41-
Baylees POV
We stand at the head of the long boardroom table. The room is heavy with silence, like the weight of something no one wants to name has already taken a seat. Caden’s hand is wrapped around mine—not loosely, not absently, but like it’s anchoring both of us to the floor. To this moment. Our bond hums with a quiet current between us. Ailm and Cade are restless, alert, listening.
When the last Alpha filters in and the door shuts, Caden rises. His aura is calm. But it hums beneath his skin like a storm under glass.
“You know why we’re here,” he begins, his voice even. Controlled. But it cuts like a blade through the tension. “There is a war coming. It’s not hypothetical. It’s not on the horizon. It’s already in motion.”
I step beside him, feeling his next words before he sa
