3. The Heir Returns

It was getting late, and I was exhausted—but I still pushed on, heading toward the far edges of the territory where the trees thickened.

Here, I was less likely to run into anyone. The pack didn’t waste time patrolling the unglamorous parts of its land. This was where the forgotten things lived.

I blended in well here.

I ducked behind a half-collapsed shed, where vines crawled up the stone and the roof sagged under years of neglect. Then I slipped through the hidden opening in the floorboards—my shortcut into the tunnels beneath the pack house.

They thought the tunnels were sealed off after the war years ago.

They were… mostly.

But I had found a way in.

Down here, it was cool and quiet, the earth breathing softly around me. I followed the lanterns I left earlier, careful not to make noise. There was only one person who knew I came down here.

And he was waiting.

“You’re late,” a voice said from the shadows.

“I was fed poison,” I said, stepping into the small chamber at the end. “Had a hard time even walking.”

His eyes shot up in alarm as he quickly stood to help me.

“Are you alright?” he asked, concern flickering across his face—the kind of look no one ever gave me in my pack.

I shoved the thought aside. “It’s fine. It’s not the first time.”

“Doesn’t make it any less brutal,” he muttered.

Riven knew what kind of constitution I had, but he still wore that same worried look every time I showed up injured.

I changed the subject. “Alpha Oswald’s son is returning. And they’ve developed something new—this poison. It’s potent. I have a feeling they’re planning something big. They’re calling it a mate search, but that feels like a cover.”

Riven’s eyes narrowed. “He’s still unmated?”

“Beats me. If I’m not wrong, he should be twenty-five already.”

“Interesting,” he murmured, eyeing me like he had something to say but chose not to.

“Think he’s a threat to the plan?” I asked.

“Too soon to tell. If he’s like his father, he’ll be predictable. If he’s worse…” Riven let the words hang between us.

“You’ll handle it,” he said finally, with calm certainty. Like it was a fact.

Maybe I could.

“Any word from your side?” I asked.

He nodded. “We intercepted a shipment bound for the Alpha’s armory. Marked as medical supplies, just like you predicted.”

“What was in it?”

“Silver. Refined into shards fine enough to lace arrows.”

My blood ran cold.

"If the Alpha’s testing poison, he’ll test antidotes next. Watch for that,” he warned.

“Whatever they’re preparing for,” he added, pushing off the wall, “they expect it to bleed.”

I turned toward the exit. “Then it’s a good thing we’re prepared.”

Riven caught my arm. “Be careful. If Lucan is anything like the rumours say… he’ll be harder to predict.”

“I’ve spent my whole life dealing with monsters,” I said, voice low. “One more won’t change anything.”

I pulled free and vanished into the tunnels again.

---

I made it back to my storage room and collapsed onto the mattress. I knew I’d be fine by morning, but the night ahead promised nothing but pain.

It still hurt. So badly.

---

The sound of bells woke me.

Soft at first. Then louder. Urgent. Excited.

I blinked against the light. I was still alive. I’d survived the night.

I tried to stand, but my body was weak. I stumbled.

They were ringing the bells. Why?

Lucan wasn’t supposed to arrive for another three days—

But then I looked to the stub of the black candle I burned each night. The wax pool had hardened, and dust had gathered where flame should have been. Three nights gone.

My breath caught.

I’d really slept through three nights?

If that poison was strong enough to knock me out for so long… it could kill even the strongest Alpha instantly.

I dismissed the thought temporarily as I bathed quickly in cold water, trying to shake off the stiffness, then threw on the best thing I owned—something barely presentable but enough to avoid being turned away from the gathering hall.