63

63
Aiden's POV

This morning the pre-dawn workout has a different feel. And with every punch I throw into my heavy bag, with every defense move I make, I am burdened with what I witnessed last night. Xaver is speaking dirty through Lior's innocent face, employing my child as a vessel for what he's saying - it's a violation that would have my wolf out for blood.

Your form is very poor,” says Marcus as he watches from where he’s holding the training pads. “You’re letting anger get in the way of your technique.

“My anger is righteous,” I growl, throwing a series that damn near makes him stumble. “That motherfucker is using our child as his own message boy.

“You can’t do anything with that justified anger if you’re dead,” Marcus answers frankly. "Xavier's betting on you being too emotional and rattled all over the battle. Don’t hand him that edge.”

I make myself relax, to center with my breathing, to concentrate on finesse, not force. Marcus is correct — I must not allow my anger to become my undoing. There is too much that rides on my success as I fight the ritual duel. And my mate and children's lives are on the line, do you understand?I can't let my emotions do me in, so if I die by Xavier's hand because I lost my cool, I'll lose everything we've worked for.

The air is chilled against my sweat-soaked flesh as I race through a succession of blocking moves, measured and exact. The wolf inside me prowls, restless as it itches to change and hunt Xavier down now, but I keep it on a short leash. Patience and a plan will bring us a better result than a blind rage."

"Have your people heard anything about Xavier being on the move?" I ask between combinations.

“That’s what I was going to talk to you about,” Marcus says, putting the pads down. His face is grim, the kind of look that tells me whatever news he’s bringing isn’t good. "Word is Xavier's been reaching out to other packs - and not just for witnesses, something more."

“What else of what kind?”

Marcus whips out his phone and begins to show me a string of text messages. The time stamps indicate that they've been trickling in all night, a constant trickle of intelligence from his network of contacts throughout the werewolf territories. Three packs in the past two days. They were all more than a little notorious for… creative interpretations of pack rules."

I skim the messages, and my blood grows cooler and cooler with each. Its names alone make my teeth grate. The Blackthorne Pack, the Shadowcrest Pack, and the Ravenwood Pack. These are not rule-benders, Marcus. These are squadrons that have been forbidden from using forbidden magic.”

"Right," says Marcus, his tone tense with worry. “And from my contact at the Blackthorne Serengeti, Xavier was with Alpha Blackthorne himself yesterday. The exchange of cash — lots of cash, according to my source."

“He is purchasing allies,” I realize as the tactics Xavier is using to get what he needs begin to add up. "But why? The ritual combat is meant to be one-on-one.”

“Unless he’s going to try to do something sneaky and change the rules,” Marcus says. “Or unless he never intended to respect the result anyway.”

They hit me with a physical force and I have to hold on to the edge of the training bench to steady myself. "It's a trap. The whole thing is a trap."

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Marcus says. "Xavier dares you to ritual fight him, because he knows you’ll accept since it’s the only way around his technical control over Haylee. "But then you're preparing yourself for one-on-one honorable combat while he's preparing an ambush"

I slide down into the bench next to me, running ideas through my head. Every time I think about a possible scenario, it’s worse than the one I’d previously considered, and the weight of what we’re fighting against threatens to crush me. 'If he kills me in the fighting or finishes me off afterwards, he can say he won fair and square. When I die,  there's no one  with enough authority to fight for him to claim Haylee and the kids.'

“And if he does it right, it looks like an accident or that you died from your combat wounds,” Marcus says grimly. “The witnesses he’s going to bring are not going to prove otherwise — they’re all his buddies or too corrupt to care about the truth.”

My wolf lets out a growl at Xavier's betrayal, the sound pounding through me. But my human mind is already hard at work at countermeasures, dissecting the threat in every possible way. "We need our own witnesses. Packs we can trust to tell us if Xavier tries anything underhanded.”

“Working on it already,” Marcus says, and I am filled with gratitude for his forethought. “I’ve contacted Alpha Stone up in the Northern Territories and Alpha Reyes down at the Coastal Pack. They are respected as being honourable and have respect for traditional laws. They have agreed to monitor and act as neutral attendees.”

"Good," I say, a little of the stress draining from my shoulders. “Do we know anything else about what Xavier’s readying?”

Marcus’s face grows even more grave, and I try to steel myself for the bad news. “And this is where it starts to become quite worrying. My informant saw Xavier with some kind that don't belong to any pack. Rogues, not like the rest of us - these had discipline, focus. Military bearing.”

“Shadow Faction?"

“That’s my final guess,” confirms Marcus. "And if the Shadow Faction is behind this, then this is far more than pack politics or personal vendetta. They need those kids for the prophecy, and they’ll do anything to have them.”

I jump to my feet, striding back and forth in the training room as the extent of Xavier’s plan dawns on me. The soles of my feet squeeze against the rubber mats under me as the rubber takes the sound of my nervous fidgeting, not the charge weakly trying to contain it. "The duel was never meant to resolve our differences. It’s a pretext for a larger operation.”

“Just think about it,” I go on, my voice picking up speed as things start to click together. “Xavier asks me to step into the ring, knowing I can’t turn him down. That leaves him three days to set up his friends and Shadow Faction agents around the kill site. At the fight itself, when all eyes are on the combat, they move in to seize the children.”

“But Haylee and the twins will be here, safe, under guard as a fortress,” Marcus says.

"Will they?" I ask, turning to face him. “What if Xavier orders them to present at the duel as the observers? What if he says it’s his paternal right to have his kids at the most important time in our life?”

Marcus pales when he understands the trap we’re about to walk into. Ultimately he could demand that they be present to answer questions as part of the formal challenge. Old pack law has always supported his authority - the mate and children of the challenged party have been witnesses to the resolution."

“And when they’re at the combat scene, his comrades and Shadow Faction operatives swarm in...” I don’t have to complete the sentence. Spoiler alert: We all know how that plays out. Haley and the kids would be dead ducks, ripe to be snatched up or whatever while I’m on the battle field with Xavier.

“We have to scrub it,” Marcus says frantically. "Call off the battle, figure out another way to free Haylee from Xavier."

"We can't," I reply grimly. "The gauntlet has been thrown down and been accepted. To cancel now would be an act of cowardice and Xavier could have legal ground to demand that Haylee be returned immediately. The pack council would have no choice but to uphold his suit."

"Then what do we do?"

I am silent for quite some time, weighing our choices. I’ve never felt the strain of leadership as much as I do right now, praying that the lives of everyone I love hang in the balance. But little by little, I have a plan. “We use his trap against him. If Xavier is lurking to make an attack, he'll be ready for him. And if he’s betting on us not being ready..."

‘We train for war, not for single combat,” Marcus says, realization in his eyes.

"Exactly," I confirm. ”Call in our friends — not just witnesses but reinforcements. What I need are troops stationed about the battle site, and prepared to react if Xavier's minions act. Lay down intersecting fields of fire, agree on methods of communication, and plan for multiple eventualities.”

"What's going to happen to Haylee and the kids?"

“They stay here, under maximum security,” I say, my voice flat. “Whatever nonsense Xavier is talking about trying to be there, that ain’t us. The children's safety is more important than old traditions or legal loophole. We’ll take the political hit if we need to.”

Marcus nods, and he’s already getting out his phone to make some calls. "I'm going to organize with our security staff and give our allied packs a call. How many warriors you want waiting in the wings?"

“As many as we can trust,” I answer with no pause at all. "It's not about winning a ritualistic combat anymore, Marcus. 
We’re talking about survival here, ours and the children’s. 
Xavier has made his decision to intensify this war, and we shall be prepared to answer him with all we’ve got.”