Chapter 229 229

Chapter 229 229
Caden's POV

Sleep wasn't happening.
I'd given up pretending an hour ago, moved from the bed to the chair by the window, and had been sitting in the dark ever since. Shadow had gone still somewhere in the back of my skull, which meant he'd either accepted tonight wasn't the night for anything useful or he was as worn out as I was. Hard to tell with him lately.
Nova's voice kept replaying in my head.
I kept things from you during our marriage. Things you had a right to know.
I knew what she meant. I'd known for some time that an anonymous benefactor had been quietly doing some behind-the-scenes work, the account trails that hadn't quite added up in the early years after the Blood Wars, the connections that appeared from nowhere exactly when we needed them, the quiet maneuvering that had kept Shadowcrest solvent when by every reasonable calculation it should have gone under. I'd started pulling at those threads a while back with no results and it had taken her outburst that day in the council's parking lot to realize she had been the one the whole time.
Her quiet sacrifice still left me feeling gutted with guilt every time I thought about it. She had propped up everything I stood to lose, using her family's money and Strongvale's full reach, without ever saying a word. Without ever letting me see it.
And I had treated her like she was lucky to be there.
I dragged a hand over my face. I wanted a drink, something to take the edge off my thoughts, but I couldn't bring myself to move out of that chair.
Then I felt someone pressing against the edges of my mind and I linked up immediately.
"Alpha, we've found the driver."
I jolted to my feet. "Where?"
"We picked him up at a dive bar in town an hour ago and brought him back here. He's a rogue, makes a living doing hitman-for-hire work. My men lifted him quietly, no fuss."
"And he talked?"
"Enough. Claims he was contacted through a third party, offered a substantial sum to run the vehicle off the road. Didn't ask questions, just did as he was instructed." Jake paused. "He's being held in the east cottage."
"Did anyone see you bring him in?"
"No one. My men made sure of that."
"Good. I'm on my way."
I ended the mindlink and moved to grab my jacket. I was downstairs, hand on the front door, when I stopped. Nova's words surfaced, inconveniently clear.
Whatever your team finds, whoever was behind it, you tell me. I want to find out the same time you do.
I checked the time. Just past two in the morning. She'd probably be asleep by now. Maybe it was best to interrogate the rogue first and brief her on the findings in the morning.
Sensible, right?
I stood there for approximately five seconds entertaining that thought.
Then I changed direction and headed back up the stairs.
She answered right after the first knock.
"Who is it?"
"It's me." I kept my voice low. "Jake's found the driver of the SUV."
A beat of silence. Then I heard movement, quick and purposeful, and seconds later the door was flung open and she stepped out. She had changed into silk pyjamas and her hair was mussed like she'd been lying down, but her eyes were alert, not clouded by sleep.
"Where is he?" Her tone was equally low and urgent.
I tried to keep my gaze from drifting south, to the places I had no business looking.
"Jake has him tied up nearby. Do you want to come?"
"I'll get changed. Give me a minute." She stepped back into the room, her fingers already working on the buttons of the top, the door still wide open as she shrugged out of the shirt, revealing her back.
Fuck. I became hard in seconds.
Focus. I forced my eyes elsewhere but it didn't help. I needed to —
"I'll go get Emily to watch Hudson." I took off quickly, cursing under my breath.
Unlike Nova, Emily didn't answer even after several insistent knocks. Typical. The girl was a heavy sleeper, capable of sleeping through a fire alarm.
Deciding a little abuse of power was necessary, I pushed directly into her mind.
Em. Wake up.
A groggy pulse of irritation came back at me. Then: What the fuck, Caden.
Get out of my head.
Then open the door.
I heard muffled grumbling and rustling, then the door was yanked open. Emily glared at me through sleep-heavy eyes. "Never do that again."
I shrugged, not in the least bit repentant. "I knocked. Several times."
"That's because I was asleep. Like normal people." She squinted at me. "What time is it?"
"Late. And we're not normal. I need you to babysit."
A door closed down the hall and we both turned as Nova came toward us, fully dressed in jean cutoffs and a gray oversized hoodie.
"Where are you two going?" Emily asked, glancing between us, eyes narrowed.
"Outside, but we're not leaving the pack. I'll explain tomorrow."
"You'll explain now." She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders and leaned against the doorframe in a way that made clear she wasn't moving until she had an answer. "Is it the attack? Did something else happen?"
"We have a lead we're following up on. That's all I can tell you right now."
Emily studied me, then looked at Nova again, something passing over her face. Whatever conclusion she reached, she filed it away rather than voicing it. "You'll tell me everything in the morning."
"Yeah," I confirmed.
She held my gaze for another second, then pushed off the doorframe and pulled the blanket more firmly around herself. "Fine. Go."
"Thank you, Emily." Nova smiled at my sister with genuine warmth. Then her expression sobered as she met my gaze. "I'm ready."
We left the house together, moving quickly across the dark grounds toward the east side of the territory. Nova matched my long strides without effort, moving with a quiet purposefulness that I'd noticed before but never quite examined. Two-time Snow Games champion. Another thing I'd learned about her only after the divorce, along with approximately a hundred other things she'd never volunteered during our marriage.
"How did they find him?" she asked, keeping her voice down.
"Vehicle traces from the scene. Jake's team had partial plates and spent the day running them down. Tracked him to a bar in town through a contact who recognized the description."
"Who is he?"
"A rogue." I glanced at her. "The convenient kind people use to do their dirty work. No pack, no fixed territory, nothing that leads back to whoever hired him."
She absorbed that. "So someone hired him."
"Through a third party, apparently. Which means there's at least one more layer between us and whoever gave the order."
"But he knows who paid him?"
"He knows something. Whether it's a name or just a meeting point or a method of contact, that's what we're going to find out."
Nova was quiet for a moment, her boots soft on the grass. "Do you have any idea who it was?"
I had suspicions. I had a very short list and one name sitting at the top of it that I couldn't yet prove. "I have thoughts," I said. "Nothing I'm willing to say out loud until I have something to back it up."
She cut me a sideways look that told me she understood exactly what I was and wasn't saying.
The east cottage came into view, a single light on inside, Jake's silhouette visible through the window. He came to the door when he heard us, nodded at Nova without comment, and stepped back to let us in.
"Ready when you are," he said.
I looked at the closed door at the back of the room, then at Nova.
She met my eyes and nodded.