LOGINMollie’s POVI pushed open the heavy oak door of the lower cellar archive, the sound of iron hinges groaning loud against the damp stone walls of the underground corridor.Brian and Lucan both snapped their heads up from the wide oak table, their eyes wide with surprise as I stepped past the threshold into the dim yellow lantern light. My heart was hammering wildly against my ribs, every nerve in my body on fire after following Brian down into these subterranean vaults. I had stood right outside the heavy iron frame, holding my breath in the shadows, listening to Lucan confess the secret he had kept hidden for years."Mollie," Brian said, rising instantly from his low wooden stool, his broad hand reaching out to steady my elbow. "You should be resting in your private chambers with Chloe.""I heard what he said, Brian," I replied, pulling my arm back gently and stepping straight toward Lucan, my eyes locked on his pale, anxious face. "I heard you talking about the prisoner in the deepe
Brian’s POVI turned away from the heavy wooden door of Mollie's private sitting room, leaving two of my most trusted guards posted outside her door with strict orders to let no one pass without my personal mark.My boots thudded against the cold stone floor as I marched down the dark east corridor toward the lower guard chambers, my mind turning over the information Chloe had just revealed. The western garrison town sitting right on the edge of neutral territory was the exact kind of blind spot a rogue like Malakai would use to assemble an army without drawing unwanted attention from either pack."Alpha Brian!" Captain Vane called out, rushing toward me from the direction of the main courtyard with a rolled leather dispatch pouch slung across his shoulder. "The inner perimeter search is complete, but we found no further sign of Elder Marcus inside the keep.""He is already long gone, Vane," I said, stopping beside the high torch sconce near the courtyard archway. "He used those stole
Mollie’s POV"He delivered your betrothal papers?" I whispered, my voice breaking the heavy silence that hung over the cold, dust-filled study.Chloe stood completely frozen by the pried-up hearthstones, her knuckles white as she clutched the collar of her wool cloak, her face stripped of all color under the flickering candle. Brian kept his palm firmly on her shoulder, his jaw locked in a hard angle as he looked between the two of us with intense, focused eyes."Samuel brought the parchment directly to my father's chambers three days before the ceremony," Chloe said, her voice shaking violently as she forced the words past her lips. "I thought Arthur had sent him as a mere messenger, but now I remember the way he smiled when he handed over the heavy wax seal. He knew exactly what was written inside those pages.""He was enforcing Arthur's orders while secretly serving his own master," Brian growled, his hand tightening slightly on her shoulder before he stepped back to face us both.
Brian’s POV"Arthur's personal scribe?" I repeated, my voice dropping into a harsh growl that echoed off the stone walls of the dark study.I stepped closer to Chloe, my eyes locked on the tiny, torn fragment of yellowed parchment held tight between her trembling fingers. The weak candle flame flickered against the damp draft blowing through the broken windowpane, casting long, nervous shadows across the scattered papers on the floorboards."Explain what you mean, Chloe," I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest while keeping my right hand hovering close to my sword hilt. "Why would a simple palace scribe have his handwriting hidden inside Elder Marcus's floorboards?"Chloe looked up from the floor, her face pale as she smoothed the frayed edge of the paper against her knee. "His name is Samuel. He has been in Arthur's household for nearly nine years, quietly copying official trade decrees, military orders, and private pack correspondence.""A low-ranking servant," Mollie murmured f
Brian’s POVI stared at the blackened brass plate, my eyes fixed on the charred sigil raised on the cold metal surface.The curved lines matched the scorched mark we found carved into the hearth cavity of Marcus's private quarters, proof that this hidden vault belonged to the same conspiracy that had torn our family apart. A sudden wave of cold rage washed over me, pushing aside the lingering chill of the damp cellar air."Vane, bring a broad axe and a heavy pry bar over here right now!" I shouted into the echoing gloom of the chamber, my voice hard and unyielding.Captain Vane hurried across the dusty floorboards, his heavy boots thudding against the stone as he carried a double-bitted iron axe and a thick steel crowbar. "What have you found, Alpha?""This box stays sealed no longer," I growled, taking the heavy iron crowbar directly from his hands. "Lucan, hold your torch right over this latch so I can see where the iron pin meets the frame."Lucan stepped up beside me, lowering his
Brian’s POV"Marcus?" I snapped, my hand gripping my sword hilt so hard the leather groaned under my fingers while my alpha energy spiked inside the small guard chamber. "Are you absolutely certain it was Marcus?"The injured guard leaned his back hard against the cold stone wall, his face pale as chalk while he nodded twice, his breath coming in ragged hitches. "I would know that gravelly rasp anywhere, Lord Brian. He spent fifteen years leading our morning drills, and he spoke right beside my ear when he tied the heavy ropes around my wrists."Mollie stood up slowly beside me, her hands trembling slightly as she looked from the terrified sentry back to my face. "Brian, if it was Marcus, then he never fled across the river to Silvermane territory like the council elders assumed three days ago.""He didn't run away at all," I said, my vision narrowing with dark, suffocating rage as the truth slammed into my mind like an iron hammer. "The old fool came straight back here, right under ou







