We triple the patrols before midnight, and we do it without fanfare because there is no point pretending this is anything other than preparation for retaliation, and every warrior in this pack knows that Lucian will not be taken quietly, not by us and not by the vampires who follow him.
Extra guards take up position along the borders, rotating in tighter shifts so no one is left exposed for too long, and the packhouse becomes a fortress in a way that feels deliberate rather than desperate, doors reinforced, windows shielded, internal corridors staffed at every intersection.
No one complains.
No one questions.
They all know his people will come looking.
They have to.
We spend the night in the war room with maps spread across the table and reports cycling in through the link, and exhau
