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40

40 - Kindled and Connected

HADEN

      Seated at the table of the Alphas meeting, I scanned the faces of the men gathered, a mixture of curiosity and wariness in their eyes as they took in the woman sitting beside me. I gave a quick introduction to the Alphas present — Stephan, Cannon, and Bryon, with Hunter, Bryon's beta, seated beside James.

Cannon was the first one to speak, a smirk plastered on his face.

"So this is the woman who caused you two to have a... falling out a couple weeks ago. I can see why she was worth all the trouble, Pierce."

I simply glared at him, refusing to take the bait, but Bryon responded instead. "Yeah, I can definitely agree. It's good to finally put a face to the name."

"Are you all done ogling my mate?" I growled, my gaze sweeping across the table.

Cannon rolled his eyes but wisely chose to stay silent.

"As you all know, the Rogue King has been a shadow for years," I began, immediately getting to the matter at hand. "But today, we have valuable information that could bring us one step closer to finding him."

I gestured toward Zara, indicating that she could start saying her piece. She took a deep breath before delving into the chilling account of the attack on her family by a man named Zachariah. The room fell silent as she recounted her quest for vengeance.

"I spent years chasing down Zachariah's scent, following every lead I could find so that I could –"

"Sweetheart, this all sounds like quite the story but what does this all have to do with the Rogue King?" Cannon interrupted.

"Watch it, Berusa," I snapped loudly at him, my fist clenching as I glared harshly at him.

"Don't even start with me, Pierce," he snapped back. "This isn't a story lounge where we sit by the campfire and share stories. This is a serious matter and I don't appreciate my time being wasted."

"No one is wasting anyone's time," Stephan jumped in, his tone calming and neutral.

"Of course she –"

"Shut up and let me finish," Zara snapped, her glare silencing Cannon. She continued her story without giving him a chance to respond, determination burning in her eyes.

"I could track the man – Zachariah – because I knew his face. It was the only thing left of my childhood after he ripped it away. I thought it was a distant memory until..." she trailed off, glancing at me before she said, "until that same face showed up in the research Haden was given. The man from my past, the man who murdered my entire family, is the Rogue King."

They all stared at her as they connected the dots, and Bryon looked at me for confirmation.

Nodding, I made sure they all saw the seriousness in my eyes when I said, "This isn't a joke. The simple fact that Zara had the first encounter with the man before he became what he is now... it's the piece of the puzzle that we were missing. We have a name now and it's more than what we had before."

"It's true, we have more than what we had before, but a name is simply a name," Stephan said with his eyes darting between us.

"A name defines the ghost we've been searching for," Bryon objected, "we can track a name. A name, if used correctly, can give us history of the man. I mean, how many Zachariahs do you know?"