Chapter 010: Underlying the Surface

Jackson's POV 

As I walked the length of my office, the weight of failure pressed down on me. The moon's light hardly broke through the tree canopy outside the window, creating long, black shadows over the space. We had come back from the border hours ago, and my imagination still ran with every worst-case scenario.

Tonight I had almost lost Caleb. My son, the idea seized my chest and tightened. "This isn't over," Ava said still ringing in my ears. She knew exactly what I needed. Blackthorn was not yet done, and we couldn afford another near call. Not under the traitor still among our ranks.

Tracing the pathways the rogues had followed throughout the attack, I studied the map spread out on the table. Anyone providing Blackthorn with intelligence understood our defenses too well. The timing was too precise, the breaches too deliberate. Whoever this traitor was, they had to be someone I would have trusted, with great access.

I stiffened when a harsh knock cut off my ideas. I responded, "Come in," my voice more severe than I had meant.

Riley staggered in when the door cracked open, his face tense. I kept careful eye on him, looking for dishonesty. Especially since tonight, it was a gut sensation I couldn't get rid of. Riley had been disengaged, aloof, and I could have seen how his eyes stayed on Ava more than was appropriate.

"Any news?," said Keeping a neutral tone, I asked.

Riley turned his head. After the attack, none of the scouts saw anything odd. The rogues withdrew far too fast. He stammered then said, "I can send another team to patrol the borders tonight, just to be safe."

"That won't be necessary," I said, putting my arms across my chest. "We have to reorganize and find our missing component. All of this seems a little weird.

He wrinkled his eyebrows. " What do you mean?"

Studying Riley's response, I leaned against the desk's edge. "The time, the precise location they knew to hit... One feels as though they have been guided.

Riley's mouth closed tightly. You believe there is a mole?

My eyes narrowing, I answered, "I'm not ruling it out." "And I have to know I can trust you."

The quiet that followed was tense. Riley looked at me, his blue eyes steady, but there was something flickering there—a doubt, perhaps with a trace of shame.

"You know you can," he responded, although his voice lacked the firmness I would have liked. Jackson, for years you have been your Beta. I would inform you if I believed somebody was betraying us.

"Would you?” I questioned, moving in front of her. Even if it meant opposing someone you loved?

His lips pushed into a narrow line, his eyes clouded. "I wouldn't hesitate to do what's needed; I know what my responsibilities are."

I would have liked to believe him. I had to start to believe him. But uncertainty was a tenacious foe, one that had already rooted itself firmly inside me. Riley was also a quite skilled liar if he were truly the traitor. I had no room for mistakes. No more.

"Good," I said, trying to relax the strain from my posture. "Because you will be closely monitoring everything for me. Particularly everyone who has had extraordinary information access.

Riley nodded, but I noticed the fleeting glance of something in his eye as he turned to go. A little annoyance? One is afraid. Though it was difficult to discern, it was sufficient to for my instincts to become very alert.

I ran a hand through my hair after he departed, the old weight of obligation once more sinking in. Our response has to be quick. Should Blackthorn be aware of the twins, his next action would not be far off.

The door creaked open once again as I turned back to the chart, thus preparing myself half-expecting more terrible news. But this time Ava was involved.

Her look inscrutable, she entered and closed the door behind her. Her voice low, she said, "We need to talk."

"About what??" Though I knew exactly what she was going to say, I asked.

She said, folding her arms, "Caleb." "I wouldn't consider him safe here. None of us, I doubt, are.

Her comments pierce more than I would have imagined. I meant to guard the twins and Ava. Still, I failed the instant I let Blackthorn approach. "What would you suggest?" Trying to suppress my irritation, I asked.

She added, "I know of a place," looking aside as if not sure whether to keep on. "Hidden far enough from the pack territory Blackthorn wouldn't readily find us."

I rigidened. You want to run?

She shot back, her eyes ablaze with the same ferocious drive I had always loved in her: "I want to keep my children safe." "If that means spending some time leaving, then absolutely. I'll run.

Her departure, of dragging Caleb and Lily far away, was intolerable. Still, Ava had been driven out in the first place by that same pride. She was choosing family over obligation, doing something I hadn't had the guts to do. Maybe it explained why I was losing her all over once more.

My voice softening, I replied, "I can't protect them if you're not here". "Ava.... I have to have your faith.

She let off a breath, her eyes gentle but yet wary. Jackson, trust does not come naturally. Not following events.

Stepping forward, I could feel the weight of the past dragging at me. I acknowledged, "I know." Still, our strength is greater together than apart. Leaving now would be like handing Blackthorn exactly what they need.

She nodded gently after silence for a minute. She answered, "You're right," but her voice betrayed doubt. "But I won't be sitting back waiting for the next onslaught. We are going to be ready.

Another pounding on the door interrupted me before I could reply; we both turned to find a young scout standing there with pale face and shaky voice. "Alpha, Luna," he faltered. We discovered... something.

The room's tension grew thickening. "What did you find??" Demanders.

"It's... at the eastern border," the scout said, his eyes flickering wildly between us. "A body," says.

My blood froze while Ava's palm rushed to her mouth. "Who owns whose body?" I inquired, waiting for the response with horror.

Riley, the scout said in a whisper. Riley's here.

The planet seemed to spin on its axis, the words hanging like a death sentence. Riley... my Beta, my buddy... was dead. And who had we actually been battling against all this time if he disappeared?

Ava's voice pierced the mist in my head. She murmured, urgency replacing the shock: "We have to go." " Now."

We hurried eastward together, where the scouts had assembled in a circle around a shape on the ground. My breath seized in my throat as I shoved my way through. Riley was there; his body dead and his eyes fixed above. But there was another, more sinister element.

A message in a recognizable hand was attached to his chest. I tore it away while reading the sentences and felt my heart hammer.

"Jackson, you are too late. Right now, among you, is the actual traitor.

Everything halted only for a second. The world blurring and my thoughts whirled as the awareness sank in. Riley had been a victim not a traitor. If that were the case, though, the person we were looking for was someone else—someone far closer.

Ava dropped down next to Riley, her hand shaking as she stroked his arm. "Jackson... we have to find out who did this," she murmured, her voice almost audible. Before they hit once again.

I nodded, the will hardening like steel. That person who did this would pay. First, though, I had to discover among us who had been playing us all along.

And I would find the truth at all possible expenses.

Suspicion descended more forcefully than it had ever done as we headed back to the packhouses. Every face, every conversation, every gesture would be under close inspection. Riley's death would not be in nothing. Now it was time to pull the traitor from the shadows because they had exposed themselves with this deed.

As we strolled, Ava's fingers brushed across mine; I turned to meet her eye. Words were not needed at all. We both saw the seriousness of the matter. From now on, trust would be a terrible thing to have.

We were forced to face this horror together, though, with the traitor's name still secret and the clock running out.

And I couldn't help but wonder whether our

worst adversary was nearer than I could have ever dreamed as the evening became darker around us.