MasukSelene’s POVCassius left the gates open.Ronan slowed several yards before them, and everyone behind us stopped with him. The road continued straight through the entrance before curving between the trees toward the Varric house, wide enough that Cassius could have lined both sides with men if he wanted to.He hadn’t.At least not where we could see them.Garrick rode up beside me and stared through the entrance. “They didn’t drag Mira all the way here just to hand her back at the gate.”Ronan looked toward the wall instead of the road. “No.”I shifted the reins in my hands. “Then why leave it open?”“Because he wants us inside.”My father looked at Ronan. “I figured that part out.”Ronan glanced over. “I wasn’t explaining it to you.”“I know. You were explaining it to my daughter like she’s five.”“I wasn’t doing that either.”“You do it a lot.”I looked between them. “Can we save this until after we get Mira?”Garrick looked at me. “I’m not the one who started it.”“You absolutely w
Cassius’s POVSelene had crossed the eastern boundary.For a moment, I thought the guard had misspoken.Ronan coming for Mira made sense. He would have come whether he cared about the girl or not, because another pack had entered BloodHowl, taken someone from his dungeon and walked back out with her. An Alpha could forgive plenty of things if he was weak enough, but letting another man steal from inside his own walls was the kind of humiliation that followed him into every room afterward.Selene riding beside him was different.I looked at the guard again. “You saw her yourself?”“Yes, Alpha.”“With Ronan?”“She was riding beside him.”Damon started swearing behind me.I barely listened.Selene had left BloodHowl.After everything Ronan had done to keep her close, after guards, patrols and locked gates, she had climbed onto a horse and crossed into my territory willingly.I had spent weeks finding ways to pull her out.She had saved me the trouble.“How far?”“Less than an hour if the
Mira’s POVBy the time they shoved me through the front doors, my lip was split, one wrist was scraped raw and the man on my right had my teeth marks buried in the side of his hand.He should have listened the first time I told him not to touch my face.“Keep moving.”I wiped the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand. “You put your hand on me again and I’m taking a finger.”The man behind me gave my shoulder a hard push.I spun around so fast he reached for his sword.“Do it again.”“Cassius wants you upstairs.”“Then Cassius can come get me himself.”Neither man looked interested in arguing. The one I had bitten pointed toward the staircase, and I looked past him instead.The house was bigger than anything I expected to find this close to the Varric boundary, but it wasn’t dressed like a noble residence. Men in travel-stained clothes moved between rooms carrying weapons. Packs were stacked near the rear entrance. Mud covered the stone floor where boots had come through recentl
Selene’s POVRonan didn’t have to tell me something had gone wrong.I knew as soon as he came through the door.Darius followed him inside and closed it behind them, unusually quiet, while Ronan crossed the room toward me. He looked exhausted and furious, but there was something about the way he kept his eyes on me that made me set my cup down before he even spoke.“What happened?”“Mira was taken out of the dungeon.”I stared at him because for a second the sentence didn’t make any sense. “What do you mean, taken?”“Two men got down there wearing BloodHowl colors. Maybe more were involved, but Garrick only saw two. One tried to convince the guards that Mira was being moved upstairs. When the guard refused without an order directly from me, somebody hit him from behind.”“Is he alive?”“Yeah. Head split open, but he’s alive.”I rubbed my palms against the sides of my dress. “How did they get her cell open?”“They had the key.”That was the part that made everything else worse.BloodHo
Ronan’s POVBy the time Darius and I hit the lower level, the dungeon was already in chaos.One of the guards was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall while another pressed a folded piece of cloth to the side of his head. Blood had soaked through it and was running down his neck. Two more men were farther inside, checking cells and shouting back and forth, and the iron gate that should have been locked was hanging wide open.I stopped so hard Darius nearly ran into me.“Fuck me.”“Yeah,” he muttered beside me. “That about covers it.”The guard on the floor saw us and tried to get up.“Don’t.” I crossed the distance to him. “What happened?”“I don’t fucking know, Alpha. It happened fast.”That, at least, sounded like the truth. He looked furious with himself more than scared, one eye already swelling where somebody had hit him.“Start wherever you can.”He dragged a hand over his mouth. “The bells started, then we got word there was someone inside the fortress. A few min
Ronan's POVFor a second, nobody moved.The man in my grip coughed against my forearm while Darius stared past me into the dark passage.“That is not the bastard who stabbed Helene.”I looked at him.“You’re sure?”“I almost ran into the son of a bitch on the stairs.” His eyes came back to the man I was holding. “I remember his face.”The bastard smiled again.Small.Bloody.Satisfied.My hand tightened around the front of his jacket.“There’s another one.”He laughed.Not loud.He didn’t need to.The sound crawled straight under my skin.I slammed him into the wall.“Where is he?”His head bounced off the stone, but the smile stayed there.“Ronan.”Darius’s voice stopped me before I hit him again.Barely.Elia was still behind us.I could hear her breathing.Too fast.Too shallow.She’d already been dragged through these tunnels, threatened with her sister’s life, hit hard enough to leave blood running down her face, and now she was watching me crush the throat of the man who’d done







