Se connecterRonan’s POVThe bells started before I reached the old records room, three heavy strikes rolling through BloodHowl, followed by a pause that made every warrior in the corridor look up before the next three came.One of my captains appeared at the far end of the hall at a run.“Eastern watchtower.”I kept walking toward him. “What happened?”“Signal fire’s out. They’re not answering the inner bell.”Men were already turning toward the eastern side of the fortress.“Stay where you fucking are.”Boots stopped across the corridor.The captain looked at me. “Alpha, if somebody’s taken the tower—”“Then what do you think they want us to do?”His mouth shut.Darius came up beside me, his hands finally clean of Helene’s blood, although he’d scrubbed them hard enough that his knuckles were still red.“Run east,” he said.I pointed at two warriors. “Take four men. Check it from inside the walls and report back. Nobody opens that gate.”The captain frowned. “What if we have warriors outside?”“T
Selene’s POVThe door shut behind Ronan, and for several seconds I stared at it like I could somehow see through the wood and follow him down the corridor.I hated that he had gone.I hated even more that I understood why he had to.Xavier moved somewhere behind me, but I barely registered it. My hand was still warm from Ronan’s, and my lips still carried the pressure of that kiss he had used instead of answering me because apparently my husband had decided kissing me into silence counted as an Alpha strategy.Usually I would have informed him exactly how ineffective it was.Right then, I wanted him back badly enough that I might have let him try again.“He’ll be fine.”I looked toward Xavier.“I didn’t ask.”“No. You’ve only been staring at the door like you’re considering ripping it off the hinges.”“I could.”Kieran snorted from beside the window.Xavier gave me a look.“You’re not following him.”“I’m aware.”“Are you?”“I said I’m aware, not that I’m happy about it.”“That sounds
Ronan’s POVI had given the order to lock BloodHowl down before I even knew whether Helene Carey was going to survive.The words had come out of me automatically, every gate sealed, every entrance watched, nobody in or out until I said otherwise, but the second Darius said Selene’s name, every carefully ordered thought in my head disappeared beneath one image I couldn’t stop seeing.Helene on the dungeon floor with blood covering Darius’s hands.Only it wasn’t Helene anymore.It was Selene.I hated my own mind for putting her there, hated Cassius even more for giving it a reason to.“Go,” I told Darius.He was already halfway to the stairs.I turned to the warriors crowding the corridor. “Nobody moves Helene anywhere except directly to the healer’s rooms, and she has four guards with her at all times. Men I know. Not uniforms I recognize. Faces.”They understood the difference now.So did I.Some bastard had walked through my fortress wearing BloodHowl colors and we had trusted the cl
Darius’s POVI heard Mira scream before I reached the bottom of the stairs.I had been watching the back of the warrior who had just shouldered past me on his way up, debating whether I felt like dragging his ass back down and reminding him that rank still existed even when someone was in a hurry, when her voice tore through the dungeon hard enough to wipe every other thought from my head.“Help her!”I turned and ran.The corridor opened in front of me, and for the first few strides I couldn’t tell what the hell I was looking at because Garrick was against his bars shouting something I couldn’t make out, Mira had both arms shoved between hers, and the door to Helene’s cell was hanging wide open.Then I saw Helene.She was crumpled on the floor with one shoulder against the wall and her hand clamped beneath her jaw.Blood poured through her fingers.There was so much of it that my mind rejected what my eyes were seeing until another stream slipped over the back of her hand and ran dow
Helene’s POVMira was staring at me like she had never seen me before.I found that more irritating than the cell, the blood drying along my temple, or the fact that Ronan’s warriors had dragged me through half the territory like some common criminal.“Oh, don’t look so horrified. You’ve agreed with me about Selene for most of your life.”Her face tightened.“I agreed that Selene was a problem. I didn’t agree to helping Cassius Varric invade BloodHowl.”“Invade.” I laughed. “How dramatic.”Across the corridor, Garrick remained frozen near the bars.“What?” I snapped. “Have you forgotten how to speak?”His expression had gone strangely empty.“I don’t know who you are.”I rolled my eyes.“Please. You knew exactly who you married.”“No. I knew the part you wanted me to know.”That was almost insulting.I had never pretended to be meek. I ran my home because Garrick lacked the backbone to do it himself, and I controlled our social circle because most of the women around me were too stupi
Mira’s POVThe first impact against the gates rattled the windows hard enough to send one of the crystal glasses on the sideboard sliding toward the edge.I caught it before it fell.The second impact came almost immediately after, followed by the unmistakable crack of wood giving way.Garrick came rushing out of his study, looking more irritated than alarmed until the shouting started outside.“What in the Goddess’s name—”The gates burst inward.BloodHowl warriors flooded the grounds.Several were already in wolf form, huge bodies cutting across the lawn while men followed behind them with weapons drawn. Servants scattered toward the rear of the estate, and someone near the kitchens screamed when a dark wolf bounded onto the veranda.Garrick stopped beside me.All the color drained from his face.I looked at him.“That’s reassuring.”“What?”“You look terrified.”“Armed men just broke through my gates.”“Ronan’s men.”“That doesn’t make it better.”It did tell me exactly where this







