Kael did not wait.The council wanted to debate. They wanted to plan. They wanted to argue about resources and risks. Kael listened for ten minutes. Then he stood."No more waiting," he said. "No more planning. We move tonight."The room went silent."Theron expects us to hide. He expects us to react. He's been ahead because we've been playing his game. We stop playing."He looked at the wolves around the table. His voice was cold. Steady."We hit every safe house. Every contact. Every operation. Simultaneously. He loses his network tonight."---The pack mobilized within the hour.Every wolf. Every fighter. Every runner. Kael divided them into eight teams. Each team had a target. A list of names. A map.Sera approached him as he was checking his weapons."I know where his main base is," she said. "The one he doesn't think we know about."Kael looked at her. "Where?""The old mining camp. The one where Voss died. There's a lower level. Deeper than the bunker. Cross built it years ago.

Kael did not sleep.He sat in his quarters until dawn. The paper was on the desk. The name was burned into his mind. He read it again. Then again. Then again.*Kael Voss. The true Broker.*He tried to remember. He tried to reach back into his childhood. Into his training. Into the years before the pack. But there was nothing. A blank space. A wall. Something had been taken from him. Something had been hidden.He needed answers. And there was only one person who might have them.---He found Sera in the infirmary.She was treating a wounded scout. Her hands were steady. Her face was calm. She looked up when he entered."You look terrible," she said."I need to talk to you."She set down her instruments. She followed him outside. They walked to the wall. The sun was rising. The valley was quiet."I found something," Kael said."You told me. The paper. The name.""There's more. Theron had a journal. He wrote about the Broker. About the role. About the true Broker."Sera listened. Her fac

The messengers left at dawn.Four wolves. Four directions. Each carried a sealed letter. Each carried an invitation. Kael had written them himself. He had not slept. He had not eaten. He had sat at his desk through the night and written every word.The Shadow Fang. The Iron Claw. The Storm Howl. The Night Hunt. The surviving packs. The ones who had been broken by the war. The ones who had lost everything.He invited them to a summit. A gathering. A chance to rebuild what had been destroyed.He did not know if they would come. He did not know if they would trust him. But he had to try.---The first reply came three days later.The Shadow Fang accepted. Their Alpha was old. Tired. He had lost too many wolves. He wanted peace.The second reply came the next day. The Night Hunt accepted. Their Alpha was young. Ambitious. He saw an opportunity.The third reply came two days later. The Storm Howl accepted. Their Alpha was cautious. She wanted guarantees.The fourth reply never came.Kael w

The secret ate at him.Kael stood on the wall every night. He watched the valley. He watched the stars. He watched the world. And the secret sat in his chest like a stone.He was the Broker. He had been made into a weapon. He had been broken and rebuilt. He had been the cause of the war. He had been the enemy.The pack knew part of it. They knew Elena had made him. They knew he had been a tool. But they did not know the full truth. They did not know what he had done. They did not know the wolves he had killed. The lives he had destroyed. The families he had torn apart.He had been the Broker before he had even known what the word meant. He had been a child. A weapon. A shadow.He did not remember most of it. The memories were fragments. Flashes. Nightmares. But they were there. They were always there.He could not tell them. He could not burden them with the truth. They had suffered enough. They had lost enough.But the secret was killing him.---Sera found him on the wall.She stood

The summons came at midnight.A rider from the human settlement. Exhausted. Bleeding. He fell from his horse at the gate. He gasped out three words before he collapsed."Vera. Under attack."Kael was on his feet before the guard finished speaking. His blade was in his hand before he reached the courtyard. Wolves were already gathering. Their faces were grim. Their eyes were sharp."Report," Kael said.The rider was being tended by Sera. He was conscious now. Barely."Radicals," he said. "Humans. They don't want peace. They attacked the settlement. Vera is trapped in the church. They're going to burn it down."Kael's blood went cold. Vera. The woman who had helped him. The woman who had believed in him."How many?""Fifty. Maybe more. They have silver. They have fire."Kael turned to his wolves. "We move now. No rest. No hesitation."---They ran through the valley.The moon was hidden. The stars were cold. The wind carried the smell of smoke. They could see the glow of the fire before