Jake’s POV
The report came just after dawn.
I was in the war room, still awake from the night before, staring at the same strategy board I hadn’t touched in hours. Lines of territory. Routes of trade. Names that felt heavier than borders.
Silvermoon was still mine.
But it didn’t feel like it.
The messenger didn’t knock. Just slipped the sealed scroll onto the edge of the table with a bowed head and a muttered, “Urgent, Alpha.” Then vanished like she didn’t want to be in the room when I read it.
I almost left it unopened.
I’d barely slept. Brielle had returned to her quarters without a word, and my thoughts were a minefield: half on her, half on Arthur, and the space between them that I couldn’t close.
But instinct told me to read it.
I unrolled it slowly. The parchment was stamped
