Chapter 169
Lynette's POV
The phone sat on the coffee table between us, Drake's voice cutting through the silence like a blade.
"Rezar Volkov," Drake said. "He became Wild Hunt's new Alpha just days ago."
My spine went rigid. Three days. I felt Kael's eyes snap to me, saw the same calculation I was doing flash across his face.
"New?" Kael leaned forward, his voice sharp. "What happened to the previous Alpha?"
"Challenge ritual." Drake's tone was flat, professional. "He took down two competitors. Reports say the fights were... brutal. Very public. He made sure everyone saw."
I watched Kael's jaw tighten. His fingers curled against his thighs.
"Walk me through it," Kael said. "What triggered the power vacuum?"
Papers rustled through the speaker. "There was an incident in their Canadian territory. A high-value target escaped. It caused a complete breakdown in their command structure."
My chest constricted. High-value target. They were talking about me. About the body I used to have—the one my sister had been trapped in.
I kept my face blank, but my mind was racing. Fenrir. Elara killed Fenrir when she was in my body. And when I went to rescue her, Wild Hunt's main force wasn't there. Because they were too busy tearing themselves apart.
"The old leadership fell apart," Drake continued. "Accusations of incompetence. Internal conflicts. Different factions trying to seize control. Rezar won by promising the pack something big. Something that would compensate for the failed contract."
"What did he promise?" Kael's voice was cold, controlled.
"My sources couldn't get specifics. Just that it involved 'new resources.' Something that would bring in more profit than the original target."
Kael ended the call and turned to me. His amber eyes were sharp, reading my face. "You're thinking something."
I was thinking a lot of things. I was thinking about how one death—Fenrir's death—had shattered their entire organization. I was thinking about how my sister, who'd never killed anyone before, had accidentally triggered a civil war.
"If they're here for revenge," I said slowly, "why haven't they come after me? Or my family?"
Kael stood up, started pacing. "Because they're not here for revenge."
"They went after rogues instead." I stood too, my body needing to move. "Wolves with no pack. No resources. Nothing anyone else wants."
"Unless Rezar sees something no one else does." Kael stopped at the window, stared out.
I moved to stand beside him. "What value could starving rogues possibly have?"
"Drake said 'new resources.'" Kael turned to face me. "What if the rogues are the resource?"
My stomach dropped. The pieces were clicking together, and I didn't like the picture they were forming.
"You think he's collecting them," I said.
"Or controlling them." Kael's voice was grim. "Think about it. Rogues have no pack loyalty. No council oversight. If someone found a way to control them—"
"They'd have an army no one could trace back to Wild Hunt." The words felt heavy in my mouth. "Wolves who could do anything, and Wild Hunt wouldn't be held responsible."
Kael met my eyes. "How many rogues are there in North America?"
I thought about the camps I'd seen. The wolves pushed out by their packs, living on the edges, barely surviving. "Hundreds. Maybe more."
"And if Rezar has found a way to control all of them—"
"He'd have more power than half the Alphas on this continent." My hands clenched into fists. "And he'd be almost impossible to stop."
The door opened. Elara came back carrying water bottles and a bag of chips. She took one look at our faces and froze.
"What happened?" Her voice was tight.
"Drake found information on Rezar," I said. "He's Wild Hunt's new Alpha."
The water bottles slipped in Elara's grip. She caught them, but her face had gone pale. "New? Since when?"
"Three days ago." I took one of the bottles she offered but didn't open it. "There was a power struggle. Rezar won."
"And now he's here." Elara sat down hard on the couch. "Taking rogues."
"We think he's using them," Kael said. "Building something."
Elara looked between us. Her eyes were wide. "Building what?"
I exchanged a glance with Kael. We were both thinking the same thing.
"An army," I said quietly. "He's building an army of wolves no one will miss."
The room went silent. I could hear a car drive past outside. Normal sounds. Normal evening. But nothing about this was normal.
Kael's phone buzzed. He glanced at it. "Drake will continue tracking Rezar's movements. In the meantime, you two need to be careful."
"We will," Elara said quickly.
But I was still thinking. Still trying to figure out the missing piece.
"There's still something we don't know," I said.
Kael looked at me. "What?"
"How." I met his eyes. "How is Rezar controlling them? Rogues don't just follow orders. They're rogues because they won't submit to authority. So what method is he using?"
The question hung in the air between us. Unanswered. Dangerous.
Because whatever Rezar had figured out, whatever technique he was using—it was effective enough to make him Alpha. Effective enough to make him think he could build an army.
And we had no idea what it was.