The shots zoom closer, faces picked out from the crowd. At first, I don’t recognise them, but as I flick to the marked images, my stomach sinks and a growl rumbles in my chest.
One man in the background, wearing a dark jacket, blends into the crowd, but his eyes are familiar. I’ve seen him here on pack lands just a few days ago, just after he shot a wolfsbane dart into Callen. In another photo, two tables back, is a male in a blue tux. I know that face from an intel list from another pack. Another hunter.
“f**k,” I whisper under my breath.
It isn’t a coincidence. Hunters don’t just show up at weddings, blending into the background, unless they were invited. Unless someone wanted them there.
Footsteps on the back porch have me flipping the folder halfway closed, but when Ryder,
Callen, and Remy stride in from a quick perimeter check, I relax.
“Did you find something?” Remy asks, glancing at the file.
I slide the folder across the table. “Pictures from Paige’s wedding. Our intel guy marked a few faces.”
They lean in, each man taking in the images. Ryder’s jaw tenses, Callen frowns, and Remy lets out a low growl.
“Those two,” I say, pointing to the close-ups. “Confirmed hunters. They weren’t random guests. Which means Greg had connections all the way back then.”
The silence is heavy. Then Ryder’s fist slams against the island. “He brought hunters into her life. Into Jax’s life. That bastard.”
“Exactly,” I nod. “He’s not just some deadbeat ex. He’s tied to them, and now we’ve got proof. I highly doubt this was an accident on their part. I suspect Paige was just a pawn to them all along.”
“We should tell her tonight,” Remy snaps. His voice is sharp enough to cut. “She deserves to know.”
Ryder shakes his head immediately. “No. Not tonight. She just stood in front of the pack for the first time. She was terrified, but she did it anyway. You really want to dump this on her before she’s even had a chance to sleep?”
“She needs to know the danger,” Callen counters, calm but firm. “If Greg is connected to hunters, he connects them to her and Jax. Keeping it from her makes her more vulnerable.”
“They won’t get near her here. Let her rest for tonight,” Ryder shoots back.
Remy leans forward, eyes hard. “You think she’d rather we coddle her? Keep her in the dark? She has a right to know her husband was crawling into bed with hunters and using her.”
“
“She has a right to peace for one night,” Ryder snaps. His wolf is close, sharp in his voice.” You weren’t there when she was shaking whilst walking through the pack. You didn’t see the way she looked at me. She needs some space to breathe.”
“You think I didn’t feel it? You think I don’t know what she can handle? She doesn’t need space,” Remy snarls. “She needs the truth, and if you can’t give it to her, I f*****g will.”
The tension rises. Callen slams his hand down between them, not loud, but final. “Enough.”
He snaps. “We are not fighting each other when the threat is out there. This is exactly why the pack doubts our bond. If we can’t come together and agree for our own mate, then what right do we have to lead this pack?”
For a moment, the only sound is our breathing as we all see the truth is Callen’s statement.
Then Callen looks at me. “And you? Where do you stand?”
I don’t answer right away, because I think both sides are right. “I think Ryder’s right,” I say finally. “She deserves to know, but not tonight. Not when she’s barely had time to breathe. Let her recover. Tomorrow, when she’s rested, we tell her.’
Remy glares at me like I’ve just betrayed him. “You’re just trying to spare yourself the fallout.
She’ll hate us for holding it back.”
“Or she’ll hate us for crushing her tonight,” Ryder growls.
“She’d rather have the truth than be lied to,” Callen cuts in. “I know her better than that.”
The argument starts up again, sharp words flung back and forth until Ryder pushes away from the counter, his chair scraping across the floor.
“I’m not doing this,” he snaps. “Not while she’s upstairs. I’m going to check on her.”
He strides up the stairs, leaving the three of us staring after him.
For a moment, I think they’re both going to turn on me, arguing their case. But then Callen turns to me, his expression hard. “Get a team on Greg. I want him followed. Discreetly. I want to know where he goes, who he speaks to, every f*****g meal he eats. No contact, not yet, just eyes.”
I nod, already pulling my phone from my pocket. “Consider it done.”
Callen stares at me for a moment longer, like he’s deciding whether to push the point about Paige, but then he just exhales. “We can’t afford to miss a single thing with him.”
Remy sinks into a chair, running both hands through his hair. “She’s going to break when she finds out.”
“No,” I say softly, shutting the folder at last. “She won’t break. She already knows about this deep down. This is just confirmation. She’ll fight back, and we’ll fight with her.”
The room falls silent, each of us lost in our own thoughts, but mine circles back to the image burned into my mind: Paige standing before the pack today, shoulders squared and fire in her eyes, despite her nerves. She didn’t flinch when they looked at her like an outsider. She didn’t run away when the whispers started. She stood tall, a Luna in every sense.
My Luna.
She isn’t mine alone; I know that. She never will be. But when I looked at her on that platform, facing an entire pack of wolves with her chin lifted, it was all I could do not to fall to my knees in front of her. I’ve seen alphas less composed than she was. I’ve seen warriors crumble under less pressure. But Paige… my Paige, she carried herself like she’d been born to it.
I worship her. Not just the way she looked in that wedding dress years ago, or the way she looks now when Jax clings to her side. I worship her strength, her stubborn heart, the way she’s carried pain and still kept moving.
She doesn’t even know how much I already love her. I’d burn the entire world down before I let
Greg, the hunters… or anyone, take her from me. And tomorrow, when the truth comes out, I’ll be at her side. Whatever it costs.
Get Bonu
**Paige’s POV **
Much to my disappointment, Ryder had a late-night patrol. Which meant he didn’t mark me, just kissed me softly and sent me off to bed.
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