로그인I found Selene in her office. She looked up when I entered. Then her eyes dropped to my hands, to the two broken pieces of the ruling cane. Her face changed.
"What the fuck did you do?"
I closed the door behind me. Then crossed the room and dropped both pieces onto her desk. "Did you hit Lila?"
Selene went still. That was answer enough.
"Did you?"
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
KieranBy noon, the council chamber was full.I had invited most of the elders. Rhett. Colter. Senior warriors. Sabine. Esther. Three members responsible for territory welfare and finances.Cyrus and Garrick attended because Ravenholt had been directly involved in the hunter investigation.Alden stood behind Cyrus, looking unusually distracted.I suspected Tessa.I decided that was not my problem today.Selene sat alone near the far end of the table.Cassian sat under guard. No Beta insignia. No weapons. No authority.Nothing that distinguished him from any other wolf except the fact that almost everyone in the room wanted something terrible done to him.I remained standing. “This is not a trial to determine guilt.”The room quieted.“Cassian has admitted what he did.”Nobody looked at him.“He knowingly supplied patrol routes, security schedules, access points, camera blind spots, guard rotations, and my personal movements to people he understood intended to kill me.”One elder’s fac
Mara“You can’t just build me a clinic.”Kieran leaned against the edge of my desk like he had not just suggested relocating my entire professional life.“I’m starting to think you underestimate what owning a large amount of land allows me to do.”“That is not the point.”“It seems at least partially related.”I stared at him.He smiled.I hated that smile.Mostly because it was attached to a man who had somehow taken my impossible choice and turned it into an architectural project.“You’re serious.”“Very.”“Kieran, veterinary clinics have permits. Licensing. Inspections.”“I assume so.”“Zoning.”“That one I actually checked.”I stopped. “You checked?”His expression shifted. “You weren’t the first person who pointed out that your current location isn’t exactly defensible.”“When did you check?”“After the first time armed men came looking for me.”I folded my arms. “So you’ve been secretly researching veterinary zoning?”“I have people.”“That is such an Alpha answer.”“It’s an eff
MaraThe folder sat on my desk like it had personally offended me.I had opened it three times. Closed it three times. Moved it to the other side of the desk. Moved it back.Kieran had watched all of this without saying a word.That was almost worse.Finally, I looked at him. “You’re being very quiet.”“I’m trying something new.”“What?”“Not interrupting you while you argue with stationery.”I glared.His mouth twitched.I picked up the folder again.INTERIM LUNA APPOINTMENT — TWELVE MONTH TERMUnderneath that was the part that had nearly made me drool.Full access to restricted healer archives.Historical treatment records.Rare disease documentation.Silver exposure cases.Shift complications.Reproductive medicine.Old surgical techniques.Two hundred years of werewolf medical history that humans did not even know existed.It was obscene. It was cruel. It was absolutely working.“They’re bribing me.”“They know their audience.”“That doesn’t make it less manipulative.”“No. It mak
KieranCassian knew before I said anything.I could see it in his face when I walked into the treatment room carrying the small wooden box that had been delivered from the main house.His Beta insignia sat inside.So did his territory access token.His security credentials.The keys he had carried for fifteen years.Mara had cleared him medically that morning for short periods of sitting upright, which apparently meant he had immediately decided he no longer needed to listen to her.He was sitting on the edge of the exam table when I entered.“You’re supposed to be lying down.”Cassian glanced at me. “You sound like Mara.”“Terrifying, isn't it?”“Deeply.”Then he saw the box.The humor disappeared.I set it beside him.Neither of us spoke for several seconds.Finally Cassian said, “You should’ve done this years ago.”My jaw tightened. “No.”He looked at me. “You should have never given me the position.”“That isn't true.”“Kieran—”“You were a good Beta.”His expression twisted. “Unt







