Chapter 122

Lucas’s POV

Having Harper around all day is incredibly distracting in the best and worst way. I can’t keep my eyes off her as she spars with my men, learning how to protect herself and growing closer to the warriors.

Not wanting to ignore my men, I turn back to the line of men sparring in pairs. They move through the motions, some in human form while others are in wolf form. As the leader for this mission, everyone expects me to oversee the training, but Harper steals my attention.

I try to stay focused, but each time I shift my gaze, it lands on her. I watch as she ducks and rolls to avoid a hit from Jaxon and smile. When she jumps up, she dodges Jaxon’s fist and lands a sharp jab to his ribs. He staggers back and pride burns like a bonfire in my chest at the sight.

Four days ago, she was slow and clumsy, but now she’s quick, intuitive, and ready for anything my men or I throw at her. The way she’s grown over just four days is amazing.

“Our mate is magnificent,” Levi rumbles as we watch her.

“She is,” I murmur, my eyes tracking her every movement as her earlier words come back to me. The moment she called me her mate plays like a song on repeat in my mind. Over and over, her voice fills my head.

It’s as if it just happened, but already, twenty-four hours have passed. Twenty-four hours of holding Levi back. He’d wanted to claim her right there in the middle of the training field, but I couldn’t let him do that. I didn’t want to embarrass her or make her feel uncomfortable.

Harper may have accepted me as her mate, but it’ll still take some time to smooth out our relationship.

“She makes taking a hit worth it,” someone mutters with a strained grunt. I glance at a Council warrior who is walking away from the fight with Jaxon and Harper. He rubs at his ribs, and his friend laughs.

“I have to agree,” the other man chuckles. “Ruthless yet graceful… she’s a rare breed.”

Levi growls, and I’m surprised to find hints of jealousy and pride mixing within me. Harper breaks off grab her water and sit with the wolves who are laying in the sun.

“Not only that,” Jaxon cuts in, catching up to the other warriors and throwing his arms around their shoulders. “But my Luna is strong. She lost her wolf for an entire year, and she’s thriving despite the setback.”

A few more men stop their sparring to join the conversation, and I can’t stop myself from eavesdropping.

“If she keeps this up, I’ll request her to be on my team for the infiltration,” one of my warriors says, and I’m happy to hear no sarcasm in his tone.

Jaxon’s younger brother, Asher, joins the group and smiles, “You’d have to take her away from Alpha Lucas if that’s the case.”

They all pause, and the warrior who’d said he wanted Harper on his team shakes his head, “Not happening. She belongs with the Alpha, so who am I to take her away?”

The hints of respect in all their voices makes my chest tighten. Just recently, everyone was turning against Harper, but now, they’re beginning to accept her. One by one, she’s winning their hearts and admiration.

And I couldn’t be happier. Except if we were alone, and I could kiss her and hold her.

That would make me happier.

For now, though, I’ll have to settle with keeping her close.

“Head inside to my office!” I call out once the sparring teams seem to be at a stopping point. My warriors and the men sent by the Council follow us inside, creating a large circle around my desk. Harper comes to my side but refrains from touching me, which sets me a bit on edge. Instead of holding back, I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to my side.

A cute little squeak falls from her lips, but she doesn’t protest.

The last to join the group are the wolves. They easily settle in around Harper like they always do, and she gently pets the wolf nearest to her. She looks like a ruler who is surrounded by her protectors, standing tall and confident, and I realize I’m not the only one who notices this. The men around us are also watching her, studying her, and talking among themselves.

“Listen up, men,” I announce. “We don’t have all the information we need, but what we do know is that the Domain won’t be an easy target to hit. With a bit more preparation, we’ll take them down.”

I launch into my current plan for infiltration, running the group through the teams and their roles. I walk them through the four teams and their goals. One team will be an outside surveillance team; two teams will be internal sweep teams—one led by Mason and the other led by Jaxon for extraction and protection; and the last team will be mine and Harper’s team that will go into the building’s control room to lock it down.

Passing maps around, I walk them through the building layout and the transportation and routes to get there.

“A silent and stealthy infiltration will be more important than a forceful takedown,” Harper speaks up. “It will be much easier to contain the leaders and other participants if we can shut the building down from within.”

“All of this is assuming that they’re still in the same location,” someone says, and I nod.

“That is a possibility, so we’ll need to send out a reconnaissance team to check,” I suggest. “The Domain has most likely changed thing since we were last there. This means we’ll need information on whether they’re still in their previous location, as well as intel on the new patrols and layouts of the building.”

Murmurs break out among the men while they study the maps we gathered before. There are three different versions, but the one we used on our last infiltration is the most current. However, even that one had a few inconsistencies from what I saw in the Domain.

I glance at Harper to find her looking over the map with Jaxon. She points out the hallways we went through to free the wolves before. Like she can feel me watching her, she looks up.

Pretty green eyes find mine, and I can’t stop the smile from pulling at my lips. The thread of our bond thrums with energy, growing stronger and brighter. It pulses with strength—no longer fragile and weak like it was before.

A slight wrinkle forms between her brows, and without thinking about it, I reach up and smooth it away.

“What’s wrong?”

Harper shakes her head and looks down at her hands, “Nothing. I was just thinking about what will happen if they’ve already moved locations.”

“If they moved, we’ll find them again,” I murmur in the now quiet room. Harper’s teeth sink into her bottom lip as her eyes light up with a flicker of uncertainty.

Pulling her close, I cup her cheek and tilt her chin up. Our eyes connect, and the bond between us sparks to life again. It crackles with an intense electricity that makes me want to pull her closer, but for now, I just try to reassure her.

“No matter how far they run, we will get rid of the Domain.”