Chapter 51 The Interrogation
Levi:
"Send in Lucas."
Lucas entered with a datapad. Calm. Prepared. He placed it on my desk. "A full timeline of my activities. Cross-referenced with security system logs and communication timestamps."
I didn't look at it. "You have the highest-level access. You could have altered those logs."
"I could have," he agreed calmly. "But I didn't. The defector's information was the key to our only viable strategy. His death is a catastrophic tactical loss. Why would I, as your head of strategy, actively sabotage our best chance of winning?"
"To create a bigger crisis. To force a different move."
"An illogical risk," he stated, his gaze steady. "The benefit does not outweigh the cost. It's a bad trade. I don't make bad trades."
His logic was impeccable. It was what made him so valuable. And so dangerous if he ever turned.
I dismissed him, ordering him to the far side of the penthouse.
Alone again, I stared at the empty chairs. Jax, the loyal soldier, shrouded in shame. Rylan, the blunt instrument, all fiery denial. Lucas, the brilliant strategist, cool logic.
The door to the east wing opened slightly. A small face peeked out. Lior.
"Daddy?" he whispered. "Mommy said we have to be quiet. That there's a bad man here."
The world narrowed to a single, burning point, my son's fearful eyes.
I was across the room in a heartbeat, kneeling before him. "It's okay, champ. You're safe."
"Is the bad man going to hurt us?"
Aurora appeared behind him, her face pale. She pulled him gently back. "Come baby. Your father is busy."
Her eyes met mine, and I saw a reflection of my own chilling thought.
The traitor wasn't just a threat to me or to our plans. He was a threat to my children. He was inside. He was close.
The hunt was no longer about justice for a dead defector.
Later, a soft knock came. The door opened before I could speak.
Aurora stood there. Arms crossed. Chin lifted in defiance.
"I gave you an order," I said, my voice gravelly.
"And I'm refusing it." She stepped inside, sealing the door. "I'm not one of your soldiers or employees. You locked me in a room with our children. Do you think walls will protect them from this?"
She moved to the desk, her eyes on the empty chairs. "You've interrogated your brothers. Your most trusted men. And you have nothing."
"I don't need your…"
"You do," she cut me off, her gaze sharp. "You're hunting a monster you think you know. But what if you're wrong? What if the monster isn't in their heart, Levi? What if it's on them?"
I went perfectly still. "Explain."
She took a shaky breath. The defiance bled away, leaving raw honesty. "If you want my trust, treat me as your partner. Your equal. That means you hear the whole truth, even if it sounds impossible."
"Say it."
"Agnes teaches me to feel intent. The will behind energy." She hugged herself, as if cold. "When you accused them... the room didn't feel like a lie. It felt... diseased."
"Diseased."
"I can't believe I'm saying this," she whispered, shaking her head. "But could it be something else? Something not of their will? Something...sort of magical?"
The word hung between us. Heretical. Impossible. We were wolves. Strength and bone. Magic was a human fairytale.
And yet.
Jax’s hollow eyes flashed in my memory. I protected the pack.
My own words echoed. The enemy wears a familiar face.
A cold, new dread coiled in my gut. This wasn't a betrayal of loyalty. It was a corruption of it.
I looked at Aurora. Truly looked. She wasn't a frightened girl. She was a partner, standing before a terrifying truth.
The question was no longer who.
The question was what.
The silence stretched. The word magical seemed to suck the air from the room.
"It's not possible," I said, but the words felt hollow. A reflex.
"Isn't it?" Aurora challenged, her voice gaining strength. "You live in a world of shifting shapes and primal bonds, witches and Gods know what else. What is that, if not a kind of magic? Just because you don't understand a power doesn't make it a myth."
My mind raced, scrambling over the facts. Jax’s unshakable loyalty. His perfect record. The sheer, illogical stupidity of him doing this of his own free will. It didn't fit. Lucas was right. It was a bad trade.
But a weapon that could turn my own best soldier against me? That was a different kind of war.
"Jax," I breathed, the pieces clicking into a horrifying new picture. "He did the recon at the Northern Cliffs a few days ago. He was the only one who went inside the perimeter."
"Where the enemy's strongest," Aurora finished, her eyes wide with dawning horror. "What if they didn't just have guards? What if they had... something else? Something that leaves a mark?"
A compulsion. A curse. A psychic poison. The possibilities were endless.
I was out from behind my desk in a flash, striding toward the door.
"We need to see him. Now."
"Levi, wait." She grabbed my arm. Her touch was a jolt, a spark of warmth in the cold dread. "If you're right, he's a victim. Not a traitor. He doesn't need your anger. He needs your help."
I looked down at her hand on my arm, then at her face. The fear was still there, but it was overshadowed by a fierce, protective resolve. For Jax. For my pack. It made me fall for her even more.
This girl who was thrusted into a world of everything far beyond her imagination had reached a conclusion that i hadn't.
And she was right. Again.
I gave a sharp nod. "We do this my way. But we do it together."
We left the study. The main living area was a triptych of tension. Lucas stood by the windows, a silent sentinel. Rylan paced like a caged bear. Jax sat perfectly still in the library nook, staring at nothing.
All three looked up as we entered.
"Jax," I said, my voice low, forcing it to be calm. "I need you to stand up."
His eyes, still hollow, met mine. He rose without question. A soldier obeying.
"Rylan, Lucas. Stand back."
They exchanged a glance but moved away, creating a space.
"Levi, what is this?" Lucas asked, his analytical mind already working.
"An examination," I said, my gaze locked on Jax. I walked toward him, slowly. Aurora stayed a step behind me, a quiet, supportive presence. "Jax, when you scouted the Northern Cliffs. Did anything happen? Anything unusual?"
He blinked. "No, Alpha. It was clean."
"Did you see anyone? Spoke to anyone?"
"No."
"Did you feel anything?" Aurora asked softly, her voice cutting through the room's tension. "A chill? A pressure? A sudden thought that didn't feel like your own?"
Jax’s brow furrowed. A flicker of something, confusion, a distant memory. "I...I had a headache. After. Just for a moment...near the east wall."
The east wall. Where the defector said the old family crypts were located. The place Ethan claimed held the source of the Council's new power.
"Take off your shirt, Jax," I commanded.