Chapter 18 Secrets and Surveillance (Trey's POV)
Ember needed me.
She sat on a bench outside the administrative building, her face pale and her hands shaking. The moment she saw me, something in her expression cracked.
"Em?" I dropped to my knees in front of her, taking her trembling hands in mine. "What happened? You're projecting terror through the bond."
"My father." The words came out choked, broken. "He's alive. He's here."
For a moment, I couldn't process what she'd said. "Your father? But I thought..."
"He thought I died. I thought he died. We were both wrong." She looked up at me with those silver eyes swimming in tears. "Principal Keagan called me to the office and he was just there, Trey. Standing by the window like a ghost come to life."
I pulled her against my chest, feeling her heart racing against mine. "That's... that's amazing. Em, that's incredible."
"It was." Her voice muffled against my shirt. "For about ten minutes, it was the best thing that's ever happened to me. He held me and apologized for not being there and I finally got to meet the father I've been mourning my entire life."
"But?"
She pulled back, and the fear in her eyes made my wolf rise to the surface. "But when he hugged me goodbye, I smelled it. Gun oil. Silver. Wolfsbane." Her voice dropped to barely a whisper. "Trey, my father is a werewolf hunter."
That hit me like silver to the heart. "Are you sure?"
"I could smell it. The scents are all over him, underneath cologne and coffee. He's carrying hunter weapons." She grabbed my shirt with desperate fingers. "My father is hunting supernatural students at this school. And he has no idea his daughter is one of them."
"Fuck." I wrapped my arms around her again, my mind already racing through implications. "Okay. We need to think about this carefully. Does he know what you are?"
"I don't think so. He kept asking if I had problems at school, if anyone was bothering me. Like he's trying to protect me from supernatural threats."
"Which means when he finds out you're the Silver Wolf..."
"He'll probably try to kill me." She buried her face in my chest again. "I don't know."
I held her, feeling through the bond her confusion, her grief, her terror. This should have been a joyful reunion, but instead it was another complication in an already impossible situation.
"We'll figure this out," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. "Together. I promise."
She stayed in my arms for another few minutes before pulling back and wiping her eyes. "I should go. Sage is probably worried, and I need to process all of this."
"Are you okay? Really?"
"No." She managed a weak smile. "But I will be. Eventually."
I watched her walk away, feeling her emotions through the bond.
But I knew better.
The moment she was out of sight, I pulled out my phone and headed for the one place on campus with secure internet access: the pack house basement.
The Ravencrest pack maintained a database. Information on hunters, rival packs, supernatural politics. Knowledge passed down through generations and updated constantly by pack members embedded in various positions across the country.
If Marcus Thorne was a hunter, he'd be in there.
I logged into the system using my Alpha heir credentials and typed in his name.
The results made my blood run cold.
THORNE, MARCUS DANIEL
Classification: Alpha Threat Level
Known Aliases: The Widower
Active Status: Confirmed
Confirmed Kills: 17 werewolves, 3 vampires, 2 witches.
Methodology: Precision strikes, extensive surveillance, specializes in eliminating high-value supernatural targets
Notes: Became active hunter seventeen years ago following death of wife in werewolf attack. Driven by vengeance. Considered one of the most dangerous human threats to supernatural communities. Approach with extreme caution.
Seventeen kills. Seventeen werewolves who'd died at his hands.
I scrolled through the attached files, my stomach turning with each one. Photographs of crime scenes. Reports from pack members who'd barely escaped his hunts. Testimony from survivors describing a man who moved like a ghost, struck without warning, and never left witnesses.
The Widower.
He'd earned the name not just because his wife had died, but because he left behind so many widows and widowers himself. Families torn apart. Packs decimated. All in the name of vengeance for a loss he'd suffered seventeen years ago.
And now he was Ember's father. The man she'd been crying over, the reunion she'd dreamed of her entire life.
My phone buzzed. Knox: Pack meeting. Mandatory. One hour. Don't be late.
I swore, closing the database. The timing couldn't be worse, but I knew what this meeting was about. The elders had been circling ever since word got out about my mate bond with Ember. Now they were ready to make their move.
I had an hour to decide what to tell Ember about her father. An hour to figure out how to break her heart.
Or an hour to keep the secret and let her walk into danger blind.
The pack meeting was held in Elder Benedict's home, a sprawling estate fifteen minutes from campus. I arrived with five minutes to spare, finding Knox waiting by his car.
I moved toward the house, but Knox caught my arm.
"Trey, listen to me. Whatever they say in there, whatever ultimatum they give you, think before you respond." His gray eyes were serious. "Your father is leading this charge. He's convinced the pack that Ember is an existential threat."
"She's my mate."
"I know. And that's exactly the problem." Knox released my arm. "Just... be smart. Please."
We walked inside together.
The meeting room was full. All five elders sat at the head of the table, with my father, Alpha Damien Jarred, standing beside them. Pack members lined the walls, their expressions ranging from sympathetic to hostile.
"Trey." My father's voice was cold, formal. "Take your seat."
I sat, Knox settling beside me.
"This council has convened to address a matter of pack security." Elder Benedict folded his hands on the table. "Specifically, your mate bond with the Silver Wolf."
"Her name is Ember."
"Her name is irrelevant." Elder Cross leaned forward. "What matters is what she represents. The prophecy is clear: when the Silver Wolf rises, Ravencrest falls."
"The prophecy has been mistranslated..."
"Enough." My father's command cut through my protest. "We've heard your theories about alternative interpretations. The elders have consulted our oldest texts and confirmed the original translation. The Silver Wolf is a threat to this pack's survival."
"She's not a threat. She's scared and confused and trying to figure out what she is." I looked around the room, meeting each elder's gaze in turn. "She didn't ask for this destiny. She doesn't want to destroy anyone."
"What she wants doesn't matter." Elder Taylor's voice was flat. "The prophecy dictates her role. And your bond with her puts the entire pack at risk."
"How?" I stood up, unable to sit still anymore. "How does my mate bond threaten you?"
"Because if she turns against us, you'll be compromised." My father moved closer, his Alpha authority pressing against me. "Your loyalty will be divided. And in a war, divided loyalty gets people killed."
"There's not going to be a war."
"There's already a war!" Elder Cross slammed his hand on the table. "The Silvermoon Pack is trying to claim her."
"She's..."
"She's a liability we can't afford. This council has reached a decision, Trey. You will reject the mate bond, or you will be exiled from the Ravencrest Pack."
The room went silent.
I stared at my father, this man who'd raised me, who'd taught me what it meant to be Alpha. Who was now asking me to destroy the most important connection I'd ever had.
"You can't be serious."
"I've never been more serious." His expression was carved from stone. "The pack's survival depends on eliminating the Silver Wolf as a threat. If you won't do it through rejection, then you leave us no choice but to remove you from positions of authority."
"So exile. That's your solution? Kick out your heir for finding his mate?"
"For bonding with a prophesied destroyer, yes." Elder Benedict stood. "We're not heartless, Trey. We understand the mate bond is powerful. But you're the future Alpha. Your duty to the pack must come before personal desires."
"My mate is not a personal desire. She's my other half." I looked at Knox, seeking support, but he kept his eyes on the table. "You're asking me to choose between my wolf and my pack. That's not a choice, that's torture."
"Nevertheless, it's the choice before you." My father's voice softened slightly. "I know this is difficult, son. But sometimes being Alpha means making impossible decisions for the greater good."
"The greater good." I laughed, the sound bitter. "You mean your power. Your control. You're so terrified of change that you'd rather exile your own son than consider that maybe, just maybe, the prophecy doesn't have to play out the way you think it will."
"We're trying to protect you." Elder Cross stood as well. "If the prophecy comes true and she destroys this pack, do you think she'll spare you? Do you think your mate bond will shield you from her wrath?"
"She's not going to have wrath. She's not going to destroy anyone unless you force her to." I moved toward the door. "If my only choices are reject her or face exile, then I choose exile."
"Trey, wait." My father's command rang with Alpha authority, and I felt my wolf respond despite my anger. "Before you make this decision, you need to understand what exile means."
"I know what it means. I'm no longer part of the pack. I'm on my own."
"You're forgetting something." Knox spoke for the first time, his voice heavy with regret. "If you leave with her, the pack won't just let you go. They'll consider it an act of war."
I turned back to face them. "What?"
"You're the Alpha heir." Knox stood, moving to stand beside my father. "You carry pack secrets, training, knowledge that could be used against us. If you take that information to another pack, or worse, to the Silver Wolf herself—it puts every member of Ravencrest at risk."
"I'm not going to betray pack secrets."
"We can't take that chance." My father's expression was genuinely pained. "If you choose exile with her, we'll have no choice but to treat you as a hostile threat."
"You'd hunt me?" The realization made my voice crack. "Your own son?"
"We'd hunt anyone who threatens pack security. You know that's the law." He took a step closer. "Trey, please. Don't make us do this. Reject the mate bond. Stay with your family. Stay with your pack."
"And watch Ember face all of this alone? Watch her be used as a pawn by every pack with an agenda?" I shook my head. "I can't do that."
"Then you're choosing to destroy your family." Elder Benedict's voice turned cold. "Because that's what war means, boy. Pack members will die. Your cousins, your uncles, friends you've known your entire life. All dead because you couldn't put aside a mate bond for the greater good."
"That's not on me. That's on you." I looked at each of them in turn. "You're the ones choosing war. I'm choosing love."
"Love." My father's laugh was harsh. "You think love will protect you when the prophecy comes true? When she bears children who'll burn the packs to ash? Love won't save you from that destiny, Trey."
"Maybe not. But at least I'll face it beside her instead of alone." I moved toward the door again. "I'm done with this conversation."
"Three days." Knox's words stopped me cold. "The elders are giving you three days to reconsider. After that, if you haven't rejected the mate bond, you'll be declared rogue. And anyone who helps you—anyone who gives you shelter or aid—will be considered an enemy of Ravencrest."
I looked back at Knox, seeing the anguish in his expression. "You're really going to hunt me."
"Not me." His voice cracked. "I can't. But they will." He gestured to the assembled pack members. "And they'll hunt her too. Is she worth watching your family die, Trey? Is any mate worth that price?"