20. Chapter 20
The intelligence arrived at dawn. A wolf from neutral territory delivered it in clipped sentences. Supply lines choked, merchants leaning Thornwood, three more packs falling in line.
The messenger nodded. “My alpha sent me to warn you. Thornwood’s calling a formal judgment on Blackridge’s status at the regional gathering.”
He hesitated. “One more thing. Rogue wolves have been spotted near the gathering grounds. Small groups. Moving in patterns that don’t look random.”
Rhys’s tactical mind seized on that and he studied the map once more. Rogues didn’t patrol. They scattered, fought, survived. If wolves were moving in patterns, someone was placing them.
“When?” Jace didn’t flinch.
“Three weeks.”
Nadia’s nails bit into her palms. Three weeks until Thornwood tried to strip Blackridge of its protections. Three weeks until every wolf who’d found sanctuary here faced exile or worse.
All because she’d run.
Nadia stared at the maps after the others left. Red pins spreading like infection. Blue pins shrinking.
She didn’t say they’re using me. She’d said it enough times that the words had gone hollow. What filled the space instead was something colder. Harder.
“I have an idea.” She made the words easy. “But you’re not going to like it.”
Rhys went still. “Nadia, ”
“They want me. Want to prove that refusing to return me makes Blackridge illegitimate.” She turned to face him. “So we give them what they want.”
His eyes darkened. “Absolutely not.”
“On our terms.” She pressed forward before he could shut her down. “At the regional gathering, neutral ground with every alpha watching. We make Thornwood prove their claim publicly. Force them to justify why I should be returned to a pack that treated me like property.”
“That’s suicide.” Rhys’s hand slammed the desk. “You think Thornwood will play fair? They’ll twist everything, make you look unstable or dangerous. And if they succeed, ”
“Then I go back,” Nadia said. The words tasted like ash. “But if they fail, if we expose what they really are in front of every pack in the region, their justification falls apart.”
“No.” Rhys moved between her and the maps, his limp making the motion awkward but determined. “Walking onto their ground is walking into a trap I can’t pull you out of.”
Heat flared in Nadia’s chest, and her wolf moved forward with it, not fear, but fury. She stepped into his space, close enough to feel his warmth. “You don’t get to let me do anything. This is my call.”
“A decision that could get you killed,” Rhys said.
“Staying here could get everyone killed.” Her voice rose. “How long before Thornwood stops disrupting supply routes and starts sending warriors? How long before they decide Blackridge is too dangerous to exist and every wolf here pays the price?”
“We’ll find another way.”
“There is no other way.” Nadia’s hands shook. “You said it yourself, they’re using me as justification. So we remove the justification by proving I have every right to be here.”
Rhys’s nostrils flared. His fear hit her like a struck note, sharp and overwhelming. “You’re asking me to use you as bait.”
“I’m asking you to trust me.” She stepped closer. “To believe I can do this. That I’m strong enough to face them.”
“I know you’re strong enough.” His voice thinned. “That’s not the problem. The problem is I can’t—” He broke off, breathing hard. “I can't survive watching you go where I can't reach you. Every instinct I have wants to put myself between you and that ground.”
The raw vulnerability in his words sat under her ribs and hurt. But she couldn’t let his fear, or hers, make this decision.
“Then come with me.” Her hands found his chest. “Stand beside me when I face them. But don’t take this from me because you’re afraid.”
“I’m terrified.” His scarred hands framed her face. “Of what they’ll do to you. Of failing to protect you. Of watching you sacrifice yourself for a pack that’s already asked too much.”
“Blackridge hasn’t asked anything.” Nadia leaned forward. “They gave me sanctuary when I had nothing. Gave me space to heal and a chance to be more than what I was running from. If I can return that by exposing Thornwood’s corruption, then that’s my right.”
Rhys pulled her against him, his face buried in her hair. His ribs shook against hers. His breath came out ragged into the side of her neck.
“I need time.” “Need to think.”
“Okay.” She held him tighter. “But think fast. We’ve got three weeks.”
Rhys spent the afternoon in the training yard, pushing his body past exhaustion. His leg screamed with each strike against the practice dummy, but the pain was preferable to the images his mind conjured.
“You’re going to shatter something if you keep that up.” Declan’s dry tone reached him through the spiral. “Probably your leg.”
Rhys landed one more hit before turning. Sweat soaked his shirt, and his leg threatened to give. “Not now.”
“Definitely now.” Declan moved closer, his expression serious. “Jace told me about Nadia’s plan.”
“She calls it a plan. I call it suicide dressed up as strategy.”
“Is it?” Declan crossed his arms. “Or is it the first real offensive move we’ve had against Thornwood in years?”
Rhys wanted to hit something again. “She’s offering herself as bait. How is that offensive?”
“Because she’s reframing the entire conflict.
” Declan laid it out. “Right now, Thornwood controls the narrative. They’re the pack enforcing established law, and we’re the troublemakers harboring fugitives.
But if Nadia forces them to prove their claim publicly, she shifts the focus to their treatment of omegas. ”
“And if they succeed? If they convince the other alphas she should be returned?”
“Then we fight.” Declan’s tone hardened. “But at least we’ll have tried something other than waiting for them to pick us apart piece by piece.”
“You’re saying I should let her do this.”
“I’m saying you should trust her to make her own choices.” Declan’s scarred face was serious. “Even when those choices terrify you.”
“She could die.”
“She could die if we do nothing and Thornwood escalates to open conflict.” Declan moved closer. “She could die if we try to hide her and they find her anyway. She could die a thousand different ways, and the only thing you control is whether you respect her agency while she’s still here.”
The words hit like physical blows. Rhys sank onto a nearby bench, his leg finally giving out. “If she walks in there, I have to walk in after her, leg or no leg.”
Declan sat beside him. “You’ll lose her faster by trying to protect her from her own decisions. She’s not asking for your permission. She’s asking for your support.”
Rhys’s throat was tight. “What if I can’t give it? What if every instinct I have is screaming that this is wrong?”
“Then you tell her that.” Declan’s voice softened. “Tell her you’re afraid. That you hate this plan. But tell her you trust her anyway. Because that’s what mates do. They choose each other.”
Rhys thought about Nadia’s face in the war room. The determination in her eyes. The fury that had finally eclipsed her fear.
She wasn’t the shattered omega who’d crossed into Blackridge months ago. She was a wolf who’d survived hell and come out fighting.
And he was still trying to protect her like she was fragile. The instinct to refuse her plan didn’t go quiet just because he saw why it was wrong. It sat there, loud and useless, while the rest of him fought it.
“I’m an idiot.” He exhaled the admission.
“Occasionally.” Declan’s tone was wry. “But you’re also in love with a woman who’s stronger than you give her credit for.”
Rhys stood, testing his leg. It held, barely. “I need to talk to her.”
“Good.” Declan rose as well. “And Rhys? Whatever you decide, we’ve got your back. Both of you.”
Nadia was in her room when Rhys knocked. She opened the door immediately, her expression guarded.
“Can I come in?”
She stepped aside, closing the door behind him. The space was small but comfortable, filled with the scent of her and the subtle markers of a life being built. Books on the shelf. Training clothes draped over a chair. A sketch Maren had drawn of the compound.
She’d made a home here.
“I was wrong.” He said it before he could overthink. “This morning, in the war room. I was wrong.”
Nadia’s eyes widened. “Rhys, ”
“Let me finish.” He moved closer, his hands finding her waist. “I heard your plan and I panicked. Thought about all the ways it could go wrong, every scenario where you didn't come back. And I reacted like you needed protecting instead of supporting.”
Her ribs squeezed. “You were afraid. That’s not wrong.”
“The fear isn’t wrong. How I handled it was.” His thumb traced her hip. “You’re not asking me to let you do this. You’re telling me what you’ve decided, and I should have respected that.”
Tears gathered in her eyes. “I’m scared too. Terrified, actually. But I can’t keep being the reason Thornwood hurts people. Can’t keep hiding while they use me as justification.”
“I know.” His arm wrapped around her waist. “And you’re right. This is yours to walk. Yours to fight. I just—” His voice cracked. “Standing back doesn’t mean I’m not afraid.”
“I don’t need you to not be afraid.” Her hands framed his face. “I need you to trust me anyway.”
“I do trust you.” He kissed her softly. “Trust your strength. Your intelligence. Your right to choose how you fight back. And I’m going to be beside you every step of the way.”
Relief flooded her expression. “You’ll help me prepare?”
“I’ll make sure you’re ready for anything Thornwood throws at you.” His voice hardened. “And if they try to take you by force, I’ll tear them apart.”
She smiled, fierce and beautiful. “There’s my alpha.”
“We do this together,” Rhys said. “But we do it smart.”
“Agreed.” Her fingers traced his cheekbone. “Thank you. For listening. For trusting me.”
“Always.” He kissed her again, deeper this time. “Now let’s go tell Jace we’re setting a trap.”
The pack meeting that evening was tense. Wolves filled the main hall, their expressions ranging from worried to furious as Jace outlined Thornwood’s escalation.
When Nadia stood to present her plan, silence fell.
“Thornwood wants me.” Her voice rang clear through the hall. “They’re using my presence here to justify dismantling everything Blackridge represents. So we give them a chance to prove their claim publicly, at the regional gathering, with every alpha watching.”
“We force them to justify why I should be returned to a pack that treated me like property. Make them defend their treatment of omegas in front of packs who might not agree. And if they can’t, if we expose their corruption openly, their justification collapses.”
Rhys stood beside her, his presence solid and grounding. “I’ll lead tactical preparation. We’ll have contingencies for every scenario. Nadia won’t face them alone.”
Jace’s gaze swept the room. His wolf was up and pacing.
Nadia could see it in the set of his shoulders, in the way his hands stayed steady on the table when every other alpha she’d known would have made a fist. “This is risky. If it goes wrong, we could lose more than just Nadia. We could lose our standing as a recognized territory.”
Declan nodded. “We make them prove their claim instead of letting them dictate terms. That’s worth the risk.”
Jace looked at Nadia. “You’re sure about this?”
“I’m sure.” Her hand found Rhys’s beneath the table. “I’m done running. Done letting fear make my decisions. If Thornwood wants to use me as justification, then I’m going to make them regret it.”
The alpha’s scarred face showed approval. “Then we prepare. Three weeks to make sure you’re ready for anything they throw at you.” His gaze swept the room. “And we show every pack watching that wolves who choose freedom are worth fighting for.”
Beside her, Rhys’s hand tightened on hers.
The trap was set.
And this time, Nadia would be the one doing the hunting.