Chapter 24 Jordan's Suspicions (Jordan POV)
I’ve always been good at watching without being seen. Ironwood heir training: observe first, act second. For the past week, I’ve watched Vivian unravel in slow motion, late-night absences, unexplained texts, the way she’d disappear into the science building after curfew and come back with that tight, secret look she only got when she was chasing something dangerous. Tonight I followed her.
She slipped out of the dorm at 11:43 p.m., hoodie up, moving fast toward the old chapel. I kept distance, forty paces, using the shadows of the oak trees. She didn’t look back once. That alone told me she thought she was alone.
She disappeared through the side door. I waited three minutes, then followed. The basement stairs creaked under my weight; I froze, listening. Voices, low, urgent. One was hers. The other was unmistakable: Declan Hale’s smooth, controlled drawl.
I descended the last four steps silently, pressed my back to the cold stone wall just outside the lantern light.
“…Julian Cross is James Cross’s son,” Declan was saying. “Elena’s other child. She hid him too. He’s been here for months, feeding Sage lies, pushing Rowan toward a forced shift. He wants the suppressed students to remember all at once, chaos during the Concordance. He wants the packs to burn.”
Vivian’s voice, sharp, shaking, “And the chimeric signature on Hendricks’ body? That’s him?”
“Has to be,” Declan answered. “He’s the successful prototype. No pack markers. All of them and none. That’s why the DNA reads as Rowan but smells like every territory at once.”
Silence. Then Vivian, quieter: “Meredith can’t shift properly. She’s been on suppressants since she was four months old. She knows now. She’s terrified.”
My heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought they’d hear it.
Meredith.
Suppressants.
Four months old.
I pressed my palm to the stone to keep from moving.
Declan’s voice again: “We tell Rowan tomorrow night. If we can get her the proof before the Alphas convene...”
Vivian cut in: “Jordan can’t know yet. If his father’s involved, ”
“My father’s involved,” Declan said flatly. “He signed James Cross’s death warrant. He let Elena take the fall. He knows about the project. He’s protecting it.”
I slid down the wall until I was crouched, head in my hands. My father. The Ironwood Alpha. Complicit in murdering a human researcher. In suppressing his own heir.
I stayed there until their voices faded, until their footsteps climbed the stairs and the side door clicked shut.
Then I waited another ten minutes.
When I finally stood, my legs felt numb.
I didn’t go back to the dorm.
I went straight to Vivian’s room.
She opened the door on the third knock, eyes wide, hair still tucked under the hood. She saw my face and tried to close it.
I caught the edge with my palm.
“We need to talk,” I said. “Now.”
She looked past me, hallway empty, then stepped aside. I walked in. She shut the door. Locked it.
I didn’t sit. Neither did she.
“How long?” I asked.
She crossed her arms. “How long what?”
“How long have you been meeting Declan Hale in secret?”
Her face paled. “You followed me.”
“Answer the question.”
She looked away. “A week. Maybe longer.”
I stepped closer. “You’ve been working with Nightshade. Behind Ironwood’s back. Behind mine.”
“It’s not...”
“Don’t lie to me.” My voice cracked on the last word. “I heard everything. Project Chimera. Suppressed students. Meredith. My father.”
Vivian’s eyes filled. “Jordan...”
“Is it true?” I asked. “Is Meredith…?”
She nodded once, small, miserable. “She’s known for days. I showed her the files. She cried for an hour. Then she asked me to help her stop taking the pills.”
I dragged both hands through my hair. “And you didn’t tell me.”
“I couldn’t.” Her voice broke. “If your father’s involved, if the Alpha knew and kept it quiet, ”
“My father,” I repeated. The words tasted like ash. “The man who taught me pack loyalty above everything. The man who said Ironwood survives because we protect our own.”
Vivian stepped forward. “Jordan, listen...”
“No.” I held up a hand. “You listen. I’ve loved you since sophomore year. I’ve watched you choose ambition over everything, over us, over Ironwood sometimes. But this? Working with Declan Hale? Hiding this from me?”
“I was protecting Meredith,” she said. Tears spilled over. “And Rowan. And the truth. If we go to your father and he’s part of it...”
“Then we’re traitors either way,” I finished.
She nodded. “Exactly.”
I turned away. Paced to the window. Stared out at the dark campus. The moon was fat, almost full.
“What’s the plan?” I asked without turning.
Vivian exhaled shakily. “We meet Declan tomorrow night. Chapel basement. We show Rowan everything, Elena’s journals, the chimeric DNA results, Meredith’s medical history. We get her ready for the full moon. Then we take it all to the Concordance. All three Alphas. Public. Undeniable.”
“And if my father tries to bury it?”
Vivian walked up behind me. Didn’t touch me. Just stood close enough that I could feel her warmth.
“Then we expose him too,” she said quietly. “All of them. Whatever it takes.”
I closed my eyes.
My father.
The Alpha.
Complicit.
I turned. Looked at her. Mascara tracks on her cheeks. Eyes red. Still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“I’m in,” I said.
She let out a sob and stepped into my arms. I held her tight. Felt her shake against me.
“We’re going to fix this,” I whispered into her hair. “All of it.”
She nodded against my chest.
But in the back of my mind, one thought kept circling.
If the Alphas were willing to kill a human researcher.
Willing to suppress their own heirs.
Willing to frame an innocent girl for murder.
What else were they willing to do?
I tightened my arms around Vivian.