Chapter 395

Chapter 395
COLE'S POV

I noticed him leave before anyone else did.

The man from the Ashford delegation, the same one I had marked earlier for his unnatural interest in watching Lina, slipped away from the crowd with practiced casualness that immediately caught my attention. Most guests wandering off during a ceremony this large simply needed air or a private moment. This felt different. Deliberate.

I gave him a head start before following, keeping enough distance that my own absence would not draw notice from anyone watching the dance floor. He moved with purpose through the darker sections of the territory, past the main guest quarters, toward one of the oldest halls that stood mostly forgotten during ceremonies like this one.

Nobody used that hall anymore. I remembered seeing it earlier during my initial survey of the grounds, an old meeting space that predated the current estate's expansion, left mostly abandoned except for storage purposes.

He entered through a side door I would have missed entirely if I had not been watching closely. I pressed myself against the exterior wall near a cracked window, listening carefully as voices drifted from inside.

"—still have not recovered it. Someone got there before us."

A second voice, lower and more controlled, responded from somewhere deeper in the hall. "That is unacceptable. The alpha family cannot discover what is hidden inside that evidence. Not tonight, not ever."

"What do you want me to do? I searched the entire compartment. It is completely empty."

"Then we assume the worst. If we fail to recover it before the ceremony ends, we move to the next phase."

My jaw tightened. Evidence. Missing evidence they were desperate to recover before Lina's family discovered it. This confirmed exactly what I suspected, that tonight's ceremony represented far more than a simple social gathering for these people. Someone had infiltrated this territory specifically to retrieve something buried here, something powerful enough to justify the risk of operating inside enemy grounds during their most heavily guarded event of the year.

"The next phase carries significant risk," the first voice said nervously. "If we move too quickly—"

"We have no choice. Whoever took those documents already understands their value. We cannot allow this to unravel before we are ready."

I strained to hear more, desperate for names, for specific details about what exactly this evidence contained. But before either voice could continue, footsteps approached from the main pathway outside, another guest wandering unexpectedly close to my hiding spot.

I retreated immediately, melting back into the shadows before I could be discovered, cursing the interruption even as satisfaction settled beneath my frustration. Whoever was behind this conspiracy was making mistakes now, growing desperate enough to risk direct action inside heavily guarded territory. Desperation created openings. Openings meant opportunities.

I returned to the banquet appearing as though nothing had occurred, immediately locating the Ashford representative already back among the crowd, laughing pleasantly at something another guest said, his earlier tension completely masked behind practiced composure.

Watching him pretend such perfect normalcy only confirmed my suspicions further. Someone this skilled at hiding genuine panic behind casual conversation had clearly done this before, trained specifically for situations requiring exactly this kind of deception.

For the remainder of the evening, my attention kept splitting between monitoring suspicious guests and something far less strategic entirely.

Lina.

She remained surrounded by relatives and elders throughout most of the night, various eligible alphas continuing their persistent introductions despite my earlier interference with that arrogant suitor. Each time another man approached her with obvious interest, something tight and possessive coiled inside my chest, an urge to intervene that I forced myself to suppress repeatedly.

Creating another scene would only draw unwanted attention, potentially exposing exactly the kind of scrutiny neither of us needed while actively investigating a dangerous conspiracy. But watching other men smile at her, watching her offer polite responses to their attempts at conversation, tested my patience considerably more than I expected.

Eventually, near midnight, I noticed her slip away from the main courtyard, disappearing through a side entrance that led toward one of the private balconies overlooking the territory. I waited several minutes, giving her space to breathe after what had clearly been an exhausting evening, before following at a discreet distance.

I found her leaning against the balcony railing, moonlight illuminating her tired but relaxed expression as she gazed out over the decorated grounds below.

"You found me again," she said without turning around, apparently sensing my presence immediately.

"I have a talent for it."

"You are becoming predictable."

"I prefer consistent."

She finally turned to face me, a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth despite the exhaustion evident in her posture. "Should I be worried about that?"

"Only if predictability bothers you."

"It does not, actually." She turned back toward the view, resting her elbows against the railing. "It is oddly comforting, knowing exactly where to find you whenever I need space from everything else."

I moved to stand beside her, close enough that our shoulders nearly touched, both of us silently observing the string lights scattered across the territory below, distant music still drifting up from the celebration continuing without us.

"Exhausting evening?" I asked.

"You have no idea. I have met more potential suitors tonight than I care to count. Every single one asking essentially the same questions, offering essentially the same empty compliments."

"At least the last dance was memorable."

Her cheeks colored slightly even in the dim lighting. "That was different."

"Different how?"

"You know exactly how." She glanced sideways at me, something warm and genuine reflecting in her expression despite her attempted casualness.

We stood together in comfortable silence for several long minutes, the earlier teasing gradually softening into something quieter, more peaceful than either of us had experienced during the entire chaotic evening. She told me small details about her exhaustion with constant expectations, about wishing occasionally that people would simply see her rather than her family's influence or her supposed marriageable value. I listened, genuinely interested in every word, offering my own quiet observations about similar frustrations I had experienced throughout years of navigating political obligations within my own pack.

For those few peaceful minutes, surrounded by moonlight and distant music, I completely forgot about suspicious guests, missing evidence, and dangerous conspiracies threatening everything around us. There was only her, standing close beside me, sharing genuine thoughts and feelings without any of the careful guardedness either of us typically maintained.

"I could stand here all night," she admitted quietly, more vulnerability in her voice than I had heard from her before.

"I would not object to that."

She smiled softly, turning slightly to look at me directly, something unspoken building steadily in the charged silence between us. I found myself leaning closer without fully deciding to, drawn toward her by something far stronger than simple attraction, something that felt increasingly like genuine connection I had never experienced with anyone else before.

Voices suddenly carried from the pathway leading toward the balcony, unfamiliar guests approaching with obvious intention of enjoying the same quiet view we had been sharing privately.

Lina immediately stepped back, putting proper distance between us as panic flickered briefly across her expression. "Someone is coming."

"I noticed."

"We should not be standing here together. Not like this."

I nodded reluctantly, already retreating toward the shadows near the balcony's edge, though every instinct screamed against separating from her so abruptly after finally sharing something genuine and unguarded between us.

"Same time tomorrow?" I asked quietly before disappearing completely into the darkness.

"Maybe," she whispered back, though her small smile suggested she already knew the answer would be yes.

I slipped away just as the approaching guests reached the balcony, watching from a distance as Lina composed herself quickly, offering polite greetings to the newcomers as though nothing unusual had occurred moments earlier.

Making my way back toward the main courtyard, my thoughts remained divided between the warmth of our stolen moment together and the cold reality of everything I had overheard earlier inside that abandoned hall.

Someone desperate enough to risk infiltrating this heavily guarded territory during its most important ceremony. Missing evidence powerful enough to threaten their entire operation. A dangerous next phase already being planned should tonight's retrieval attempt fail completely.

I needed to find Jax immediately, needed to share everything I had discovered before whatever dangerous next phase these conspirators were planning could catch Lina's family completely unprepared.

But as I reached the edge of the main courtyard, sudden chaos erupted ahead of me, guards shouting urgently while guests scattered in confused panic, and my blood ran instantly cold as I spotted Lina's mother standing at the center of it all, clutching something torn and bloodied while frantically searching the crowd for any sign of her daughter.

My heart stopped completely.

Lina was nowhere to be seen.