Chapter 300 Book 2 ~ Chapter 65

Chapter 300 Book 2 ~ Chapter 65
Leo’s POV

Alpha Josh finally calls for the meeting to start officially, but I can barely focus on what’s being said because the twins keep watching me. They’re not doing it openly enough for anyone else in the room to notice, but I feel it every damn time I look up.

Bastian lounges against the wall near the back of the lodge like he owns the place, arms crossed over his chest and pale eyes tracking every movement in the room with a lazy disinterest that doesn’t fool me for a second. Whilst Alaric watches like a wolf circling prey. Calm, controlled, and patient. It’s getting under my skin.

“The hunters are becoming bolder near the southern territories,” Alpha Josh says from the head of the long table. “Three more sightings this week alone.”

A low growl rumbles somewhere behind me.

“And are we sure they are human?” another Alpha asks.

Josh nods once. “Mostly.”

Mostly… That single word tightens every muscle in my body.

Ryder leans forward slightly beside me. “What does that mean exactly?”

Josh exchanges a glance with one of the Midnight wolves before answering carefully. “We found tracks that are human, and from the brief glimpses we’ve had, they certainly look human, but they’re too fast and their scent is off.”

The room immediately goes quiet.

“Could they be rogues?” Callen asks.

“No,” Alaric answers.

Every eye in the room moves toward him as he pushes away from the wall slowly, his expression unreadable.

“They’re too organised for rogues,” he continues calmly. “And they’re moving through territories without leaving bodies behind.”

Bastian hums quietly in agreement beside him.

“Plus there’s no masking the rotting stench of a rogue,” another Alpha adds.

“Which means?” Ryder presses.

“It means,” Alaric says smoothly, “something intelligent is moving between pack lands while we’re all busy watching the hunters.”

A pulse suddenly brushes through the mate bond in my chest. A warm, fuzzy sensation. Poppy is happy about something. The tension in my shoulders loosens instinctively before I can stop it, and across the room, Bastian’s eyes narrow immediately. Fuck.

My wolf pushes forward cautiously beneath my skin. They have a very annoying habit of noticing too much. I force myself to focus back on the meeting.

A woman with luscious blonde hair and legs for days enters the room from a door in the back. She is striking in a way that it’s hard not to look at her. She pushes a large rolling board in, the wheels rattling against the uneven floor. It displays a colour coded map of all our territories.

I catch Alaric and Bastian straighten in my peripheral and I don’t miss how her attention locks straight on them despite the appreciative sounds of every unmated male echoing from around the room. The twins don’t react the way I’d expect; instead, they look awkward, even guilty, maybe. 

Josh clears his throat, “Thank you, Rihanna, that will be all.”

“Of course, Alpha,” she inclines her head at Josh respectfully.

Then she smiles brightly and waves once at the twins before turning back towards the door she came from, her heels clacking as she sways her hips. 

Alaric and Bastian’s posture relaxes the moment the door closes behind her. There’s definitely something going on there, but I have enough worries of my own to waste time thinking about people I don’t even know.

Josh starts outlining patrol routes across the surrounding territories, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the strange tension tightening between me and the Mountain Ridge twins.

Every time the bond pulses, every time I feel Poppy, one of them reacts. It’s subtle, but enough that I keep catching it. A flicker of attention, a sharp inhale, a slight tilt of the head.

“This section borders Blackburn’s territory,” Josh says, pointing at the large map spread across the board. “If we reinforce patrols here, we can…”

Another pulse moves through the bond, brighter this time, like warm sunlight. She’s with Paige.

Then, immediately after, something changes. A sharp surprise, confusion. A strange pressure crackles suddenly through the connection, hard enough that my hand tightens around the edge of the table.

Beside me, Callen glances over instantly. “You felt that too?”

“Yep. They must be together.”

Ryder nods, and a frown forms on his brow. No doubt checking in with Remy and Parker. I don’t reach out to Jake, not because I don’t want to, but if Poppy and Paige are having some weird reaction again, he’ll need his full focus on them, and I trust he has this handled. He will contact me if I’m needed, not that I can do much from this distance.

Bastian’s eyes lock onto mine from across the room, as if he felt it too, somehow. Which is impossible. Alaric notices too; his expression sharpening. And suddenly I understand exactly what my wolf has been trying to tell me since walking in here. These two aren’t normal. Neither of them smells wrong exactly, but there’s something off about the way they move. The way they observe. The way their wolves seem almost too aware beneath their skin. And the way they make every other alpha nervous around them. 

The discussion around the table shifts toward territorial alliances and emergency response plans, but my attention keeps dragging back toward them despite myself. Catching Alaric’s amused stare and Bastian’s unsettling calm.

“Alpha Ryder, Alpha Callen, I have spoken to everyone here, and we each agreed it would be beneficial if you could host a few members from each pack over the next week. Let them observe your patrols, train with your enforcers and learn your tactics,” Josh says, finally capturing my full attention.

Callen’s hands clench on the table, and Ryder’s jaw locks.

“You decided this without asking us first?” Callen asks, his tone making his displeasure clear.

“No… well… we decided to ask. Of course, you are under no obligation to agree. I just thought after you were the ones to push for inter-pack cooperation…”

Ryder cuts him off by raising a hand. “You’re right. When we came to you with a similar proposition, you agreed.”

The room stills slightly.

“But things in our territory have changed since then,” he continues carefully. “Our Luna recently gave birth, which means parts of our land are currently restricted.”

Several heads nod immediately in understanding. Even the unmated alphas know better than to push around a Luna’s newborn.

“No one approaches the alpha cabin,” Ryder says firmly. “That includes the surrounding forest line. They stay within the designated training and guest areas unless escorted by one of us or our enforcers. Break that rule, and they’ll be removed from our territory immediately.”

Callen leans back in his chair beside him, arms crossed. “And trust me, you don’t want Ryder or Remy handling that removal after two hours sleep.”

A few quiet laughs ripple around the room, easing some tension.

Josh nods once. “That seems reasonable.”

My wolf disagrees. Because Poppy isn’t reasonable anymore. Not with whatever the hell is happening to her powers. Not with glass cracking every time her emotions spike or random trees dying to save a life. The last thing we need is outsiders witnessing it.

A clipboard begins moving around the table as the alphas start listing the names of the wolves they’ll send.

“One enforcer from Midnight.”

“Two from River Pack.”

“Two from Clearwater.”

I barely listen to the rest, too busy trying to figure out how we’re supposed to keep Poppy hidden while strangers roam our territory for an entire week.

Jake can barely control the situation now with only us around her, and if she loses control in front of visiting packs?… If someone sees what she can do?… Fear curls low in my stomach.

Because powerful things become targets, and Poppy already has enough voices in her head without adding suspicious strangers to the list.

The clipboard eventually reaches the end of the table. To the Mountain Ridge twins. The whole damn room seems to tense. Alaric takes the clipboard, reading over the names already written there with calm disinterest while Bastian watches beside him. Then, slowly, Alaric writes something down, and Bastian smirks.

When the clipboard comes back around toward Josh, I already know I’m going to hate whatever is on it. Josh’s brows lift slightly as he reads.

“Alphas don’t usually participate directly in exchange patrols,” he says carefully.

“That’s true,” Alaric agrees smoothly.

“Then why volunteer yourselves?” Callen asks.

Bastian’s pale eyes flick lazily toward us. “Call it curiosity.”

My teeth clench so hard that I swear one cracks.

Ryder’s expression hardens.

Alaric just folds his hands behind his back calmly. “You wanted cooperation between packs. What better way to build trust than leader to leader?”

Smart answer. Too smart. And judging by the look on Ryder’s face, he knows it too. But he can’t exactly refuse without causing problems after agreeing to everyone else.

“Besides,” Alaric adds, “we’re already halfway there. If we were to send our enforcers, they’d have to wait for our return, so it would be two days before they’d arrive.” 

“Fair point,” Callen nods.

Which means when we return home, the two most unsettling wolves I’ve ever met are going to be coming with us and living inside our territory. Close to Poppy and Paige, and to whatever dangerous thing is growing inside our pack.

And somehow… I get the feeling that’s exactly what they wanted all along.