POV: Alex
We left Darkhaven before sunrise.
Kelly, Hugo, and the rest stayed behind to guard the pack and train the rescued children, while Mia and I went dark—no comms, no trackers, no scent trails. Only a burner vehicle and a name scraped off the Broker’s encrypted financial ledger.
Project MIRROR.
The coordinates led us to the unclaimed borderland between the Eastern Ridge Packs and human-controlled lands. A dead zone for jurisdiction. A breeding ground for shadows.
The structure wasn’t what I expected.
No steel compound. No underground facility.
Just a mansion.
Three stories. Black shutters. Stone steps leading up to a set of double oak doors. It looked like it belonged to an eccentric billionaire who read too many gothic novels. That, in itself, was the biggest warning sign.
