Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother - Chapter 190

Chapter 190: Chapter 190
Damien’s POV

The knock on my office door came at exactly the wrong time.

I was elbow-deep in budget reports that should have been reviewed a week ago. My eyes burned from staring at spreadsheets. My third cup of coffee had gone cold an hour ago.

“What?” The word came out sharper than I intended.

Lucas stuck his head in, undeterred by my tone. “Got news. About our friends.”

I sat up straighter. “Voss and Valerie?”

“Yeah.” He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. His expression was grim. “And it’s… complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

Lucas dropped into the chair across from my desk with a heavy sigh. “Our scouts tracked activity in three different locations over the past seventy-two hours. All of them matched the pattern we’ve been following.”

“Three locations?” I frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. They can’t be in three places at once.”

“Exactly.” Lucas pulled out his phone, swiping through what looked like surveillance reports. “Which means either they’re moving faster than we thought possible, or…”

“Or someone’s feeding us false information.”

“Bingo.” He tossed his phone onto my desk. “Half of these sightings contradict each other. Time stamps don’t line up. Descriptions vary. It’s like chasing ghosts.”

I picked up his phone, scrolling through the reports. He was right. The details were all wrong. Too vague in some places, too specific in others.

“They know we’re hunting them,” I said quietly.

“Yeah. And they’re playing games.” Lucas leaned back in his chair. “Question is, what do we do about it?”

I set the phone down, my jaw clenching. Three years. Three fucking years of hunting these bastards, and now they were toying with us.

“We keep looking,” I said. “What other choice do we have?”

“Actually…” Lucas hesitated. “I might have an idea. A different approach.”

Something in his tone made me look up sharply. “What kind of approach?”

“Hear me out before you say no.” He held up both hands. “You remember what I said about recruiting from the underground? The fight circuits?”

“Lucas—”

“Just listen. These rogues are recruiting from somewhere, right? They’re getting fresh blood, new fighters. Strong ones.” He leaned forward, his expression intense. “What if we did the same thing? What if we went to the source?

I stared at him. “You want to recruit from human fight clubs.”

“Not just any fight clubs. The real underground stuff. Where wolves go when they don’t want pack affiliations.” His eyes gleamed with something that looked like excitement. “Think about it. These fighters are trained. Brutal. They know how to survive outside pack structures. They’d be perfect for tracking rogues.”

“They’d also be unstable. Dangerous. Impossible to control.”

“So are the rogues we’re fighting.” Lucas shrugged. “At least this way, we’d have the dangerous ones on our side.”

I rubbed my temples. A headache was forming behind my eyes. “Even if I agreed with this insane plan—which I don’t—how would we even find these fighters?”

“I’ve been doing research.” He pulled out his phone again. “There’s a circuit in the city. Runs out of an old warehouse district. Big money. Serious talent.”

“Human talent.”

“Some of them are human. Some aren’t.” Lucas’s grin was sharp. “That’s the beauty of it. These places don’t care what you are as long as you can fight.”

I leaned back in my chair, studying my Beta’s face. He was serious about this. Actually, genuinely serious.

“Why now?” I asked. “Why push this so hard?”

Lucas’s expression shifted. Something uncomfortable flickered across his face.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I pressed.

“It’s…” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Look, the pack’s training program has been struggling since—”

He stopped. Didn’t finish the sentence.

But he didn’t need to.

*Since Sera left.*

The unspoken words hung in the air like a accusation.

“Riley’s been handling most of the training,” Lucas continued carefully. “But with the baby, she’s had to cut back. And honestly? We’re short on female trainers. The women in the pack, they need role models. Strong fighters they can look up to.”

The anger flared hot and immediate in my chest. I shoved it down.

“Fine,” I said. “We’ll go look. Once. If it’s a waste of time, we leave immediately.”

Lucas’s eyebrows shot up. “Seriously? Just like that?”

“Don’t make me change my mind.”

“No, no. I’m just surprised.” He was already pulling up information on his phone. “There’s a fight tomorrow night. Big one. Supposed to have some of the best fighters in the circuit.”

“And if the fights are disappointing?”

“Then we grab a beer and go home.” He grinned. “Come on. When’s the last time you and I did something that wasn’t pack business?”

“Fine,” I said again. “Tomorrow night. But I’m leaving if it’s boring.”

“Deal.” Lucas stood up, looking way too pleased with himself. “Trust me. You won’t be bored.”