The word lands on the table like something dead. Merric’s expression darkens. Rook shifts his weight in the doorway.
“What did you say?” I ask. I keep my voice even, but my wolf is awake and bristling.
“I told him what I watched you do at the facility. Saving all those wolves.” He meets my eyes. “You were a miracle to those people.”
Something in my chest unlocks. Not because I need his validation, but because he said it to Garrett. To the brother he grew up with, the alpha he served for a decade, the man who taught him that magic was an abomination. He said it tothatman.
“How did he respond?” Brenna asks, already past the personal, running calculations.
“He shut it down. Went full alpha. Said I’m dead to the pack.” Conner’s voice is steady, but I can feel the cost of that steadiness through the press of his knee against mine. “Then he shifted to the Syndicate. He knows the facility was hit. He wanted to know if I was part of it.”
“And you told him yes,” Merric says.
“I told him I carried children out of the east wing. I told him about Mia.” A pause. “He didn’t care. Not the way you’d want him to. He heard ‘children’ and pivoted straight to containment. What it means for the pack. The exposure.”
Brenna sets her cup down. “Did he give any indication of what he plans to do?”
“Protect the Forresters. That’s all he’s thinking about. He said the Syndicate won’t absorb the loss quietly, that we’ve made them all targets.”
“He’s not wrong about that,” Jericho says. I didn’t hear him come in. He’s standing behind Rook, tall enough to see over him, his face unreadable. “The facility we hit was a hub. Losing it disrupts their supply chain across the southern network. They’ll be in damage-control mode already, tracing the breach, identifying weak points.”
“How long do we have?” Brenna asks.
“They’ll prioritize the facility first. Asset recovery, cleanup. That gives us a window.” He looks at Conner. “The Forrester corridor will be flagged as the weak point. Your family’s operation is the first thing they’ll audit.”
“Then the Forresters are the first loose end they’ll tie off,” Merric says.
I swallow hard, knowing what this means to Conner’s pack.
“Garrett knows that,” Conner says. “But I don’t think he’s aware of the shitstorm he’s about to face. Not just Syndicate. If this thing goes to council, there’ll be political exposure, hearings… He’s going to be stretched in a lot of directions.”
“I’m so sorry, Conner.” I put my hand on his.
He shakes his head. “He had it coming. You get in bed with the devil, at some point, you’re going to hell.”
“Are you willing to stand behind those words?” Brenna asks.
“Absolutely.” He doesn’t hesitate.
“Good.” Brenna looks at him. “Because the council case rests on the ledger. Your testimony. Without you, we have circumstantial evidence. With you, we have proof from inside the operation.”
“You want me to testify.”
“In person. In front of the southern councils. There will be wolves in that room who’ll try to tear you apart. They’ll call it ahoneytrap.” Her eyes move to me, then back to him. “They’ll say a magic-blood compromised you.”
“Let them say it.”
“They’ll say you betrayed your pack for a woman.”
“I betrayed a system that sold children, and I’ll make them understand it.”
Brenna holds his eyes for a long moment. Whatever she’s looking for, she finds it. She nods once.
“Good.” Brenna stands. “Because this case isn’t about the Forresters.”
Conner frowns. “What do you mean?”
“The Forresters are a symptom. The disease is Nathan Bern.” She looks at Merric. He nods; they’ve clearly discussed this. “We’ve had Bern’s communication data since we ran the misinformation operation. Relay networks, encryption keys, council-level access codes. What we haven’t been able to prove is the financial connection between his network and the feeder packs. The money trail.” She looks at Conner. “Your father’s ledger proves it. The payment channels the Forresters used route through the same intermediary nodes as Bern’s Syndicate communications. Different entry points, same infrastructure.”