Chapter : Blood Between the Lines

The silence in the war room felt heavier than gunfire.

Lucien stood by the monitors, arms crossed tight over his chest. The screen kept looping the same seven seconds—Alaric slipping past the last infrared thread like a phantom.

Leo was safe. I kept telling myself that like a prayer I didn’t believe in. But safety didn’t mean peace. And it damn sure didn’t mean victory.

“He was gone before we even knew he was loose,” Lucien muttered.

“He planned it,” I said, pacing, my arms wrapped around myself. “He never came to stay. That wasn’t a trap. It was an audition.”

Lucien’s jaw ticked....