His study is empty.
I know this because I've been watching him leave for council meetings every morning since I arrived. He walks out with Viktor by his side, their heads bent together like they're sharing secrets the world isn't supposed to hear. Today is no different. I watched him go five minutes ago.
Now I have maybe two hours before he returns.
My hands are already shaking as I slip inside his study and close the door quietly behind me. The room smells like him. Smoke and pine and something dark underneath that makes my pulse quicken in a way I don't want to think about right now.
Focus.
I can feel my heart hammering against my ribs so hard I'm sure someone will hear it from the hallway. But the compound is quiet. Everyone is attending council meetings or working their duties. No one is paying attention to the frightened Luna who should be resting in her chambers.
The study is large and cold. Books line every wall. A massive desk sits near the window with papers scattered across it. And underneath that desk, if my instincts are right, is a loose floorboard.
I move carefully. Methodically. Like I'm not breaking into my husband's private space to find proof of his plan to kill me. Like this is just a normal day where a wife searches her husband's study for evidence of murder.
The floorboard is exactly where I thought it would be. Near the left corner of the desk. I can see where the wood doesn't quite line up with the rest. I get down on my knees and run my fingers along the edge until I find a gap.
My breath comes in short gasps.
I pull.
The floorboard comes up easier than I expected and underneath is darkness. I reach in and my fingers close around leather. Warm leather. A journal.
My stomach drops.
This is it. This is the proof I need. This is the moment where everything becomes real instead of just something I overheard Viktor and Kade discussing in the hallway.
I pull the journal out and it's heavier than I expected. Thick. Well-used. Pages that have been opened and closed so many times the binding is soft.
I open to the first page and I have to grip the desk to stay upright.
The handwriting is his. I recognize it from the letter. Sharp and precise and beautiful in a way that makes me want to scream. Page one details his father's death with clinical precision. The date. The location. The witnesses. The way it was ruled an accident even though Kade has filled this entire page with evidence that it wasn't. Evidence that someone orchestrated it. Evidence that his father was murdered.
I turn to page two with fingers that won't stop shaking.
Page two is a plan.
It's labeled with dates and territories and names. Riverside borders. Patrol routes. Defensive positions. Every weakness in my father's pack laid out like a map for destruction. And underneath the map is a narrative. A strategy for how to weaken Riverside from the inside. How to make them vulnerable. How to leave them exposed for attack.
Page three has timelines.
Six months to weaken the borders. Twelve months to fracture the leadership. Eighteen months to move on Riverside completely. And there are contingencies. Backup plans. Alternative strategies if things don't go according to schedule.
It's meticulous. It's brilliant. It's absolutely chilling.
And then I see it.
Three words written at the bottom of page three in handwriting that's slightly different. Shakier. Like they were written in anger or conflict or something that required more emotion than the rest of the plan.
Kill her quietly.
My breath stops.
The world goes white for a moment and I think I might pass out. My vision blurs and my ears ring and every instinct I have is screaming at me to run. To get out of this territory. To ride back to Riverside and never look back.
But I stay.
I stay because running won't help. Running will just delay the inevitable. I need to understand what I'm facing. I need to read every word of this journal and understand exactly how much time I have before Kade decides I'm no longer useful.
I flip through the remaining pages with my heart in my throat.
There are more entries. More plans. More details about how he's been preparing for this moment for a decade. How he lost his father to violence and spent all these years building toward revenge. How nothing in his life has mattered except this mission.
And then I reach the most recent entry.
It's from two nights ago. The night after the bonding ceremony.
The handwriting is different here. Rushed. Like it was written in the dark or in emotional turmoil. Like whoever held this pen was struggling with something fundamental.
It reads: "She's too soft. Too good. She smells like home. This will be harder than I thought. But it must be done."
I close the journal.
My hands are shaking so badly I almost drop it on the floor. I have to take three deep breaths before I can function. Have to remind myself that panicking will get me killed faster than anything else.
This is real.
This is actually happening.
I'm married to a man who's planning to kill me. A man who's been planning to kill me since before he even met me. A man who sees me as a tool to be used and discarded once he's done with his revenge.
The thought should destroy me.
Instead something hard crystallizes inside my chest where the fear used to live.
I put the journal back exactly as I found it. Slide it under the floorboard. Replace the wood carefully so no one would ever know it had been disturbed. Every movement is controlled because I need to think. I need to plan. I need to figure out how to survive the next eighteen months without letting Kade know that I know.
I stand and walk to his desk.
For the next hour, I sit in his chair and think about survival.
I think about what I learned from reading that journal. Eighteen months is the timeline. That's how long I have before he moves against my father's pack. But he could kill me sooner. The journal said to eliminate me quietly once the borders were weakened. That could happen in six months. Could happen even sooner if he decides I've become a liability instead of an asset.
I think about what I learned from Sienna. That there are people in this pack who don't believe in the revenge anymore. That there are younger warriors who would follow Kade away from this mission if he chose to abandon it. That Viktor is the one driving the hatred, not Kade himself.
I think about the bonding ceremony. The way Kade broke the connection early. The way he couldn't look at me that night. The way his journal entry said I was too good. Too soft. That this would be harder than he thought.
Maybe there's something there.
Maybe there's a crack in his conviction that I can exploit.
Or maybe I'm being stupid and hoping for something that will never happen.
Either way, I need to survive.
I need to learn everything about this pack. I need to understand its political structure and its military strength and its vulnerabilities. I need to become so integrated into Northwood's survival that killing me would damage Kade's pack more than it would help his revenge.
I need to become indispensable.
I'm so lost in thought that I almost don't hear the footsteps.
Almost.
But my instincts catch the sound a second before my brain does. Footsteps in the hallway. Approaching this study. Getting closer.
My entire body goes rigid.
I have maybe five seconds before whoever is coming reaches this door. Five seconds to decide if I should run or stay or hide. Five seconds to figure out how to explain why I'm sitting at Kade's desk in his private study when I have no business being here.
I stay.
I don't move. I don't panic. I just sit in his chair with my hands folded in my lap and my expression calm even though my heart is trying to beat its way out of my chest. By the time Kade reaches the door, I'm almost convinced that I belong here.
The door opens.
He stops in the frame like he's seen a ghost.
His eyes move from the journal on his desk to me sitting in his chair to the loose floorboard I somehow managed to put back perfectly and then back to my face.
His expression goes dark.
Not angry exactly. Darker than anger. Colder. Like a predator who's suddenly realized that the prey he thought was helpless might actually have teeth.
"What are you doing in my study?" His voice is so quiet I have to strain to hear it. So controlled that it's more terrifying than yelling would ever be.
I meet his eyes and I don't look away.
"We need to talk about why you married me," I say calmly. "And don't lie. I already know."
His jaw clenches so hard I see a muscle twitch in his cheek.
"You went through my things," he says. It's not a question.
"Your journal is very detailed," I continue. "Very thorough. Eighteen months. That's how long you're giving yourself before you move against Riverside. And six months before you plan to eliminate me quietly."
Kade doesn't move but something flickers across his face. Shock maybe. Fear maybe. Like he suddenly understands that everything he's planned might be falling apart.
"You shouldn't have found that," he says quietly.
"I did though," I reply. "And now we both know exactly what this marriage is. Now we both know exactly what I am to you."
He steps inside and closes the door behind him.
The room suddenly feels very small.
"And what are you going to do with this information?" he asks. His dark eyes are fixed on me with an intensity that makes my skin burn. "Are you going to run back to your father? Are you going to tell him that the peace treaty he negotiated is built on lies?"
I stand up slowly, deliberately. I move around his desk so I'm standing between him and escape. So he has to look at me and understand that I'm not a victim waiting passively for my own death.
"No," I say quietly. "I'm going to survive."
Something in his expression cracks.
It's just for a moment. Just a flash of something that looks like conflict or regret or something I can't quite name. But it's there and I see it and I understand that maybe, just maybe, the man standing in front of me isn't as committed to my death as his journal suggests.
But I can't count on that.
I can only count on my own survival.
"And if you try to kill me," I continue, "I'll burn this entire pack to the ground and take your revenge fantasy with me."
Kade looks at me like he's seeing me for the first time.
Like I've just transformed from a frightened bride into something far more dangerous.
And in that moment, I understand that everything has changed.
The game has begun.
And only one of us is going to win.