land.

Across the room, Ronan sits in the armchair like a king on a throne. Calm. Deadly. Watching.

The Assembly wolves—Henry and Jasper—are seated opposite him.

Weak without the title, they love to shield them.

And me?

I’m the knife in the room.

My wolf paces under my skin.

They came onto our land, he growls in my head. Unannounced. And they think to question what is ours.

Ours? I stay far away from that comment.

I know, I answer him silently.

We should break them.

Soon.

The front door opens.

Liam steps inside with Theo at his shoulder. The tension in Liam’s body is barely contained fury. He’d gone back to retrieve Theo once we confirmed no more Assembly wolves were lurking in Black Ridge.

Good call.

If this gets ugly—and it will—we’ll need the extra muscle.

Barric is still with Aria. Unseen. Watching from the woods just in case.

Ronan doesn’t trust the Assembly.

Neither do I.

They’ve always had a swaggering sense of position.

The assembly had formed more than three hundred years ago as a way to unify the greater packs of America against our largest threat, Hunters.

For centeries shifters had always existed with humans in secret, protected by the Vale, a magical barrier which separated the shifter world from the Human world. But some wolves trusted the wrong humans, and we were labeled as monsters, hunted.

They killed one-third of the shifter population before the Assembly came together and united us under one universal law.

However, that law does not supersede the individual pack hierarchy and pack law. The assembly is not made of powerful Alphas, nor is it a position that is fought and won. It is voted, passed down. A human election process given to primal creatures.

A power play, my wolf says decisively.

“We’ve told you all we know,” Jasper says stiffly.

He sits upright, hands clasped in his lap like he’s attending a damn council meeting instead of being detained on hostile territory.

“Our orders were direct—question the girl to make sure our existence remains unknown. Once we reported back, our task was complete.” He lifts his chin. “She clearly knows nothing, so our job here is done.”

Ronan’s eyes darken. “Is it?”

That’s when the shift in Jasper’s scent hits me.

Small.

Sharp.

Fear… mixed with something else.

There it is.

My cue.

I push off the mantle and step forward.

“Remind me,” I say casually, “what is the jurisdiction of the Assembly again?” Henry’s jaw tightens immediately.

Bingo.

I continue, pacing slowly in front of them. “Because last time I checked, Alphas retain absolute authority over their territory.”

Henry exhales slowly.

“You’re correct,” he says carefully. “But this wasn’t about your territory. It was about a human possibly discovering what’s hidden beneath the Vale.”

Theo snorts from the wall. “That’s a stretch. Her mother was human. She came back for a funeral.”

“But her brother,” Jasper says, turning his gaze toward Liam, “is a wolf. Which means it falls under the Assembly’s discretion to ensure no information was transferred accidentally.”

Liam’s lip curls, baring teeth that have elongated dangerously.

“My wolf,” Ronan says quietly. The room stills at his power. Ronan rises slowly from his chair, his dominance unfurling like a storm rolling over the mountains. “Black Ridge is my territory,” he continues. “And any relationship between my wolves and the humans of Black Ridge, Aria included, falls under my authority.”

Jasper’s scent spikes with unease.

“The Assembly knew this,” Ronan growls. “And still sent two wolves here unannounced and unapproved.”

Henry clears his throat. “It is a complaint we will take back to the Assembly members for… consideration.”

“Consideration?” I repeat, stepping closer.

My wolf bares his teeth. Arrogant bastard.

“Well,” I say pleasantly, “let’s hope they think fast.” I stop directly in front of Jasper. “Because you’re not going anywhere until all our questions are answered.”

Jasper shoots to his feet. “You can’t keep us here!”

Liam moves so fast that Jasper barely sees him. A hand clamps onto his shoulder and slams him back into the chair.

“Yes,” Liam says coldly. “We can.”

Theo pushes off the wall. “Or have you already forgotten,” he adds, “what it means to trespass unannounced on another Alpha’s territory?”

Silence falls.

I drag a chair across the floor and turn it around, straddling it backwards in front of Jasper.

Now we’re face-to-face.

“Let’s start with you,” I smile.

My wolf presses forward inside me, eager.

“What,” I ask softly, “are you not telling us?”

Jasper meets my gaze.

His eyes flash silver.

His wolf rising.

A challenge.

My own wolf surges instantly.

Heat floods my veins.

Break him, my wolf snarls.

I lean forward slowly, letting my power bleed into the air.

“Don’t bother lying,” I tell him. “You won’t go undetected.”

Jasper’s jaw locks.

Silence.

Three seconds.

Five.

Ten.

I sigh.