LOGINTessaSomeone knocked on my apartment door at eleven twenty-three at night.I froze.After everything that had happened at the clinic, knocking after dark had officially become something I hated.Then a familiar voice came through the door.“Tessa.”I exhaled and immediately got irritated.I opened the door.Alden stood in the hallway.“Why are you here?”“We need to leave.”I stared at him. “No.”His eyebrows moved slightly. “I haven’t explained why.”“You showed up after eleven at night and started with ‘we need to leave.’ Were you expecting enthusiasm?”“No.”“Good.”He glanced past me into the apartment. “Are you alone?”“That is none of your business.”“It is tonight.”My eyes narrowed. “Careful.”Alden’s jaw shifted.He was trying.I could actually see him reorganizing whatever wolf nonsense had been about to come out of his mouth.“One of Kieran’s guards was killed tonight.”Everything inside me went still. “What?”“Silver blade.”My irritation disappeared. “Where?”“Western bo
KieranCyrus arrived forty-three minutes after Rhett called him.I knew because I checked the time twice. Not because I was impatient.Because forty-three minutes from Ravenholt territory meant they had driven like fucking lunatics.Three vehicles rolled through the eastern gate. Cyrus stepped out of the first. Garrick came around the passenger side.Two Ravenholt trackers followed from the second vehicle, along with three warriors I recognized from the mining site.Alden climbed out of the last truck. His eyes immediately went toward the pack house.“Tessa?”I pointed at him. “Not here.”His expression changed. “You told me to come.”“I need Cyrus and Garrick at the scene. I need you to go get Tessa.”Alden stared at me.“Now.”He turned toward his vehicle without another question.Cyrus watched him go. “You've become comfortable commanding my wolves.”“He’s trying to transfer.”Cyrus’s head snapped toward me.Garrick coughed.Rhett looked delighted.I frowned. “What?”Cyrus stared a
Kieran“You realize she’s going to turn it into an animal hospital.”Rhett walked beside me down the path behind the pack house.“I gathered that. She asked about livestock space.”“She’ll want a barn.”“Yes.”“Probably goats.”I looked at him. “Why goats?”“Feels inevitable.”I sighed.Rhett grinned.For the first time in days, discussing construction felt almost normal.“Security line would need to shift west,” he said. “Not much. Enough to cover the clinic and cabins.”“I don’t want guards standing around the public entrance.”“Neither do I. Humans notice armed men.”“Mara notices them faster.”“That too.”We continued toward the western path.“The deeper entrance can stay pack-only,” Rhett said. “Human clients come from town. Wolves come through the interior road.”“That was Mara’s idea.”“Of course it was.”“She was designing the place before she realized she was designing it.”Rhett snorted. “So she’s saying yes.”“She said she’d think about it.”“That’s practically a mating cer
Mara“I’m only looking.”Kieran glanced at me from the driver’s seat. “I didn’t say anything.”“You were thinking loudly.”“That sounds medically concerning.”I narrowed my eyes.He smiled and turned onto a narrow paved road lined with enormous evergreens.I had agreed to see the property.That was it.Seeing land did not mean accepting the Luna position. Seeing land did not mean moving my clinic.Seeing land definitely did not mean I had spent half the drive wondering whether I could finally have separate dog and cat waiting areas.I was only looking.Kieran slowed near a break in the trees. The forest opened. And I forgot every argument I had prepared.“Oh.”That was apparently all my brain had.The property stretched farther than I expected, bordered by forest on two sides but opening toward the road leading back into town.Not isolated. Not buried deep inside pack territory.There was enough distance from the road to create privacy, but human clients could reach it without driving
Tessa“I’m not moving to Ravenholt.”Mara blinked. “I didn’t say you were.”“You were about to.”“I was explaining the cabin.”“The cabin you apparently get because your boyfriend has decided normal gifts are for cowards.”Mara sighed. “He has land.”“Of course he has land.”“He wants to build a clinic.”“Again, psychopathically romantic.”“And two cabins.”I froze. “Why two?”Mara suddenly became very interested in the coffee in her hand.That was suspicious.“Mara.”“One would be mine.”“And?”She took a sip.I narrowed my eyes. “And?”“The other would be yours.”I stared at her. “My what?”“Cabin.”“Why the fuck am I getting real estate?”“Well…”“No.”“I haven’t said anything.”“You made the face.”“What face?”“The face you make right before you say something that makes my life worse.”She looked offended. “You work for me.”“That has never stopped you.”Mara carefully set her coffee down. “Kieran said if I agree to the Luna trial and the clinic moves onto his territory, you can
KieranThe meeting lasted two hours before everyone started shouting.Honestly, that was longer than I expected.“He leaves,” Elder Halden snapped. “Permanent banishment. Sever his pack bond and send him beyond our borders.”Rhett slammed his palm against the table. “So he can take fifteen years of security knowledge with him?”“He would be forbidden from sharing it.”“He was forbidden from helping assassins too.”Halden stood. “And execution brings Kieran’s brother back?”“No,” Rhett growled. “It makes sure Cassian never betrays us again.”Cassian sat silently between two guards. He hadn’t defended himself once.Mira pointed toward him. “Death is easy.”Rhett stared at her. “You think execution is easy?”“For him?” Her expression hardened. “Yes.”That shut several people up.“He dies once. The families whose security he compromised live with the consequences. Kieran lives with it. Selene lives with it. Every warrior who trusted him lives with it.” She looked directly at Cassian. “Why







