Chapter 151 What He Heard
Kane did not move immediately after the door closed behind them.
He remained in the shadows behind the tree, and his eyes stayed fixed on the house as if it might reveal something more if he waited long enough.
The image replayed in his mind whether he wanted it to or not.
Victoria had stepped out without hesitation.
She had looked at Devon like there was nothing complicated about it.
And then Devon had reached for her.
Not just to kiss her.
His hand had moved to her stomach first.
And Victoria had let him.
Kane had seen the bump clearly from where he stood. It was not something she could hide anymore, and from the way Devon touched her, he had no interest in hiding it either.
Kane stood completely still behind the tree, and for a moment he did not process anything beyond what his eyes had already confirmed.
Devon knew about the pregnancy.
Devon was part of it.
The control Kane held over himself was the only thing keeping him from walking straight through that door.
He exhaled once and then moved.
He stepped forward carefully, and his movements stayed quiet as he closed the distance between himself and the house.
He kept to the shadows as he approached one of the side windows.
The lights inside were dim, but there was movement.
Voices followed.
Kane focused, and his hearing sharpened as he picked up the first fragments.
“What took you so long?” Victoria asked.
Her voice carried clearly enough for him to recognize the tone.
“I had to be careful,” Devon replied. “He already knows I betrayed him”
Kane’s expression hardened as he listened.
“You said he would not find out yet,” Victoria said.
“He did not,” Devon answered. “We still have time.”
There was a pause, and Kane shifted slightly to get a better angle without exposing himself.
“And the girl,” Victoria continued. “Is she still alive?”
There was no concern in her voice.
Only interest.
“She is alive,” Devon said. “Barely.”
Kane’s jaw tightened.
“She should have known better than to go snooping,” Victoria said. “Serves her right.”
Kane felt something cold settle in his chest.
This was not just betrayal.
This was treason.
Long-term and deliberate planning that had been running underneath everything he thought he knew.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Aria answered almost immediately.
“Kane,” she said. “Where are you?”
“I found him,” Kane said quietly.
A brief silence followed.
“Where,” Aria asked.
“He is not alone,” Kane said.
Her voice tightened. “What do you mean.”
Kane kept his eyes on the house. “Victoria is with him.”
The pause that followed carried more weight than the ones before it.
“What?” Aria asked.
“I saw them,” Kane continued. “She came out of the house to meet him. She is further along than before, and she is not hiding it.”
He stopped for a moment before adding the rest.
“Devon touched her stomach, Aria. He rubbed her bump when he kissed her. He knew. He has known for a while.”
Silence on the line.
Not the kind that meant she was processing.
The kind that meant she already understood what it meant and needed a second before she could respond to it.
“You are sure,” she said finally.
“I am sure,” Kane replied.
He heard movement on the other end of the line.
“Do not go inside,” Aria said firmly.
Kane’s gaze stayed fixed on the door. “I need to know what they are planning.”
“You already know enough,” Aria replied. “And you will not find out anything else by walking into the enemy’s house blind.”
Inside the house, the voices had dropped lower, but the movement continued.
“This is bigger than we thought,” Kane said.
“I already know that,” Aria said. “Which is exactly why you cannot act without thinking.”
Kane exhaled slowly. “I can take them.”
Aria’s response came without hesitation. “That is not the point.”
Kane’s grip tightened around the phone.
“They have been working together longer than we realized,” he said. “This was never Devon going rogue. This was coordinated from the start.”
“I know,” Aria said. “And if that is true, then you walking in there alone is exactly what they would want.”
Kane went quiet as her words settled.
“You think this is an ambush?” he asked.
“I think nothing about this is accidental,” Aria replied. “They are too careful for that.”
Kane glanced toward the window again.
Aria lowered her voice. “Then you cannot risk yourself. Not tonight.”
“I could end this right now,” he said.
“No,” Aria said. “You could lose everything right now.”
The words landed exactly where they needed to.
“Say it clearly,” he said.
“Do not go inside,” Aria said. “Come back to me. Please.”
Kane let out a slow breath. “Fine. I am heading back.”
“Good,” Aria replied. “We deal with this together.”
He ended the call and slipped the phone into his pocket.
He moved back toward the window one last time before he left.
The voices inside had shifted, and the conversation had changed direction.
Devon spoke first. “They know I am gone. We need to move quickly.”
Victoria did not respond immediately, and when she did, her voice carried no urgency.
“Do they know what we have planned,” she asked.
“No,” Devon said.
A short silence followed.
“Then we are not leaving,” Victoria said.
Devon’s voice dropped slightly. “Victoria.”
“No,” she said again, and her tone did not waver. “We are not running because Kane is rattled. This happens exactly as we planned it. Every step.”
Devon did not push back.
The silence that followed told Kane everything about the dynamic between them.
She was not following Devon.
Devon was following her.
Kane stepped back from the window and turned toward the tree line.
He had taken four steps when he stopped.
Something had changed in the air around him, and his instincts registered it before his mind caught up.
Kane turned his head slowly and scanned the area without moving the rest of his body.
The house remained still from the outside.
No movement at the windows.
No sound from the trees ahead.
Too still. Too quiet in exactly the wrong way.
He shifted into his wolf form without hesitation, and the transformation came quickly.
His senses expanded at once.
Devon’s and Victoria’s scent were still present.
But underneath both of them, something else had settled into the air.
Faint. Fresh. And positioned in exactly the place it should not have been.
Kane turned slowly, and his eyes moved across the tree line behind him.
The scent was not moving.
It was waiting.
The realization came without urgency, and that made it worse.
Devon had not been careless. He had not panicked or run.
He had left a clean trail. He had arrived at that house without urgency.
Kane stood completely still as the thought finished forming.
He had not tracked Devon.
Devon had led him here.
Every step from the pack house to this tree line had been part of it. The scent trail that was too clean. The house that was too easy to find. The conversation that carried just far enough through the window.
Kane turned his head slowly toward the source of the third scent.
Whoever was out there had not moved.
They were still waiting.