Page 44 of Ruthless Reign

When we walk into Cade's office, I immediately clock Maverick narrowing his eyes on the cracked window behind his desk. His lips smugly upturn into a smirk, eyes darting to me.

"Don't ask," I grumble, taking a seat.

Someone has brought in more chairs, and we all sit down. I'm at the end, followed by Lex, then Alpha Daxton and lastlyAlpha Wyatt. Despite one more chair being available, Maverick chooses to stand by the espresso machine.

Cade sits behind his desk, folding his arms. "Let's begin, shall we?"

I hold a hand up, palm facing him. "We're not here to discuss negotiations. I'm not something to barter and I've made my position perfectly clear. Lex and Maverick are my mates, and I have no intentions of walking away from them."

"Is that what he said to you?" Maverick asks heatedly from the corner. "That he wanted you to walk away from us?"

Before I can answer, Cade chimes in. "Yes, I guess you could say that. I said I would negotiate to have her as my mate."

Lex's voice starts to rise while Maverick simmers, but Cade just waves his hand. "I said that was my intention—however, I can see that it wouldn't be the correct route."

I blink in surprise, crossing my arms. "Then what do you want?"

He turns to me, flashing his dimples. "We can share."

I scoff. "You said you weren't great at sharing."

"I've never tried, to be honest," Cade admits. "But how hard can it be?"

Maverick snorts, rolling his eyes. "You'd be surprised."

Lex nods. "Let's be real here—none of us have needed to before. And this is an unusual situation. It's unprecedented with not much to go by."

"Except for the Great War history," I add. "But it's not quite the same thing."

Alpha Daxton glances over, and I realize that I haven't explained to him the revelations that Cade and I worked out. But I can tell by his face that he knows—coupled with the smug smile on Cade's face. I assume he filled my leader in while I was upstairs with Lex and Maverick.

"At the end of the day, the decision needs to come down to Nyx," Alpha Wyatt murmurs. "And while we are here, we should discuss the other situation with the disappearing packs."

I pause, turning my attention to Alpha Daxton. "On that topic, Cade is adamant that they never attacked any of us. But he did give a name."

At my direction, Cade nods, taking over the conversation. "We did see other wolves staking out Shadow Creek while we were gathering intel. Wyatt, I believe you know the Seventh Circle Pack, correct?"

Realization dawns on me when I realize why that name sounded familiar. Wyatt nods, frowning. "Our neighboring pack. Why is that?"

"They are the ones who attacked Tyler," I answer for Cade, locking eyes with Alpha Daxton. "We're not sure about the other incidents, but Cade believes they were other packs that abandoned their efforts when we stopped them."

"Wyatt, what do you know about them?" Alpha Daxton asks, looking at him. "Is this something that they would do?"

"Possibly," he admits. "They prefer to keep to themselves, but Orson does have an aggressive streak."

Lex squeezes my leg. "We traveled past them and the Moonlight Pack."

"And we were attacked," I say, stating the obvious. "After visiting Lydiana. I don't know what territory we were in though."

"It wasn't their territory," Alpha Daxton confirms. "But close by."

Maverick growls softly. "It would give them the perfect opportunity to attack. Plausible deniability since it wasn't on their territory, but close enough to get to us."

The pieces start falling into place, but I can't help but notice that Alpha Wyatt looks almost hurt. We were all looking foranswers, and it seems as though they were right under his nose the entire time.

"You couldn't have known," I tell him. "None of us did. They would have been secretive about it."

Next to me, Lex nods in agreement. "Being hidden in plain sight was the best plan of attack for them. We wouldn't have thought to look at them…"

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