Chapter 107 Leverage
Chase's POV
"If you march on Bloodrock tonight," I said, my voice low but cutting through the crackle of the dying bonfire, "you're not leading an army, Jax. You're leading a funeral procession."
Jax bristled, the firelight catching the feral glint in his amber eyes. "So we just wait? While they hunt us down one by one?"
"No. We don't wait. We escalate." I stepped closer, forcing him to meet my gaze not as a rival, but as a strategist. "Look around you. You have brave fighters, yes. But Bloodrock has fortified walls, military-grade weaponry, and decades of combat training. A direct assault by a Rogue militia against a Great Pack stronghold? It would be a slaughter. The casualties would be catastrophic."
Jax’s jaw worked, his fists clenching at his sides. He knew I was right, even if his wolf hated admitting it. "Then what’s your brilliant plan, Sterling?"
"We change the math," I said. "We don't fight them alone. We bring the full weight of the territories down on them. Emerald Valley, Silvermoon, and your Rogue forces—united."
Wynter looked up at me, hope warring with skepticism in her eyes. "A coalition?"
"Exactly. If we strike together, we overwhelm them. We hit them from the political front and the military front simultaneously." I paced a short line in the dirt. "But there's a problem. A massive one."
"The balance of power," Wynter guessed softly.
"Right. My father... he’s cautious. And Lord Julian of Emerald Valley is pragmatic. Neither of them will authorize a strike against Bloodrock without irrefutable justification. Attacking another Great Pack without cause breaks the ancient treaties. It would look like a power grab, not justice. They won't risk total war on a hunch."
"Unless it’s in their interest," Jax muttered. "Or unless they have no choice."
"Precisely." I stopped pacing. "We need the smoking gun. We need the evidence Owen died trying to give us."
The memory of Owen’s confession hung heavy between us. The ledger.
"He kept a record," I said, recounting what Owen had told us in that maintenance shed. "Every forged document, every order to incite civil war, the proof that Bloodrock framed Silvermoon for Arthur Vaughn's assassination. That book is the key. It turns this from a territorial dispute into a criminal indictment. If I put that ledger in my father’s hands, and in Lord Julian’s... they’ll have to act. They’ll have the moral and legal high ground to crush Draven."
"But the ledger is gone," Jax said, his voice flat. "Stone or his handlers cleared out Owen’s room before his body was even cold. They probably burned it."
"Maybe," I said, though my gut said otherwise. "Or maybe they kept it. Draven is arrogant. He keeps trophies."
"And how do we do that?" Jax asked, gesturing to the dark forest around us.
A heavy silence descended. The fire popped, sending sparks drifting toward the stars.
"We could ask Anne," Wynter said.
Her voice was quiet, tentative, but it landed with the force of a thunderclap.
Jax stared at her like she’d grown a second head. "Anne Kaine? The girl who tried to destroy your life? The daughter of the man we’re trying to take down?"
"She's different now," Wynter insisted, stepping into the light. Her eyes were earnest, pleading with us to understand. "Jax, you weren't there when I found her in the gardens. She... she saved Lily. She got Owen’s sister out of the labor camp and into a safe house. She told me about the Rogue children she saw in the courtyard. She’s the reason we even have these leads."
"She's a Kaine," Jax spat. "She's probably playing an angle."
"I don't think so," Wynter said, shaking her head slowly. "When I found her... she was hurt, Jax. Badly." She took a breath, her voice dropping. "She had bruises all over her ribs. Marks on her wrists from restraints. She tried to hide it, asked me not to tell anyone, but... I think her family did that to her. I think she’s reached her breaking point."
I went still.
The pieces started to click into place. The silence from Anne over the last few weeks. The lack of harassing messages. The strange, haunted look I’d seen in her eyes the last time we spoke in the garden, just before she ran.
If Draven was abusing her... if he was treating his own daughter like a tool to be used and discarded...
"She's trapped," I realized aloud. "She’s inside the beast’s belly, and she hates it."
"She has access," Wynter pressed. "She knows the layout of the Bloodrock compound. She might know where her father keeps his private records. "
"It's too dangerous," Jax argued. "If she betrays us—"
"If we don't try, we lose," I countered. I looked at Wynter, seeing the empathy radiating from her.
Despite everything Anne had done to her, Wynter still saw the human being beneath the cruelty.
"Okay," I said. "We use Anne. But to get her to help us, to get her to really turn against her father... I need to give her a way out. A lifeline."
I turned to Wynter, taking both her hands in mine. Her skin was cool, rough from the day's fighting, but her pulse was steady.
"Wynter," I said, my voice thick with regret for what I was about to suggest. "If we ask Anne for help, if we ask her to betray her blood... I have to offer her something in return. Something that guarantees her safety and gives her leverage over her father."
She looked up at me, trusting. "What?"
"I have to promise to marry her."
Wynter’s breath hitched. A small, soft "Ah" escaped her lips.
"I have to make her believe—and make her father believe—that I’ve capitulated," I explained hurriedly, tightening my grip on her hands. "I'll tell her that I’m willing to go through with the alliance. That I’ll protect her status. If Draven thinks he’s won, if he thinks Silvermoon is securing the marriage, he might lower his guard. And Anne... she needs to know I’m willing to save her."
Wynter stared at me for a long heartbeat. I braced myself for anger, for hurt.
Instead, her expression softened into a sad, knowing smile. "It's a play," she whispered. "A strategy."
"It's a lie," I promised fiercely. "A necessary lie. There is no wedding. There is no one else for me but you. But to get that ledger, to save these kids... I have to play the part of the obedient heir one last time."
Wynter nodded slowly. "I understand. I trust you, Chase. Do what you have to do."
"Seriously?" Jax groaned, throwing his hands up. "Do we really have to do the whole tragic romance sacrifice routine?"
He stepped forward, his face serious, and feigned a slow-motion punch toward my jaw, stopping just an inch from impact.
"You better be acting, Sterling," he growled, though there was a grudging respect in his tone. "Because if you actually leave my sister for that Bloodrock princess, I won't need an army to take you down. I'll do it myself."
"Noted," I said dryly, pushing his fist away. "And don't worry. I know exactly where I belong."
I pulled out the encrypted phone I’d kept since leaving the Academy. My thumb hovered over the contact list.
"I'm going to message her," I said. "If she's really turned, she'll answer."
I typed out the message carefully. No specifics. Just enough to signal a lifeline.
Anne. I know about the bruises. I know what you did for Lily. We need to talk. I have a proposal regarding the alliance. One that gets you out. I’m willing to tell your father I accept the marriage.
We waited. The fire burned down to embers. The silence of the forest seemed to press in on us, heavy with anticipation. Five minutes. Ten.
My phone buzzed.
Wynter flinched. Jax leaned in closer, his face illuminated by the screen's pale glow.
I read the message aloud, my voice tight.
I can use this. It gives me the leverage I need, even though I have absolutely no intention of marrying you now.
Three dots danced on the screen as she typed the rest.
I'm going to find an excuse to leave the Academy immediately. I'll tell them I need to prepare for the union. That will let me return to the Bloodrock compound without raising suspicion. That’s where the evidence is. Don't try to find me yet. Wait for my signal. I will contact you once I'm inside and I have news.
I lowered the phone, looking up at Wynter and Jax. The weight of her decision settled over us. She wasn't just meeting us halfway; she was walking back into the lion's den.
"She's going back to Bloodrock," I said, a cold resolve settling in my chest. "She's going straight to the source."
"Then we wait," Wynter whispered, staring into the dark woods. "And hope she survives long enough to call."