By midmorning, John had sent out the notifications Alpha Kaidan had ordered.
The first went to the council head. The rest followed in order: every council member, then Naomi as Luna, then Christine.
Each carried the same brief message. A council meeting would be held in the coming days. Further details would be communicated later.
There was no date, no time, and no subject.
The omission immediately attracted attention.
The head of the council read it twice before he set his phone on the table. He had sat through enough of Alpha Kaidan’s meetings to know that important matters were not always announced early. A notice without even a date was something else.
He contacted another council member to ask whether the message contained any additional information.
"It says nothing beyond the fact that there will be a meeting," the man replied. "Have you heard anything about what prompted it?"
"No. I was hoping you knew."
Neither had an answer.
"Then we wait."
"We wait," the other agreed, in the tone of a man who disliked it.
Before noon, similar conversations had begun taking place among the council members. Some called one another, while others visited those they trusted enough to discuss the matter privately. They compared the messages and searched the wording for a clue. Every notice was identical.
One council member wondered whether Alpha Kaidan intended to address an issue concerning the neighbouring packs. Another thought the meeting might involve changes within Blackclaw’s leadership. Neither could support their suggestion with anything more than speculation.
Two of them met in the corridor outside the council hall, as though the building itself might hold the answer.
"If it were routine, he would have said so."
"Or he wants us to think it isn’t."
"Alpha Kaidan doesn’t play games."
"No," the first said. "That is what worries me."
They stood a moment longer, then went their separate ways without having learned anything.
The uncertainty was uncomfortable because the announcement came directly from Alpha Kaidan’s office. It was not an informal gathering that could be ignored or postponed at someone’s convenience. Once a date was set, no one who had been summoned could ignore it.
By early afternoon, the questions had reached Christine.
A council member who had come to see her brought up the notification almost as soon as they were seated.
"Have you spoken with Alpha Kaidan?" the visitor asked. "Perhaps he mentioned something about the meeting."
Christine shook her head. "He hasn’t discussed it with me."
"Then you have no idea what he intends to address?"
"None at all. I received the same message you did."
The visitor stayed a few more minutes, then left unsatisfied.
Christine remained seated, looking at the notification on her phone. She had expected Alpha Kaidan to discuss important pack matters with her, particularly those that might affect the council. His decision to announce a meeting without consulting her was not necessarily a challenge to her position, but it was unusual enough to catch her attention.
At the healer’s quarters, Naomi read her notice between patients.
She read the short announcement twice, checking that it was addressed to her.
She wondered briefly whether it concerned the pack’s leadership, but she had no reason to assume that it did. She saved the notification and put her phone away, intending to wait for the promised follow-up.
She would attend when the details arrived. Until then, there was little point in speculating.
At the administrative offices, John fielded calls all afternoon. He gave each caller the same answer, until one refused to accept it.
"Surely you know why he has called us together," the council member said. "You cannot expect us to prepare for a meeting when we don’t even know what we’re meant to discuss."
"I’m following the Alpha’s instructions."
"And the subject?"
"You’ll receive whatever the Alpha decides to share."
The line went dead.
Later that afternoon, John found Alpha Kaidan standing at his office window, phone in hand.
"Everyone has their notice," John said. "The calls haven’t stopped."
"What are you telling them?"
"That more will follow."
"Good."
"The head of the council asked twice whether it concerns the neighbouring packs."
"Let him think so for now."
"And if he asks a third time?"
"Tell him the Alpha will speak when he is ready, and not before."
John waited. "Have you settled on a date?"
"One week from the first notice."
"That’s very little time for them to wonder."
"It’s enough time for me to prepare." Alpha Kaidan turned from the window. "And enough time to secure the evidence before anyone sees it."
"Why leave the subject out, Sir?"
"Because if I name it now, the council will spend a week choosing sides. I want them weighing the evidence, not their loyalties."
John accepted that with a nod. "And the second notice?"
"Tonight. Date and time only. Serena’s notice waits."
"A few days, as you said."
"Yes."
"Has Cross come back?"
"No, Sir. Security has his description at every gate. If he returns, he’ll be held."
"And Serena?"
"She has stayed in her room most of the day. She hasn’t asked anyone anything."
Alpha Kaidan was quiet for a moment. "That won’t last."
By evening, the second notice had reached everyone on the list. This time it carried a date and a time. The meeting would take place in one week.
The subject remained blank.
The private conversations changed after that. They grew quieter and more careful. Some began to wonder whether the missing subject was deliberate. Others asked why Alpha Kaidan had chosen to announce the meeting in two parts.
No one could say.
Christine read the second notice at her dressing table. A date, a time, and nothing else. She set the phone face down and sat very still, as she did when she was angry and did not want it seen.
That evening, Naomi added the meeting to her schedule. It fell on a clinic morning.
She called the healer quarters before she could change her mind.
"Evelyn, I need my morning appointments covered next week."
"Of course." A pause. "Is this about the meeting?"
"It’s about a date on my calendar."
Evelyn did not push. "I’ll arrange it."
Naomi thanked her and hung up. Then she sat for a while, hands folded, listening to the quiet house.
That night, she met Alpha Kaidan on the stairs.
He stopped a step above her. She stopped where she was.
"You received the notice," he said.
"Both of them."
He looked as though he meant to say more. His hand tightened on the rail.
"I’ll speak to you before the meeting," he said at last.
Naomi studied his face. She had learned to read what he left unsaid, and tonight he was leaving a great deal.
"All right," she said, and went up past him.
Serena Cole was not on the list. For two days, she knew only what the household let slip: that something was being arranged, and that no one would say what. She stayed in her room more than usual. When she did go out, conversations seemed to thin as she passed.
On the second afternoon, she stopped Grace in the hallway.
"Has Alpha Kaidan had many visitors this week?"
Grace shifted the linen in her arms. "Only the council office, Miss. And John, as usual."
"Did anyone say what they came for?"
"No, Miss. They went straight to his study."
Serena thanked her and walked on. Grace watched her go, and Serena felt the look between her shoulder blades all the way down the corridor.
She typed a message to Alpha Kaidan and deleted it. She typed again and deleted.
She could not ask him outright without sounding like someone with something to fear. So she did what she had always done in Blackclaw. She waited, and she watched who looked away.
Her notice arrived on the third day, as Alpha Kaidan had ordered.
It was short. A council meeting had been scheduled, and her attendance was required. The date and time were stated clearly. The subject was not.
Serena read it, lowered the phone, then raised it again, as though the words might have changed.
Required, not invited. She held no seat on the council. She was a guest in Blackclaw, and guests were not required to attend anything.
She went to Christine, who sat alone in the sitting room with a letter open in her lap. Serena held out her phone.
"Did you receive this?"
Christine glanced at the screen. "Mine came days ago. Everyone’s did."
"Did everyone’s say required?"
Christine read it again. "Mine said the meeting would take place. Nothing about attendance."
"Then mine was written separately."
"It seems so."
"Do you know what it’s about?"
"No."
"Has he said anything to you?"
"Not a word." Christine’s voice stayed even. "I would tell you, Serena, if I knew."
Serena believed her. That was what frightened her.
"Then why would he require me to attend without telling me why?"
Christine took her time. "Perhaps he means to discuss something that concerns you. That is only a possibility. I don’t know what he has planned."
Serena’s fingers tightened around the phone.
"Has he been meeting with the council members?" she asked. "Anyone at all?"
"Not that I have heard."
It was not what Serena had come for. If Christine did not know, then Alpha Kaidan was keeping it from everyone.
Serena left Christine’s room with the notification still open on her phone.
The meeting was one week away, and nobody seemed to know what Alpha Kaidan intended to discuss. Christine knew nothing, and Serena could not find the answers on her own.
She read the notice once more before locking her phone.
Five days. Someone in Blackclaw knew what that meeting was about, and she meant to find out who before it began.