"We assume they’re here to take something," Garrett said. "Territory. Resources. Political advantage. Or...." He paused, looking at the elders directly. "We assume they’re here because of something they want from Shadowmere. Something they couldn’t take directly without causing a war."

"The omega," Elder Mateo said again, more certain this time. "They’re here because of the omega."

Garrett wanted to deny it. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that Mateo was right.

Why else would all three of them come in person?

"Prepare for the worst," Garrett said, finalizing his decision. "But don’t make any moves that would escalate tensions with the Blackwoods. We host them with respect. We provide security and accommodations. We treat them as honored guests."

"While preparing for them to attack?" Elder Rivers asked skeptically.

"While preparing for them to do whatever they came here to do," Garrett corrected. "Whether that’s attack, negotiate, or something else entirely."

Elder Theodore set the letter down on the desk.

"Three weeks," he said quietly. "We have three weeks to figure out what the Blackwood triplets want from Shadowmere."

"And in three weeks," Garrett said, "we’ll find out."

He looked at the letter again, at the carefully written words that gave nothing away while suggesting everything.

The Blackwood alphas were coming to Shadowmere.

All three of them.

And Garrett had no idea what they intended.

But his instincts...sharp from years of navigating pack politics, told him that this was going to change everything.

The first day of preparation for the Summit had yielded an unexpected complication.

And now the real game was about to begin.

***

Lilith’s eyes opened at 5:47 AM.

She hadn’t slept. She’d been lying on her apartment mattress in the darkness, staring at nothing, too exhausted to move but too wired to rest. The dreams waited every time she closed her eyes, so she’d stopped closing them. She’d simply lain there and waited for the morning to come.

Now it had.

She forced herself to sit up. Her body moved slowly, heavily, like it was underwater. Every muscle ached. Her head pounded. Her skin felt hypersensitive, too aware of the fabric of her clothes, the air against her skin, everything.

She dragged herself through the motions of getting ready. A splash of cold water on her face. A change of clothes. Her hair pulled back. Nothing elaborate. Nothing that required energy she didn’t have.

By 6:30 AM, she was walking toward the hospital.

The morning was cold and grey. The streets of Shadowmere were mostly empty except for early-shift workers heading to their assignments. Lilith moved through them like a ghost, present in body but not in spirit.

Her mind was fragmented. Scattered between the dreams that consumed her every time she closed her eyes and the reality of her situation. Four thousand dollars a month. Extra wages for the preparation work. The possibility of saving her mother. The impossible math that might, just might, become possible.

And underneath it all: the exhaustion that was slowly consuming her.

She reached the hospital at 6:55 AM.

Room 304 was quiet when she entered. The machines beeped their steady rhythm. Her mother lay exactly as she had for the past three months...still, peaceful, unaware of everything happening around her.

Lilith pulled the chair close to the bed and sat down.

She took her mother’s hand.

The warmth of it was grounding. Real. One of the few things that still felt solid in a world that was becoming increasingly surreal. Her mother’s hand was soft, familiar, the same hand that had held hers through childhood, through adolescence, through the worst moments of her life.

Lilith sat in silence, just holding it.

Her eyes were heavy. Her body was screaming for rest. But she didn’t lie down. Didn’t allow herself to drift into the dreams that waited at the edges of her consciousness. Instead, she simply sat there and held her mother’s hand and tried to exist in the present moment.

The machines beeped.

The hospital sounds continued outside the room, distant voices, the hum of equipment, the ordinary noise of people dealing with medical crisis.

And Lilith sat in the quiet with her mother.

She wasn’t thinking about anything specific. Her mind was too tired for coherent thought. There was just a vague awareness of her mother’s presence. Of the bond between them. Of the fact that this woman had given everything to protect her, and now Lilith had to find a way to protect her mother in return.

The extra wages might make that possible.

The thought surfaced briefly before sinking again into the fog of exhaustion.

After a while, she wasn’t sure how long, maybe thirty minutes, maybe an hour, she lay her head down on the bed beside her mother. Not on the pillow, just on the mattress near where her mother’s body lay.

She closed her eyes.

Immediately, black eyes flashed in the darkness. Sebastian. His wolf. Waiting for her.

Lilith’s eyes snapped open.

She kept her head on the mattress but her eyes open, staring at her mother’s peaceful face. Forced herself to stay grounded in reality. Forced herself to breathe through the exhaustion and the temptation to surrender to sleep.

She needed rest. She knew she needed rest. But sleep meant the dreams, and she couldn’t afford the dreams right now. Couldn’t afford to lose herself to them when she needed to be present. Needed to be strong.

So she lay there with her eyes open and waited.

The door to the room opened at 8:15 AM.

Dr. Reeves entered, carrying her medical bag. She moved through her routine, checking the machines, reading the monitors, making notes. It was a process Lilith had witnessed dozens of times.

But when the doctor looked up and saw Lilith, her expression changed

Dr. Reeves did a double-take. Her eyes scanned Lilith’s face, the dark circles, the pallor, the hollow look of someone who’d been running on fumes for days.

She shook her head slightly.

"Lilith," she said, setting down her medical bag. "How are you?"