Chapter 473: Trapped in my net.

Daniel.

I stood in the dimly lit hallway, just a few paces away from the thick oak doors of Damien’s quarters, my boots silent against the heavy runner rugs. I folded my arms behind my back, keeping my posture crisp and untroubled, though inside, my patience was wearing razor-thin.

Every second those four idiots spent crying over a bedside was a second wasted. Every precious moment they allowed themselves to be consumed by their emotions was another moment slipping away while they remained completely unaware of how quickly everything was moving around them.

The low, muffled sounds of their chaotic arguing leaked through the heavy wood of the bedroom doors, reaching me in broken fragments. Even through the thick barrier, their voices were impossible to mistake.

Davian’s furious barking echoed through the room, sharp and aggressive as always. Aidan’s desperate attempts to take control followed, his voice struggling to cut through the chaos and impose some semblance of order. Then there was Adrein’s pathetic sobbing, his grief and desperation spilling through the walls.

It was a miracle their pack hadn’t collapsed months ago under the sheer weight of their incompetence.

They were supposed to be Alphas.

Instead, they were allowing their emotions to dictate every move they made.

They were so blinded by their possessive obsession with Maria, so utterly wrapped up in their little mate drama, that they couldn’t see the ground crumbling right beneath their feet. Their attention was completely consumed by the girl on that bed, leaving them blind to everything beyond her.

And that blindness was exactly what made them so easy to manipulate.

I checked the silver watch tucked neatly inside my vest pocket, my eyes lingering on the... hands for a brief moment.

Time was moving fast—far faster than they realized.

My immediate priority was ensuring that no one raised an alarm about Noah’s absence. If any of the quadruplets or their top commanders realized Noah wasn’t just, wherever they expected him to be or hiding out, but had actually been dragged off to a black-site subterranean fortress by third-party mercenaries, the whole pack would shift. They would stop focusing on their internal grief and start tearing the territory apart searching for him.

I couldn’t afford a search party. Noah needed to remain a total ghost. As long as the quadruplets believed Noah was off somewhere nursing his own broken heart or sulking over Maria, they wouldn’t ask the right questions.

I had already dropped subtle hints to the estate guards that Noah had ridden out alone under the cover of dark—a believable story for an Alpha carrying too much pride. I just needed the illusion to hold for a few more hours.

Once the quadruplets agreed to my surrender plan, I needed to lock in the final piece of the trap.

I leaned my back against the cold stone wall, a slow, cold smile touching the corners of my lips as the full scope of the scheme settled in my mind. The moment they agreed to march into the Lycan prince’s territory under the guise of defeated lords, I would convince them to carry Maria along with them.

It would be easy. I would simply play on their desperation. I’d tell them that the Lycan prince possessed ancient, high-level medicines—rare herbs and dark restorative spells reserved only for royal bloodlines—that could instantly patch up her failing wolf and repair her suffocating spirit. The quadruplets were so terrified of watching her die in that bed that they would leap at even the faintest shred of hope.

And getting Maria out of this estate served two perfect purposes.

First, it stripped the pack of its emotional center, leaving the remaining guards entirely leaderless and demoralized. Second, and most importantly, it placed Maria directly in the palms of my leader’s forces. Once we stepped across the border, there would be no ’tactical strike from the inside.’ The quadruplets would be disarmed, bound in anti-werewolf iron, and thrown straight into the deep dark alongside Noah. The entire territory would be handed over without a single drop of my employer’s blood spilled.

Suddenly, a sharp, buzzing pressure spiked against my temples.

I stiffened, stepping back into the deeper shadows of the window alcove as a heavy, intrusive mind-link channel tried to push its way through my mental wall. I recognized the raw, aggressive signature immediately—it was the commander of my private army, currently holding, position in the dark pine woods just beyond the estate’s outer perimeter.

I eased my defenses just enough to let the link connect.

"Alpha Daniel," the commander’s rough, gravelly voice echoed directly into my head, rough with tension and the low rumble of growling wolves in the background. "The men are getting restless. We’ve been sitting in the wet brush for hours. The outer wards look soft from here. Is it time to move in? When is it suitable to strike?"

Anger flared hot behind my eyes. I clamped down hard on the connection, projecting a wave of pure, cold venom straight back into his mind.

"You stay exactly where you are and you hold your damn positions!" I snarled back through the link, my physical jaw clenching tight as I kept my face masked in total calm for anyone who might walk down the hall. "Do not take a single step across that boundary line!"

"The quadruplets Alpha are fractured, sir," the commander pushed back, sounding impatient. "We could sweep through the main gates right now, take the guards by surprise, and burn the main house to the floor before they even realize what hit them."

"And ruin everything I’ve built over the last three weeks?!" I snapped, my mental tone cutting through his voice like a razor blade. "You idiot. If you launch a brute-force assault right now, their Alpha instincts will kick in. They will fight to the death to protect their mate and their land. A cornered Alpha is dangerous, and I am not risking our resources on a messy, chaotic bloody siege!"

The commander went silent on the other end, the tension humming down the link.

"Listen to me very carefully," I ordered, my voice dropping into a harsh, authoritative murmur in his head. "I am currently standing right outside their bedroom. They are taking the bait as we speak. I am convincing them to walk out of this fortress voluntarily, carrying their dying mate right into our hands. We don’t need to break down their doors when they are about to unlock them for us."

"Understood," the commander finally grunted, though his frustration was obvious. "How much longer?"

"You wait for my explicit signal," I commanded coldly. "You do not move, you do not shift, and you do not breathe out of turn until I walk out of those main gates with the quadruplets in tow. If a single one of your scouts triggers a perimeter ward early, I will personally feed you to the entity’s right-hand man. Am I making myself clear?"

"...Clear, sir. We wait."

I severed the mind link instantly, cutting off the connection with a clean, decisive finality. For a moment, I simply stood there, allowing the silence to settle around me as I took a long, slow breath to center myself. I drew the air deep into my lungs, holding it briefly before releasing it in a controlled exhale.

The faint ringing in my ears gradually faded, becoming quieter with every passing second until it disappeared completely. Once it was gone, the familiar quiet murmur of the estate halls returned, surrounding me once more with its subdued stillness.

I adjusted the silver cuffs of my shirt, carefully straightening them before smoothing down the front of my jacket. Every small movement was deliberate, almost methodical, as I stepped back into the center of the corridor.

Everything was falling into place.

Noah was locked away in the dark, stripped of his wolf and unable to warn a single soul. He had no way to reach anyone, no way to send a warning, and no way to interfere with what was already unfolding.

Anabel was too terrified and powerless to stop what was coming. Whatever strength she might once have possessed meant little now against the situation closing around her.

And inside that bedroom, four broken, desperate Alphas were rapidly running out of time.

They were desperate enough to believe anything if they thought it could save the girl fading away on the mattress. Their fear had made them vulnerable, their desperation making them willing to swallow whatever lie I fed them as long as it offered even the smallest possibility of saving her.

I looked back at the heavy oak doors of Damien’s room. A cold, satisfied smirk slowly touched my lips as I waited for the wood to swing open.

They thought they were playing a grand game of war and mate bonds... they thought they understood the moves being made around them.

They had no idea they were already trapped in my net.