Chapter 28 28
Damien POV
I sped off their grounds without looking back, gravel spitting beneath my tires. The warrior Theo had shifted his attitude the moment he realised exactly who he was dealing with. My wolf hated leaving the boy behind, pacing and whining inside my chest as if we’d abandoned someone important. It was ridiculous, really… yet the feeling clung to me.
I stopped at a small hotel just ten miles beyond their borders, farther than I ever intended to be. Their security had trailed me with their eyes until the very last second, only peeling away when they were convinced I was truly gone. Fine. Let them think that. I’d return on foot at dawn, shift into my wolf, and observe the Darkvale pack properly. Tomorrow was for reconnaissance silent, thorough, unforgiving.
But for some damned reason, the alpha’s son kept drifting through my thoughts. Dominique. A solid kid, sharp and promising a future alpha in every sense. My wolf had taken to him instantly, and that alone unsettled me. I needed to know who his father was. Someone I’d met? A former beta who’d risen to power? Or something else entirely?
I sighed and pulled out my phone, deciding it was better to update Geneviève before she complained about being kept in the dark.
“Hello?”
“Geneviève, it’s me.”
“Damien… I miss you,” she breathed, dripping sweetness through the speaker. “Where are you?”
“In a hotel. I’ll be heading back to the Darkvale pack in the morning.”
“Oh? They didn’t offer you lodging? How rude,” she scoffed, unimpressed.
“No. I haven’t met their alpha yet. I met his son, though.”
“Why didn’t the alpha come himself? Unless he’s planning to hand the position to the boy soon? Maybe that’s why he wanted you to meet him first.”
I huffed a laugh. “Hardly. The boy is only four.”
“A four-year-old meeting an alpha?” she muttered. “Strange.”
“I didn’t think so. Honestly… it was a clever move. The kid’s charming.”
“Be careful, Damien. They’re stealing packs from our alliance”
“My alliance,” I corrected sharply, a growl edging into my tone. Her phrasing rubbed me the wrong way.
“I meant the royal pack’s alliance,” she hurried to clarify, sounding wounded. “I’d like to believe you see me as part of the pack again.”
“Of course, Geneviève,” I sighed.
“So? What’s your next step?”
“I’m going back tomorrow in wolf form. I’ll observe, gather what I need, then return once I have enough information.”
Last night’s call with her was followed by a quick conversation with Lucas, repeating the same summary. He assured me everything at home was stable.
After a hearty breakfast, I left the car parked at the hotel and continued on foot toward the Darkvale territory. Once the forest swallowed the road behind me, I stripped and shifted, my wolf stepping into the quiet morning like he owned it. I was the best tracker and fighter this country had produced no one could hide from me, and I knew exactly how to remain invisible.
Wolves could bury their packs deep in endless trees, but once you knew the coordinates… human technology made ghosts visible. Satellite terrain maps revealed everything escape routes, weak patrol points, blind spots. And Darkvale, concealed as they were, had chosen woodlands thick enough to become my perfect cover.
I spent most of the morning watching them studying training formations, counting who passed through their borders, noting the rhythm of patrol rotations. When I finally felt satisfied with the flow of their security at the gates, I moved deeper along the edge of their land, toward the wide field stretching behind what I assumed was the alpha’s house.
My real work was about to begin.