Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 231

Chapter 231

Chapter 231

KLAUS

I stood in the stairwell corner for another moment after I ended the call with Elijah.

Silver Moon was clear.

Which meant the threat to Theo Morrison and Matthew Morrison had relocated. Which meant the immediate danger to that territory had reduced significantly. Voss had too many problems of her own right now to comrait resources to an acquisition target in a location she was actively withdrawing from.

Which meant I needed to talk to Callahan.

I had not spoken to him directly since the situation in Silver Moon began. I had Communicated through Matthew, through the information channels that ran between our operation and the Morrison pack’s security arrangement. This trad been the correct approach while the operations were separate and the information needed to stay compartmentalized.

It was no longer the correct approach.

Callahan had contacts, he had told Matthew. He had said this simply and without elaboration, the way people referred to things they did not need to explain because the person they were talking to would either understand or not. Matthew had understood it as what it sounded like. Useful connections. People who could help.

What it actually meant was me.

Callahan and I had worked together once, several years ago, in circumstances that neither of us had reason to discuss with the people around us now. It had been a contained operation in difficult conditions and we had both come out of it with a working understanding of how the other operated. That understanding had not required maintenance. It had simply remained.

When he had arrived in Silver Moon as Matthew Morrison’s hired security consultant, I had known who he was within forty- eight hours. I had watched the situation from a distance and made the decision not to make contact immediately, because his presence there was useful and contact would have complicated it.

Now I needed the complication.

I found his number and called.

He picked up on the third ring.

“I was wondering when you’d call,” he said.

His voice was the same as I remembered. Direct. No excess on it.

“The three locations your people identified in Silver Moon,” I said. “We swept them this morning. All clear. Professionally cleaned, organized withdrawal. She was already moving before today.”

A short silence. “How long before.”

“The quality of the clearing suggests several days at minimum. Possibly more.” I leaned against the stairwell wall. “Silver Moon is no longer an active operational zone for her. She’s pulled everything out.”

“Which means the threat to Theo has moved,” he said.

“The immediate threat has relocated, yes. She has too many active problems right now to commit resources to an acquisition target in a territory she’s withdrawing from.” I paused. “Theo Morrison is not in immediate danger from this specific operation at this specific moment.”

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Another silence: This one had a different quality. The thinking kind.

“You’re telling me this directly, “he said. “Not through Matthew.”

“Yes.”

“Why.”

“Because Matthew Morrison doesn’t need to be on full alert for a threat that has relocated,” I said. “Putting Silver Moon on a war footing right now creates noise that serves us nothing. It tells Voss we’re watching Silver Moon closely, which she already knows, and it commits resources to a territory she has already left.” I kept my voice even. “What it does not do is help us find

where she’s gone.”

Callahan was quiet for a moment. “You want to know what my people found in those locations.”

“I want to know everything your people found,” I said. “Before they were cleared. Everything they noted on approach, everything that suggested recent occupation, any detail that seemed minor at the time.”

“I’ll get you the full reports,” he said. “Within the hour.”

“Good.”

“Klaus,” he said.

I waited.

“The reason she was after Theo Morrison,” he said. “It’s connected to BloodMoon City. To Rivera’s situation.”

It was not a question.

I looked at the stairwell door in front of me, the scuffed metal of it, the thin rectangle of light at its edge. On the other side of it was a hospital corridor and Rivera waiting for information and Louis with his red water bottle and James Wright in room four- fourteen with cracked ribs and a clear head.

“Yes,” I said.

“And the situation in BloodMoon City,” he said carefully. “It’s active.”

“Yes.”

“Is there something I should be telling Matthew Morrison to prepare for,

I thought about Bianca. In a room somewhere, weeks gone, the ritual window collapsing toward its end. thought about how much Callahan needed to know right now and how much would complicate his position without giving him anything actionable.

“Not yet,” I said. “When there’s something you need to tell him, I’ll tell you first.”

A pause. “Alright.”

“The reports,” I said. “Within the hour.”

“Within the hour,” he confirmed.

I ended the call.

I went back to find Rivera.

He was where I had left him, in the corridor outside the emergency bay, standing rather than sitting. Louis was beside him still, the red water bottle still in his lap, and Rivera had the look of someone who had been thinking hard about something and had reached the edge of what thinking alone could accomplish.

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