Chapter 50 The Lockdown
Levi:
The silence in the penthouse was no longer peaceful. It was a held breath. A predator waiting to strike.
I looked at the three men who held my world together. One of them had shattered it.
"Lucas. Full lockdown. Now."
His eyes met mine. No argument. Just a grim acceptance. "It's done." He moved to his console. A series of sharp, final thuds echoed as the magnetic locks sealed us in. The penthouse was now a fortress and a prison.
Jax and Rylan stood side-by-side, having arrived minutes before. Their confusion was a palpable force.
"Alpha," Rylan's voice was a low rumble. "What's happened?"
"Ethan is dead. Poisoned. With my Wolfsbane." I let the words land like stones. "The access list is a short one. It's the four of us in this room."
Jax flinched. Rylan's gaze turned sharp, flicking between Lucas and Jax, reassessing threats.
"You can't believe that," Jax said, his voice tight. "One of us? Levi, that's insane."
"The evidence isn't," I said, my voice flat and cold. "Until I find the truth, no one leaves. No one communicates without me present." My gaze swept over them, a physical weight. "Is that understood?"
Three stiff nods. Three sets of loyal eyes, one of them lying.
My focus shifted to Aurora. She was pale, her hands clenched at her sides. The fragile calm she’d built was gone, replaced by a fresh, chilling fear.
"Aurora." Her name was a command. She flinched. "Take Agnes. Go to the east wing. Stay with the twins."
Her eyes widened. "The twins? Levi, why…"
"Because I said so!" The snarl was barely contained. I saw her shrink back, and a part of me hated myself for it. But the other, larger part, the Alpha, the protector, needed them in one place. Needed her away from the men I could no longer trust. "Go. Now. Do not leave their side."
She gave a single, shaky nod. Agnes placed a steadying hand on her arm and led her away. The door sealed behind them, leaving me alone with my betrayers.
I turned back to my men. "Phones. All of them."
One by one, they placed their devices in my outstretched hand. Lucas. Rylan. Jax. The surrender of their connection to the outside world. Lucas’s jaw was a hard line. "This plays right into the enemy's hands. It divides us."
"A man is dead by a hand in this room," I countered, my voice dangerously low. "I don't care about their strategy. I care about the viper in my den."
I walked to the wall of windows, turning my back on them. A calculated risk. A test. Was the traitor confident enough? Desperate enough? I listened for the shift in him.
I heard nothing. Only the heavy, suffocating silence of three warriors standing on a knife's edge.
"I will speak with each of you. Alone." I didn't turn around. "You will account for every moment since the defector arrived. Your movements. Your actions. Your thoughts." I finally faced them. "The stories had better be flawless."
Rylan’s temper, always close to the surface, flared. "This is an insult. My record—"
"Your record is a piece of paper, Rylan!" I snapped, the control on my anger slipping. "And right now, it's covered in another man's blood!"
He fell silent, his massive chest heaving.
"Jax. You're first. My study." I needed to start with the one who found the body. The one with the most immediate opportunity. The one whose report had started this.
Jax’s face was grim. He gave a curt nod and followed me.
I didn't look back at Lucas and Rylan. I left them there, in the center of the room, two pillars of my command. I left them standing in the wreckage of our trust, each one looking at the other, wondering which of them was the monster. The hunt was on, and my first move was to cage my own wolves and watch them snarl.
My study felt different. The walls seemed closer. The air, thinner. Jax sat across from me, his posture rigidly correct. A soldier awaiting judgment.
"Start from the beginning," I said, my voice flat. "The moment you took Ethan into custody."
His eyes were bloodshot. "We followed protocol. Secure transport. No stops. I logged his arrival at the safehouse at 22:47."
"Who prepared his meal?"
"The on-duty sentry. Kellan. I vetted the food myself. Tasted it." A muscle in his jaw twitched. "I ate from the same pot, Alpha. We all did."
"Except Ethan died. You didn't." I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk. "The Wolfsbane-7. The log shows you did a routine inventory check three days ago."
"It's standard procedure. I found nothing missing then."
"Or you noted the vial's location," I suggested, my tone devoid of accusation, merely stating a fact. "For later use."
He didn't flinch. "My access is constant. If I were the traitor, why would I draw attention with an inventory check? Why not just take it and say nothing?"
A logical point. But a clever traitor would think of that. "Why did you personally deliver the body to our medic? You could have sent a subordinate."
Jax’s gaze finally broke, dropping to the floor. "Because I failed. I was responsible for his safety. I carried the failure. It was my weight to bear."
His shame felt real. It seeped into the room. But I couldn't trust feelings. I could only trust facts. And the fact was, he had the means and the opportunity.
"Wait in the library. Send in Rylan."
Rylan entered like a storm cloud, all contained fury. He didn't sit.
"You question my loyalty?" he growled, the words thick with insult.
"I question everyone's. Sit down."
He reluctantly sank into the chair, his big frame making the leather creak.
"Your whereabouts during the poisoning window."
"On the northern perimeter sweep. As scheduled."
"Alone?"
"Aye. You have a problem with my patrol routes now, too?"
"I have a problem with a dead man and no alibi," I shot back. "You've been vocal about your distrust of the defector. You called him 'spineless scum' in the war room."
"He was," Rylan snarled. "But he was our spineless scum. I don't kill our own. I kill the enemy." He leaned forward, his eyes blazing. "If I wanted him dead, Levi, I wouldn't use poison. I'd look him in the eye and do it with my bare hands. And everyone would know it was me."
That was the truth. Rylan was a weapon of frontal assault, not subtle treachery. It didn't clear him. But it fit his profile.
"Send in Lucas."