Chapter 138 The Council's Demand
Ryder POV
We make it back to the compound just as the sun fully rises. Celeste rides behind Jolie, arms wrapped tight around my mate's waist like she's afraid of falling. Part of me still doesn't trust her. Still thinks this could be an elaborate long game designed to infiltrate our pack and destroy us from within.
But Jolie's empathy gift doesn't lie. And Jolie says Celeste is genuine. So Celeste gets a chance, one chance. We pull through the gates and Doc is already waiting, medical bag in hand.
"She needs evaluation." He approaches cautiously as Celeste dismounts. "Physical and psychological. Thirteen years of conditioning doesn't break cleanly."
"I'm fine." Celeste's voice is automatic, conditioned response. Then she catches herself. "No. I'm not fine, I don't know what I am."
"Let's find out." Doc gestures toward his clinic. "Come on. I promise I'm gentle."
She looks at Jolie, seeking permission or reassurance.
"Doc's safe." Jolie touches her arm. "He won't hurt you. He's helped all of us at some point."
"Okay." Celeste follows Doc.
Once they're gone, I pull Jolie aside."Are you sure about this?" I keep my voice low. "Bringing her here, giving her access to our compound, our pack?"
"No." She admits. "But I'm sure about what I felt through my empathy. She's genuine, Ryder. Terrified and broken and trying to rebuild herself. We can't turn her away."
"Even if she's dangerous?" I press. "Even if the conditioning makes her unstable or unpredictable?"
"Especially then." She meets my eyes. "Because the alternative is sending her back to people who'll use her as a broodmare. Who'll force her to bear children just to create more test subjects. I won't do that to anyone."
She's right. I know she's right. But the alpha in me still wants to eliminate potential threats before they become actual problems.
"Fine." I give in. "But she stays under observation. Someone with her at all times until we're certain the defection is real."
"Agreed." Jolie leans against me. "Now let's see what's on that flash drive. Maybe she actually gave us something useful."
We head to the main building where Luna and Phoenix have set up a war room. Maps cover every surface, laptops displaying tactical data, weapons laid out for inventory.
"Got something." Phoenix looks up when we enter. "The flash drive is real. Encrypted but not enough to stop me and Celeste wasn't lying—there's everything here. Facility locations, guard schedules, captive lists."
"How many captives?" Jolie moves to look over his shoulder.
"Seventeen confirmed wolves." His voice is grim. "Held in three different facilities. Ages ranging from fourteen to thirty-eight. Most of them have been captive for years."
"Seventeen." Jolie's hands clench into fists. "Seventeen wolves being studied like lab animals while we had no idea they even existed."
"There's more." Luna pulls up another file. "Project Equilibrium isn't just about breeding divine wolves. It's about eliminating empathy entirely from wolf genetics. They want to condition or breed out the capacity for deep emotional connection, create a species that's functional but emotionally hollow."
"Like Celeste." I realize. "She's not just a weapon. She's a prototype, proof that wolves can survive without empathy."
"And they want to make that the standard." Phoenix highlights sections of a document. "Eventually breed empathy out of all wolves, create a species that's easier to control because they don't have the emotional capacity to rebel or question authority."
"That's genocide." Jolie's voice shakes. "Not just of divine wolves. Of everything that makes wolves pack animals, they want to destroy our fundamental nature."
"Which is why they need to be stopped." Knox appears in the doorway. "Cass and I finished weapons inventory. We've got enough blessed silver to arm twenty wolves, regular silver for forty more. But we're short on the specialized equipment needed to breach high-security facilities."
"What about pack recruitment?" I ask Luna. "Any luck reaching out to Council-resistant alphas?"
"Some." She pulls up a list. "Three packs have agreed to send warriors—Redwood, Silverpine, and Nightrunner. That's about thirty wolves total. Combined with Iron Fangs and Gio, we've got maybe forty fighters."
"Not enough for three simultaneous facility strikes." Cass moves to the tactical map. "We'd need at least sixty, preferably eighty to have comfortable margins."
"Then we recruit more." Jolie studies the map. "Who else has reasons to hate the Council?"
"Half the wolf population." Luna says dryly. "But hating them and risking open war are different things. Most alphas want to survive, rebuild, protect their own packs. They're not interested in joining suicide missions against fortified facilities."
"It's not suicide if we plan it right." I trace routes on the map. "Hit them at shift change when guards are distracted. Use Celeste's intelligence on security weak points. Extract captives fast and disappear before reinforcements arrive."
"Still requires significant numbers." Cass counters. "And specialized skills. We need wolves who can breach fortifications, handle blessed silver safely, fight in close quarters. Not just bodies but trained warriors."
"What about rogues?" Gio suggests from where he's been quietly observing. "Wolves who operate outside pack structures. They've got nothing to lose and might join up for the right price."
"What price?" Phoenix asks. "We're not exactly wealthy."
"No, but we're offering something better than money." Gio stands, moving to the map. "We're offering revenge. The Council hunted rogues, experimented on them, used them as disposable test subjects. There are probably hundreds of rogues out there who'd love a chance to burn Council facilities to the ground."
"That's actually not a bad idea." Luna makes notes. "Rogues tend to have military or combat experience—that's how they survived alone. And they're used to operating without pack structure, which makes them more flexible in tactical situations."
"Doc, can you reach out to your rogue network?" I ask.
His voice comes through the comm system. "Already on it. But I should warn you—rogues are unpredictable. They might fight with us or turn on us depending on how things go."
"That's a risk we have to take." Jolie straightens her shoulders. "We need numbers. If rogues give us that, we work with them."
"I'll put out the call." Doc agrees. "But it'll take time to gather them. Maybe twenty-four hours before we start seeing responses."
"We don't have twenty-four hours to wait." Luna pulls up the timeline. "If Celeste is right about the blessed silver modification taking three days, we're already down to sixty hours. We need to move faster."
"Then we hit one facility first." I decide. "Use it as proof of concept. Show potential recruits that we can actually win against Council security. That'll bring more wolves to our side."
"Which facility?" Cass studies the map. "Montana is smallest but most isolated. Nevada has the most captives but strongest security. California is middle-ground on both."
"Montana." Jolie points to it. "We hit the smallest facility first, extract whatever captives are there, and use the success to recruit for the larger strikes."
"When?" Knox asks.