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I see it again. The pain flashing. She’s realized Lena isn’t the last wolf they’ll lose. Fuck. I glance at Marcus, who is already watching me watch her. He frowns and looks away again.

“What about the hex blade?” Razor asks suddenly.

“What about it?” Dutch asks.

“Can we use it to re-cast the wards?” Razor asks.

“You guys have a hex blade?” Marcus asks, eyes wide.

Grey nods in confirmation, leaving me with more questions than answers, but now’s not the time for them. “We still need a witch to do the casting,” he tells Razor.

“Damn,” Razor mutters.

“Then what—” Andy begins.

“We tighten security around the estate,” Mia says quietly. “Concentrated on protecting the alphas, overlapping rotations. No gaps, no predictable patterns.”

“What?” Lexi speaks up, confusion blurring into refusal. “No. Grey and I can handle ourselves. We can’t leave the rest of the city⁠—”

“Yes, we can,” Grey tells her, covering her hand with his.

She glares at him, but he doesn’t back down.

“I won’t leave you unprotected,” he says.

“Even if it means our people dying in our place,” she hisses at him.

He doesn’t flinch. “Yes. Even then.”

She looks ready to spit fire at him, but he’s undeterred, and I admire him for it. Because I feel the same damn way about Mia. Not that she’d let anyone stand in front of her. Except maybe me. So that’s what I’ll have to do.

“We also need to find a hex witch,” Grey says, deftly changing the subject before his mate can rip into him. “Someone willing and able to start rebuilding the ward integrity.”

“What about Levi and Mac?” I ask Grey. “They might know someone.”

Grey glances at Lexi who nods. “I spoke to them a week ago,” he explains. “They put me in touch with their best contact. A hex-wolf named Chloe.”

“Whoa. There’s a hex wolf out there? As in, half hex, half wolf?” Razor asks, eyes wide. He and Dutch look at each other. I can’t blame them. Hex-wolves are rare. But I know Chloe and she’s one of the good ones.

“Can she help us?” Mia asks.

“Apparently, ward magic is unique even among hexes. Chloe doesn’t have the talent but she’s looking for someone who does and will send word if and when she finds them.”

“Damn,” Razor mutters. “Kind of curious what sort of wolf that would be.”

“She can probably kick your ass,” Crow mutters.

Razor gives him the finger.

“Sounds too uncertain to wait around on it,” Dutch says.

Mia nods. “That means we can’t stop looking for one of our own. It’s our top external priority. Crow, can you head that up?”

“On it.” Crow pulls out his phone, starts texting.

Mia looks at Grey again. “Internally, we concentrate on finding the leak.”

“The leak,” Razor repeats, and I know from the confusion he wears that he hasn’t put that part together yet.