The northern border was tense. Daniel was already there, his posture rigid as he surveyed the tree line. The air smelled of aggression and nervous sweat.
"Report," I barked, striding into the clearing.
"They hit a patrol, Alpha," a young warrior named Eli said, his arm bandaged. "They were fast. Didn't fight to kill, just to injure and retreat. It was like they were… scouting."
A scouting party of rogues with that level of discipline was unheard of. Rogues were desperate, feral creatures. This was something else. This was strategy.
"Double the patrols," I ordered, my voice cold. "Rotate shifts every four hours. I want a perimeter report every thirty minutes. If they so much as twitch a leaf on our land, I want to know about it."
The warriors nodded and dispersed, their fear of me overriding their fear of the unknown threat.
Daniel fell into step beside me as I walked back toward the pack house. "This isn't normal, Xavier."
"I know." My mind was racing. "It's a message. They're showing me they can get to us anytime they want."
"Who's 'they'?" Daniel asked, frustration edging his voice.
"That's the question, isn't it?" I stopped and turned to him. "Where's Anabella?"
"With Lizzy, I think. In the gardens. Why?"
"I don't want her alone. Not until we figure this out." The thought of her being a target made Nat snarl violently inside me. My mate. My vulnerability.
"I'll have my best men shadow her discreetly," Daniel said, understanding immediately.
"No," I said, a new idea forming. "Not men. You. And Lizzy stays with her. I trust you to keep them both safe. I need to focus on this threat without… distraction."
It was the truth, but only part of it. The larger truth was that after the closeness of last night, the fear of something happening to her was a physical pain in my chest. I needed her protected by the person I trusted most.
Daniel nodded. "Consider it done, they are both very important to me." He clapped me on the shoulder. "We'll get through this. You're not alone in this either."
His words echoed Anabella's from just this morning. The irony wasn't lost on me. I had spent a lifetime building walls to keep from being hurt, and in the span of a few days, a human and my best friend had found their way over them. Instead of feeling exposed, for the first time, it felt like I had something worth fighting for beyond duty and legacy.
I had a future to protect. I was not sure how but I was going to try all I could to make it happen.