Chapter 31 THE DEFECTOR

Chapter 31 THE DEFECTOR
Dalton's POV

The morgue smelled like bleach. I stood outside the steel door and tried to process what Victoria had just told me.

A body of a Hunter we thought was dead just opened his eyes and asked for me by name.

"How is that possible?" Joyce stood beside me, her face pale. "Dr. Chen pronounced him dead six hours ago."

"He had no pulse. " Victoria checked her notes. "Chen ran every test. The man was clinically dead."

"And now he is asking for a deal." I pushed open the door. "Let me see him."

The morgue was small. Six steel tables. Four were empty. One held a body covered by a sheet. The last held a man sitting upright with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

He looked about forty with  dark hair, lean build, and a scar ran from his left eye to his jaw. He watched me enter with an expression I could not read.

"Alpha Grey." His voice was rough. "Thank you for coming."

I crossed my arms. "You have sixty seconds to explain why you are not dead."

"Induced hibernation. A serum Vane developed that slows the heart and breathing to almost nothing. Fools medical equipment into thinking the subject is deceased." He pulled the blanket tighter. "I took it before your wolves found me. Wanted to be brought here so I could wake up and talk."

"Why?"

"Because I am done with Vane and this whole operation." He met my eyes. "My name is Elias Cross. I have been Vane's second in command for three years. And I want to make a deal."

The room went silent. Joyce sucked in a sharp breath behind me. Victoria's hand moved to her weapon.

Elias Cross. The man Harper warned us about. The brain behind Vane's organization.

"You expect me to believe you just want to walk away?" I kept my voice level. "After three years of hunting my kind?"

"I expect you to be smart enough to recognize an opportunity when it walks into your morgue." He shifted on the table. "I have information you need about Vane's plans. In exchange, I want immunity and a new identity."

"Why would you betray him now?"

"Because I signed up to fight wolves who were a threat to humans. Not to slaughter families and poison children." His jaw tightened. "Vane has gone too far. What he is planning for Christmas Eve crosses every line I have left."

I studied his face. Looking for the lie, but all I saw was exhaustion and something that looked like genuine disgust.

"Tell me what he is planning."

"Not until we have a deal."

I move closer until I was standing over him. "You are in my territoryand surrounded by wolves who would be happy to tear you apart. You do not get to make demands."

"Then you will never know about the bomb." He did not flinch. "Or the second team. Or the rival pack Vane made a deal with last week."

My blood went cold. "What rival pack. Different from Thomas?"

"That information costs immunity and a new life far from here." He leaned forward. "I know you do not trust me. I would not trust me either. But I can give you everything you need to stop what is coming. The question is whether your pride will let you accept help from an enemy."

I wante to throw him in a cell and make him talk. But if he was telling the truth about a bomb and a rival pack, I could not afford to waste time on interrogation.

"Victoria, get the council. Joyce, stay here and make sure he does not move." I headed for the door.

"Dalton." Elias's voice stopped me. "Vane survived the building collapse. He is alive and already planning his next move. You have eight days before he strikes. That is all the time you have left."

I looked back at him. "If you are lying, I will kill you myself."

"I would expect nothing less."

Twenty minutes later, the council assembled in the morgue. Marcus, Victoria, three senior pack members, and Joyce. We stood in a semicircle around Elias while he laid out everything.

Elias spoke in a flat tone like he was reciting a mission brief. "Christmas Eve bonfire in the town square. Three hundred people expected. Vane plans to detonate a bomb in the center of the crowd."

Joyce made a small sound. I reached out and took her hand without thinking. She did not pull away.

"The bomb is already in Pine Ridge," Elias continued. "Hidden somewhere in town. After it detonates, Vane's teams will hunt survivors. Systematic elimination of anyone who escapes. The goal is to wipe out most of your pack in one night."

"Why Christmas Eve?" David asked. "Why not just attack us now?"

"Because Vane wants to watch families die on a night that is supposed to be about joy and peace." Elias's expression was grim. He is been obsessed with making packs feel the same pain. Christmas is just the knife he wants to twist."

The room was silent.

"Where is the bomb?" I asked.

"I do not know the exact location. Vane kept that information hidden. But I know it is somewhere central, where it can do the most damage." Elias rubbed his face. "I can help you find it. I know his methods, but I need your word that you will protect me."

"You helped plan the deaths of three of my pack members," Victoria said. "Why should we believe you want to help now?"

"Because those three deaths were not supposed to happen. The poison was meant to be a warning. A way to make you paranoid and distracted while we moved pieces into place." He looked at each of us. "Vane changed the plan without telling me."

I wanted to believe him, but I cannot afford to trust the wrong person.

"How do we know this is not a trap?" I asked. 

"You do not. You have to decide whether the risk of trusting me is worth the chance of stopping a massacre." Elias stood slowly. "I am not asking you to like me. I am asking you to use me."

Joyce stepped forward. "Tell us about the rival pack."