Chapter 10 The Trap Revealed
(Lucien's POV)
Nikolai is already at the safe house when I arrive, sprawled across the ratty sofa like he owns the place.
"You look like hell," he says without preamble.
"Thanks. You always know exactly what to say." I limp past him toward the kitchen, my ankle still protesting despite the accelerated healing. "When did you get in?"
"Two hours ago. Took a cab straight from Heathrow." He sits up, his expression shifting from casual to serious in an instant. "We need to talk."
"That's why I'm here." I grab a beer from the fridge… one of three things currently in it besides condiments and hope… and twist off the cap. "You said you had intel."
"I do. You're not going to like it."
"I haven't liked anything about this mission from day one." I take a long drink, letting the cold liquid settle my frayed nerves. "Hit me with it."
Nikolai pulls out his phone and swipes through several screens before landing on what he's looking for. "Ravenna's escalating. The blood curse ultimatum isn't a bluff, Lucien. She's already begun the preliminary rituals."
The beer turns sour in my mouth. "How long?"
"Six days. Maybe seven if we're lucky." He sets the phone down, fixing me with those dark eyes that have seen too much. "After that, everyone in your bloodline starts the turn. Your cousins, your uncle, that baby brother you're so fond of… all of them reduced to mindless beasts within hours."
"Dmitri's sixteen." My voice comes out rougher than intended. "He doesn't even know how to hunt properly yet. He still calls me when he has nightmares about his first shift."
"I know."
"He likes comic books and terrible punk music and has a crush on the baker's daughter in the village." I'm gripping the beer bottle too hard, can feel the glass protesting under the pressure. "He's a kid, Nik. A stupid, innocent kid who has nothing to do with this."
"I know," Nikolai repeats, softer this time. "That's why we're here. That's why we're going to figure this out."
I set the beer down before I shatter it. "What else have you got?"
"More bad news, unfortunately." He picks up his phone again, scrolling to a different file. "I've been digging into Casimir's background. Specifically, his activities over the past six months."
"And?"
"He's been researching the Convergence prophecy. Extensively." Nikolai turns the phone to show me screenshots of library records, archives accessed, experts consulted. "This isn't recent interest, Lucien. He's been obsessed with it for months, well before the engagement was announced."
The implications sink in slowly, like poison through water. "He knows what she is."
"More than that. I think he's known for a while." Nikolai swipes to another image—a grainy photograph of Casimir meeting with an elderly man in what looks like a dusty archive. "That's Professor Aleksandr Kozlov, one of the world's foremost experts on werewolf prophecies and ancient bloodlines. He lives in Prague. Very reclusive, very selective about who he consults with."
"When was this taken?"
"Four months ago. Two months before Morrigan announced the engagement." Nikolai leans forward, elbows on his knees. "Casimir didn't just agree to marry Thalia for political alliance, mate. He specifically sought out this marriage because he knows she's a Convergence."
I start pacing, unable to keep still. The safe house is small… barely fifteen meters from wall to wall… but I walk it anyway, burning off the nervous energy threatening to consume me. "So the marriage isn't just political."
"It's strategic." Nikolai's voice is grim. "Whatever Casimir's planning, Thalia's power is central to it. He's not marrying her despite what she is. He's marrying her because of it."
"That bastard." The words come out low and dangerous. "He's going to use her."
"Most likely. Though for what purpose, I haven't figured out yet." Nikolai pulls up another file, this one showing complex family trees and bloodline connections. "But there's more. I traced back Casimir's family history. His great-great-grandmother was the last recorded Convergence."
I stop pacing. "What?"
"One hundred and fifty-three years ago. She tried to unite the packs under her rule. When that failed, she tried to enslave them instead." He zooms in on a particular section of text. "The resulting civil war killed thousands. She was eventually assassinated by a coalition of Alphas who couldn't defeat her power but could get close enough with a blessed silver blade."
"And Casimir knows this history."
"He's descended from it." Nikolai sets the phone down. "His great-great-grandfather was one of the Alphas who participated in the assassination. The Dragomir pack has been collecting information about Convergence wolves ever since, paranoid about another one rising."
"So when Casimir discovered Thalia..." I connect the dots with sickening clarity. "He saw an opportunity."
"To control what his ancestors couldn't." Nikolai's expression is dark. "If he can bind Thalia to him legally, raise any children she produces with Dragomir values, use her power to support his agenda... He'd have what no Alpha has had in over a century."
"Absolute power over all three packs."
"Bingo."
I resume pacing, my mind racing through possibilities and probabilities, scenarios and strategies. "Does Ravenna know?"
"That Thalia's a Convergence? Yes. That's precisely why she sent you to kill her." Nikolai stands, moving to the window to peer through the grimy curtains at the street below. "What I don't know is whether Ravenna understands Casimir's specific interest in Thalia's power. She might just think he wants the political alliance."
"We need to assume she knows." I stop by the table, bracing my hands against the scarred wood. "Ravenna's paranoid but she's not stupid. If we figured out Casimir's research activities, she probably has too."
"Which makes this whole situation even more dangerous than we thought." Nikolai lets the curtain fall back. "You've got three packs circling Thalia like sharks, each one wanting to use her for different purposes. Morrigan wants to keep her suppressed and controllable. Casimir wants to harness her power for his own agenda. Ravenna wants her dead before any of that can happen."
"And I want her safe." The words come out more forceful than intended. "That's the only agenda that matters to me."
"I know, brother. But we need to be realistic about what 'safe' even means in this situation." Nikolai crosses to the sofa and drops back onto it with a heavy sigh. "Every path I can see ends in disaster. If you complete the mission, you kill your own mate and damn yourself to going feral. If you refuse, Ravenna invokes the blood curse and your entire bloodline dies screaming. If you run with Thalia, the blood oath kills her. If you stay and try to fight this politically—"
"War breaks out and thousands die." I finish the sentence. "I know. I've run these calculations a hundred times. There's no good option."
"Then we need to find allies." Nikolai pulls out a cigarette and lights it, taking a long drag before continuing. "Someone on the inside who can help us. Someone with access to information or resources we don't have."
"Who? Everyone we know is either loyal to their pack or too terrified to cross pack leadership." I grab my beer again, discovering it's gone warm. I drink it anyway. "We're operatives, Nik. We don't exactly move in circles where we make friends with people who have power."
"Actually, I might have a lead on that." He exhales smoke toward the ceiling. "While I was waiting for you, I made some calls. Put out feelers in the Dragomir pack. And I got a response."
I straighten. "From who?"
"Guy named Dimitri. Mid-level security in Casimir's personal detail." Nikolai taps ash into an empty cup. "He reached out through an intermediary, said he wanted to talk. Said things in the Dragomir pack aren't what they seem and there are others who are... uncomfortable with the current direction."
"That sounds like a trap."
"Probably. But it's also the only lead we've got." He meets my gaze. "I set up a meeting for tonight. Neutral ground, public location, lots of witnesses. If he tries anything, we can bolt."
"And if he's genuine?"
"Then maybe we've found someone who can help us understand what Casimir's really planning." Nikolai stands, crushing out his cigarette. "At minimum, we need intelligence. We're operating blind right now and that's going to get us killed."
I consider the risks, weighing them against our rapidly diminishing options. "Where's the meeting?"
"Borough Market. Eight PM. There's a pub called The Griffin… loud, crowded, good for conversations that need to stay private while looking public." He checks his watch. "That gives us three hours to prepare."
"Prepare how? We can't exactly bring weapons into a pub without drawing attention."
"No, but we can have backup nearby. I've got two Voss wolves stationed in London who are loyal to you, not Ravenna." He grins slightly. "Benefits of being a trained operative… you make connections outside official channels."
"Nik, if Ravenna finds out you're helping me… "
"Then I'm dead too. I know." He shrugs. "But you're my brother in everything but blood, Lucien. I'm not abandoning you to face this alone."
The words hit harder than they should. I'm not used to having people on my side without ulterior motives. "Thank you."
"Save it for when we've actually accomplished something." He moves toward the door, then pauses. "Have you told Thalia about the six-day deadline?"
"Not yet. I've been trying to figure out how to phrase 'by the way, my entire family gets turned into monsters in less than a week if I don't murder you.'" I laugh, but there's no humor in it. "How exactly do you have that conversation?"
"Honestly, I think. She deserves to know what's at stake." Nikolai's expression softens slightly. "And from what you've told me, she's stronger than everyone gives her credit for. She might surprise you."
"She already has." I think about Thalia standing up to me in her room, about the intelligence in her eyes, the steel underneath the sheltered exterior. "She pressed that beacon knowing I could kill her before help arrived. That takes either tremendous courage or tremendous faith that I wouldn't hurt her."
"Or both." Nikolai opens the door, letting in a stream of gray London light. "I'm going to check in with our backup, make sure everything's arranged for tonight. You should try to rest. You look like you haven't slept in days."
"I haven't."
"Then sleep now. We need you sharp for the meeting with Dimitri." He steps into the hallway, then looks back. "And Lucien? Don't go see her again until after we've talked to this guy. I know the mate bond is pulling at you, but we can't afford another security incident right now."
The thought of staying away from Thalia makes my chest ache, but Nikolai's right. "I'll stay put."
"Good. I'll be back at seven to brief you before we head out."
The door closes behind him and I'm alone in the safe house with my thoughts and my fears and the rapidly approaching deadline that will doom everyone I love if I can't find a solution.
I pull out my phone and open the file I've been compiling on Thalia. Her daily schedule, her habits, the patterns of her isolation. But I'm not looking at surveillance data anymore. I'm looking at the candid photograph I took three days ago, the one of her standing at her window with the sunset painting her in gold.
She looks lost in that photo. Beautiful and lost and utterly alone.
"I'm going to find a way to save you," I whisper to the image. "Even if it destroys me. Even if it damns us both. I'm going to find a way."
The phone doesn't answer. The photograph doesn't change.
But somewhere across London, I can feel the mate bond pulling tight, a constant reminder that my salvation and my doom wear the same face.