Chapter 109
Kaeleen’s POV
My ho office, usually a sanctuary of calm control, had beco the heart of a raging storm. For three days, sleep had been a stranger. My world had shrunk to the cold glow of multiple monitors, the incessant ringing of encrypted phones, and the bitter taste of coffee that had long since gone cold. The silence I had once lanted in my corporate office felt like a distant, impossible luxury. Now, the silence was a monster, because silence ant we were missing sothing. Silence ant soone else could be dying.
The first blow had landed two nights ago. A call from Silas, my ghost in the machine. His voice was as dispassionate as ever, which only made his words more chilling.
"The hit on Sarah Miller was funded through a series of shell corporations that trace back to a holding company owned by the person you suspect, Leon. The money trail is clean, but the digital signature is his. It’s him. No question."
I wasn’t even surprised. I hadn’t even felt the satisfaction of being right. All I felt was a cold, dark certainty settling in my bones. It was a declaration of war, not on my business, but on my family. On my sister. On the fragile peace we had built. Leon wasn’t just a spurned ex-lover; he was a predator who enjoyed inflicting pain for sport.
I was still processing the raw fury of that confirmation when the second, far bigger bomb detonated. A frantic call ca from a mber of our pack who kept tracks on most mbers living outside pack grounds.
"Alpha Kaeleen, we have a problem. A big one. We’ve had two mbers attacked in the city. Not challenged, not robbed. Attacked. They were found disoriented, bleeding from their ears, barely able to stand. A third is dead. My people are saying they heard a sound... a high-frequency noise, right before it happened."
Before that call had even ended, another ca in. This ti from my own head of patrol.
"Alpha, we’ve lost contact with the Millers, the young couple who just moved into that downtown apartnt. Their neighbors reported a strange, high-pitched whine coming from their unit an hour ago. We’re sending a team, but it doesn’t feel right."
It wasn’t right. An hour later, my team confird my worst fears. The Millers were dead. No signs of a struggle, no forced entry. Just two werewolves, dead in their ho, with the sa internal hemorrhaging reported by the other.
That was the mont the storm broke.
Now, my office was a war room. Alex stood beside , his face a grim mask of focus. His own worry for Rebecca was channeled into a cold, efficient rage. He was on a call with our contacts in human law enforcent, feeding them carefully curated information, steering their investigations away from the supernatural while gathering every scrap of intel he could. He wasn’t an Alpha, but he was a Beta of imnse strength and intellect, and in monts like this, he was the bedrock on which I could build our counter-attack.
"Three deaths confird in our pack now," Alex said, hanging up the phone. His voice was flat, devoid of emotion. "Markham, the accountant who lived two towns over, was found in his car this morning. Sa M.O. A witness ntioned a city maintenance van parked on his street for the last two days."
"It’s a device," I snarled, slamming my fist on the desk. The monitors rattled. "Sothing that generates a frequency only we can hear. It incapacitates us, makes us vulnerable. It’s a goddamn wolf whistle of death."
"And it’s being deployed with precision," Alex added, pointing to a digital map on one of the screens. Red dots marked the locations of the attacks. "They’re not hitting us here, on pack lands. They’re picking off our people who live and work in the city. The ones who are isolated. They’re hunting us."
"Then the hunt is over," I declared, my voice dropping to a low growl. "Issue the recall. Now. Every mber of the Erald Glade pack is to return to the compound imdiately. No exceptions. Those who can’t get back within twelve hours are to bunker down and await escort. I want every single one of our people behind these wards by nightfall tomorrow."
"They won’t all like it," Alex warned. "Uprooting their lives, their jobs..."
"They’ll like it more than being dead!" I roared, the Alpha command lashing out in my voice. "Make the calls, Alex!"
He nodded, his expression grim, and imdiately began relaying the orders. The phones began ringing off the hook. The controlled chaos escalated. We were in a race against a faceless enemy who was slaughtering our people with technology.
I was so imrsed in the fury, so deep in the strategic nightmare, that I didn’t hear her approach. The office door creaked open, and Astrid stood there.
For a second, my heart clenched. She looked better than she had in days. The deep shadows under her eyes were gone, and so of the color had returned to her cheeks. She held herself with a newfound stillness. She had co to talk to . I could see it in her eyes, the resolve, the deep breath she was about to take to finally tell what had been haunting her. And I wanted nothing more than for her to speak to .
But then her gaze swept the room. She saw the frantic energy, the grim set of Alex’s jaw, the barely contained rage radiating from . She saw the map on the screen with its horrifying red dots. I saw the understanding dawn on her face, and her personal mission was instantly eclipsed by the pack’s crisis.
The change was astonishing. The hesitant woman who had co to confess her fears vanished. In her place stood the Luna.
Her posture straightened. Her expression beca one of calm, focused authority. She didn’t ask what was wrong. She didn’t add to the chaos. She assessed the situation and found her place in it.
"What’s going on?" She asked calmly.
"We are being haunted. Three deaths have been recorded in the sa way. We suspect a device is being used but I don’t know what it fucking is." I told her truthfully.
"Do we know who is behind it?"
I gave her a look that spoke volus. She didn’t need to spell it out. This was the war Leon wanted and I was going to give it to him.
"Alex," she said, her voice clear and steady, cutting through the noise. "Give a list of all the families with young children who are coming back. They’ll be the most disoriented. We need to have rooms ready for them in the main house, away from the barracks. They’ll need quiet."
Alex looked up, surprised, but nodded imdiately, already pulling up the necessary files.
She then turned to . She didn’t touch , didn’t try to soothe . She t my gaze, and for the first ti, I felt like we were looking at each other as true equals in command.
"Kaeleen," she said, her tone leaving no room for argunt. "You and Alex handle the threat. I’ll handle the people. Lila is already overwheld. I need access to the pack roster and housing assignnts. I’ll coordinate the arrivals, make sure there’s food, dical check-ups for everyone, and a safe place for them to land. Your warriors can’t be worried about their families. I’ll take care of them."
I was speechless. The weight of the logistics, the housing, the food, the sheer human panic of a hundred displaced families, was a secondary crisis I hadn’t even had the capacity to address yet. And she had just taken all of it, without hesitation, onto her own shoulders.
She didn’t wait for my permission. She walked over to a vacant desk, picked up a phone, and dialed. "Lila, it’s Astrid. I need you to et in the grand hall. We’re converting it into a reception center. And get the kitchen staff started on soup and sandwiches. We’re about to have a lot of company."
She was magnificent.
She was no longer the timid girl I had rescued, nor the cherished mate I kept safe in my ho. She was the Luna of the Erald Glade pack, a leader in her own right, a calm harbor in the middle of my storm. She had seen the pack in crisis and had risen to et it, not with claws and fangs, but with compassion, intelligence, and an unshakeable core of strength I was only just beginning to comprehend.
My rage didn’t lessen, but it sharpened. It now had a singular purpose. I would find the monster behind these devices. I would hunt down Leon for what he did to Sarah, for what he was undoubtedly doing to Astrid. I would burn their operations to the ground and salt the earth behind .
Because my Luna was taking care of our people. And it was my job to annihilate the enemies who dared to threaten them.
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