Chapter 106 Embers and Decisions
Chase‘s POV
We lay there for a long time afterward, the only sound our ragged breathing and the wind in the trees. I stayed inside her, not wanting to break the connection, my weight resting on my elbows so I wouldn't crush her.
Wynter stirred beneath me, her hands smoothing down my back. "Chase," she whispered. "We should... I need to get up."
"Not yet," I murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Just a minute longer."
She relaxed, her fingers tracing the line of my spine. "Why did you come?" she asked softly. "Why did you leave the Academy?"
I lifted my head to look at her. The post-coital haze was fading, replaced by the grim reality of our situation. "I couldn't stay. It wasn't safe to investigate from the inside anymore. Grey and Stone... they're compromised. I saw Stone taking orders from a Bloodrock operative. And Grey accepted the message without question."
Wynter's eyes widened. "The Headmaster? Are you sure?"
"I saw it with my own eyes. I needed freedom to move, to track them without being watched. So I asked my father to recall me on official business."
A shadow crossed her face. "But Rosalie... she's still there. If the administration is corrupt, she's in danger."
"I know," I said, brushing a strand of damp hair from her cheek. "But she's not alone. I gave her an encrypted phone, and I have a friend keeping an eye on her from the shadows. Someone the administration won't suspect. She'll be safe, Wynter. I promise."
She studied my face, searching for the truth, and then she nodded, trusting me. A small, shy smile touched her lips, and she reached down to smack my bare ass with a resounding thwack.
"Hey," I protested, though I was smiling too.
"We need to go back," she said, her cheeks turning a delightful shade of pink. "Jax will be worrying. And we're... well, we're naked in the woods."
I chuckled, finally withdrawing from her and rolling to the side. "Fair point."
We dressed quickly, the damp clothes uncomfortable against our skin but necessary. I helped her with her jacket, stealing one last kiss before we headed back toward the Rogue settlement.
---
By the time we returned, night had fallen. The settlement, usually a place of quiet tension, had been transformed.
A massive bonfire roared in the center of the main yard, casting long, dancing shadows against the warehouse walls. The smell of grilled meat and woodsmoke filled the air, rich and comforting.
Jax had organized a morale-boosting event—a welcome for me, perhaps, but more importantly, a way to pull the community together after the recent abductions.
Makeshift tables were laden with food that looked distinctly delicious—platters of hamburgers and hot dogs, bowls of potato salad, corn on the cob roasting near the coals. Children ran around the perimeter of the light, laughing and chasing each other, though I noticed their parents kept a watchful eye, never letting them stray too far into the darkness.
"You made it," Jax said, approaching us with two beers in hand. He looked cleaner, having washed off the mud, but the tension was still evident in his shoulders. He handed me a bottle. "Welcome to the resistance, Sterling."
"By the way, why did you leave the campus?"
I then gave Jax a rough summary of the reasons I’d told Wynter about why I left school.
Jax slammed his two fists together. "This school..."
"Thanks," I said, taking a sip. It was cheap beer, but it tasted like nectar after the day we'd had.
"We needed this," Wynter said, leaning into my side as she watched a group of pups roasting marshmallows for s'mores. "They needed to remember that they're a community, not just victims."
"Exactly," Jax said. "Fear divides people. We need them united if we're going to fight back."
We stood together by the fire, the warmth soaking into our bones. I watched Wynter eat a burger with an appetite that made me smile, remnants of mustard on her lip that I had to resist wiping away with my thumb.
For an hour, we pretended the world wasn't burning. We pretended we were just young people at a cookout, safe and happy.
But the reality was always there, lurking just beyond the firelight.
As the fire began to die down, turning to glowing embers, Jax signaled for us to step away from the crowd. We moved to the edge of the warehouse, the darkness pressing in around us.
"We can't keep playing defense," Jax said, his voice low and hard. "That operative today... he knew we were coming. He baited us. They're always one step ahead."
"He had a crescent moon birthmark," Wynter added. "We have a description now. We have a lead."
"A lead isn't enough," Jax snapped, his amber eyes flashing in the gloom. "We know where they're taking them. The mining pits. The Bloodrock border. We have the manpower now, with your arrival. I say we stop waiting."
He looked at me, a challenge in his gaze. "I say we gather every able-bodied fighter we have and we hit the Bloodrock outpost tonight. A direct assault. We burn it to the ground and find whatever records they have."
My wolf growled in agreement, wanting blood for what they'd done to Wynter, for the children they'd stolen. It would be satisfying. It would be righteous.
But I looked at the families by the fire. I thought of the political web my father was trying to untangle, the delicate game we were playing with the Council. A direct attack by Silvermoon's heir on a Bloodrock outpost would be an act of war. It would give Draven exactly the excuse he needed to escalate this into a full-scale conflict that would destroy everything.
"No," I said, my voice firm.
Jax bristled. "Why? Are you afraid?"
"I'm not afraid," I said, shaking my head slowly. "I'm strategic. If we attack now, without concrete proof of where the children are, we lose the element of surprise. And we start a war we aren't ready to finish."