LOGINEileen’s pov Alpha, with respect, that isn’t your decision to make alone. Pack law requires—”“Pack law also grants me final authority over my mate’s standing within these walls, and I am invoking that authority now, before this entire council.” His jaw was iron. “I will hold to it regardless of what any of you believe you’ve heard.”The eldest elder finally nodded, slow and reluctant. “As you wish, Alpha. Though I hope your confidence proves well placed.”The chamber began to empty, and only once it had fully cleared did Alaric turn to face me, exhaustion and something far more dangerous burning behind his eyes.“I just staked my authority on you in front of the entire council,” he said quietly. “Every enemy I have will use this against me the moment they sense a crack in it.”“Why would you do that.”“Because I meant every word, and because some part of me is still furious that I meant it so easily.” His hand rose to my jaw. “I need you to understand, I can’t protect you from what
Eileen’s pov“Empty,” Alaric repeated. “Since when.”“Since before the guard checked the corridor an hour ago.” He glanced at me, then quickly away. “Her maid says she left dressed for travel and never returned to collect anything else.”“Search the east tower. Every room, top to bottom.”“Already done, Alpha. Nothing.” He hesitated. “There’s more. She’s called for a formal hunt at dawn. Sent word to the entire court an hour past. Says it’s tradition, to honor the new Luna before the moon cycle turns.”My stomach dropped straight through the floor. “She’s never spoken to me about any hunt in three days.”“She didn’t ask permission,” he said. “She simply announced it. Half the court’s already preparing horses.”I felt Alaric’s jaw tighten beside me. “She’s making a move in front of witnesses she thinks I can’t refuse without looking weak in front of the whole council.”“What do we do.”“We attend, and we don’t let her set the terms of it.” He turned to face me fully, gold still simmeri
Alaric’s povI found her waiting in my study when I finally escaped the elders’ endless questions about the rogue wolf, and the moment I saw her face I knew whatever she’d found had cost her more than she was letting show on the surface.“You look like you’ve seen something you can’t unsee,” I said, shutting the door behind me.“I have.” She held out her palm, and the crescent pendant caught the firelight, identical to the one Selena wore like a trophy at her throat. “I found it hidden in the storage room. There’s a list. Three names, and mine underneath them. She was planning to remove me before this wedding ever happened.”Something cold settled low in my chest, old and familiar, a feeling I’d spent years building walls around specifically so it couldn’t get back out again.“Sit,” I said, because I needed a moment before I could say the rest of it out loud, and I still wasn’t entirely certain I was ready to hand it to her.She sat and watched me with a patience that made it harder,
Eileen’s pov Wren found me in the small library off the east wing, still dressed in the gown from the corridor, and the look on her face told me she already knew about the wolf before I said a single word about it. “You’re not hurt,” she said, more statement than question, her eyes sweeping over me anyway to confirm it herself. “I’m fine. Alaric took the worst of it.” My hands still hadn’t fully stopped shaking, faint tremors running through my fingers that I kept curling into fists to hide. “The whole palace is already talking about it. They’re saying you healed him with your bare hands. They’re saying Selena saw the whole thing happen.” “She did. And before she left, she told me she finally understood how to make me use it until there’s nothing left of me at all.” Wren’s face went bloodless, the color draining out of her the way water drains from a cracked basin. “Then we’ve run out of time to be careful about any of this.” “I know.” I pressed my palms flat against the
Alice’s povThe carriage rocked over uneven stone, and I pressed my palm flat against the window, watching the North Pack’s border wall shrink smaller behind us until it disappeared into the treeline entirely.“You’re quiet,” Lucian said, not looking up from the papers in his lap.“I’m thinking.”“About the necklace.”My hand went to my bare throat before I could stop it, the absence of the chain suddenly unbearable, a phantom weight where the metal used to sit. “About a lot of things.”He finally looked up, something unreadable behind his eyes. “The Luna knew that chain on sight. You saw her face when she asked about it.”“I saw a woman making trouble at her own wedding feast, nothing more.”“That’s not what I saw.” He set the papers down slowly, deliberately, giving me the full weight of his attention, which had never once in three years felt like comfort. “Did she remind you of anyone, Alice.”My mouth went dry, my tongue suddenly too large for it. “I don’t know what you mean.”“Th
Eileen’s pov The guard didn’t wait to see if we followed. He turned and ran back the way he’d come, and Alaric’s hand closed around my wrist, pulling me into a pace that left no room for questions. “Stay behind me,” he said. “Alaric, what’s happening.” “I don’t know yet. That’s what worries me.” The west corridor came into view ahead, torches burning low, servants pressed back against the stone, several with their hands over their mouths. The air changed the closer we got, thick and wrong, copper on the back of my tongue before I understood why. “Get back,” Alaric said, pushing me behind him with one arm. I looked past his shoulder anyway. Three guards lay sprawled near the storage room door, none of them moving, claw marks raked deep into the stone above their heads. “Rogue wolf,” one surviving guard said, voice shaking, pointing toward the shadows pooled at the far end. “Came out of nowhere. Still in there.” Alaric’s whole body went rigid, gold flaring violent. “







