Chapter 93 – The Weight of a Plan

Chapter 93 – The Weight of a Plan

The words hung in the air like a blade, sharp and dangerous.

Jared’s jaw worked as he stared at his mate, his chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. Every instinct in him screamed to shut it down—tear the idea apart, crush it beneath the weight of his authority, and forbid her from even entertaining such madness. She had barely survived Matt’s attack. She had just shifted for the first time. And now she wanted to throw herself into the crosshairs of Alaric and his feral pack?

Zeus snarled in his mind, pacing like a caged animal. ‘No. Absolutely not. She’s ours. We protect. We shield. She doesn’t stand in front of danger—we do.’

But Kori’s steady gaze didn’t falter, even as the room filled with the buzzing silence of wolves waiting for their Alpha’s verdict. There was no desperation in her eyes, no reckless plea. There was resolve.

And that—more than anything—tangled Jared’s insides.

He dragged a hand through his hair, the pressure of the moment pressing against his temples. He could still taste the copper tang of her blood in his memory, feel the way her body had gone limp in his arms when he thought he’d lost her. The thought of willingly putting her in danger again was like pressing a knife to his own throat.

But beneath his fury and his fear was the undeniable truth of her words. Alaric thought he had won. He thought Jared was broken, desperate, foolish. He didn’t know Kori had a wolf now. He didn’t know she lived. And if there was one thing Jared knew about war—it was that surprise was the sharpest weapon in their arsenal.

His fists clenched at his sides. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to roar at her for even suggesting this, or pull her into his arms and never let her go.

Finally, he rasped out, his voice low and unsteady, “Do you have any idea what you’re asking of me?”

Kori’s lips parted, but before she could answer, Zeus surged forward in Jared’s chest with a growl that made every wolf in the room bristle.

‘She is ours to protect. Not to gamble. Not to risk. She is not the bait.’

Jared shut his eyes against the pounding storm in his chest, torn between his wolf’s primal rage and the cold, sharp edge of strategy Kori had laid before him.

The growl in Jared’s chest hadn’t fully faded when Kori’s voice cut through the tension, clear and steady despite the storm swirling around her.

“This is the best plan we have,” she said, her gaze shifting between Jared and the pack that watched her with wide, wary eyes. Then, softer, directed at him and the beast within him, “The one that gives us the best chance of keeping everyone safe.”

Her words struck deeper than any blade.

Jared’s head lifted, his eyes locking with hers. She wasn’t trembling. She wasn’t second-guessing herself. The woman who had spent weeks fumbling in the dark of a world she never asked for now stood before him with the quiet conviction of someone who finally understood her place in it.

“You can’t protect us all by yourself,” she went on, stepping closer until the scent of her wolf, still faint but undeniable, brushed against his senses. “Not Megan. Not Carter. Not me. You need every advantage you can get—and right now, that’s me. Alaric doesn’t know I’m alive. He doesn’t know I shifted. That makes me the piece he’ll never see coming.”

Zeus bared his teeth in Jared’s mind. ‘No! She doesn’t belong in front of blades. She belongs at our side, protected, cherished—’

Kori’s hand found Jared’s forearm, her touch searing through his resistance. “I know what you’re both thinking,” she whispered. “That this is reckless. That it’s dangerous. And it is. But so is every other plan we’ve heard tonight. At least this one isn’t about sacrificing Carter, or charging headlong into a slaughter.”

Jared’s throat tightened. The image of her lying pale and broken on the bed still haunted his every breath, and now she was standing here—demanding to put herself back in the fire.

“You’re asking me to gamble with my mate,” he rasped, voice rough, torn between his Alpha and his man.

Kori’s lips trembled, but her eyes held firm. “No, Jared. I’m asking you to trust me.”

Silence hung thick between them, heavy enough that even the wolves standing nearby seemed to hold their breath. Jared’s jaw flexed as he wrestled with the war raging inside him—Alpha instinct against the raw need of a mate who couldn’t bear to lose her.

At last, his shoulders slumped, just enough for the pack to sense the shift. His eyes, still glowing faintly with Zeus’s lingering fury, locked onto Kori’s.

“You win,” he said at last, the words rough, dragged out like they cost him a piece of himself.

Kori’s breath hitched, a flicker of relief passing over her face. But before she could speak, Jared tightened his grip on her arm, grounding her in place.

“But,” he added, his voice like stone grinding against stone, “it will only happen on my terms. You don’t set foot in that clearing until I say. You don’t move without my command. And you stay within my reach, Kori. Always within my reach.”

Her lips parted, but he wasn’t finished.

“If I sense for even a heartbeat that things are turning against us, I’ll end it. I don’t care what advantage we think we’re losing, or how close we are to pulling Michael out—I will not risk you. Do you understand me?”

The Alpha’s steel threaded every word, a vow and a warning all at once.

For a heartbeat, Kori looked like she might argue. Her brows pinched, her mouth set in that stubborn line that always made his chest tighten. But then she saw it—the fear burning just beneath his authority, the way his hand trembled almost imperceptibly against her skin. The way Zeus paced behind his eyes, ready to tear apart the world to keep her safe.

Her shoulders softened. “I understand,” she whispered.

Jared released the breath he had been holding, dragging his thumb slowly along her wrist before pulling back. “Then we do it your way. But the moment I say run, you run. That’s the only way I can stomach letting this happen.”

The room remained hushed, the wolves respectfully keeping their heads bowed. But in that silence, Kori reached up and brushed her fingertips against Jared’s cheek, her voice carrying only for him.

“Then we’ll do it together.”