006

BLADE

I opened the door just wide enough to slip through and pulled it shut behind me before any light from the room could spill into the hall.

Eric stood three steps away with his hand raised, ready to knock again.

Of course he did.

I turned the key, dropped it into my pocket, and leaned back against the wood like I had nowhere else to be.

"What's the problem?"

"Good evening to you too, Alpha."

"Eric."

He lowered his hand. For a moment he only looked at me and I knew that look. It was the one he gave border reports that didn't add up. Then his nose twitched.

He sniffed me hard. Not carefully, either.

I should have thought of that. Her scent had followed me out. It was on my hands, my collar, my skin, sweet and warm and impossible to wash off.

"This might sound crazy," he said slowly, "but is there a female in there?"

Everything in me went tight. My face didn't move. I'd had years of practice with that.

"Mind your business." My voice came out flat. "Whatever you came here to report, say it."

His gaze slid to the door, then back to me. A muscle moved in his jaw, like he was swallowing ten questions at once.

"I'd rather you see it for yourself," he said.

"Eric."

"Come see for yourself, Alpha."

I didn't want to leave. That was the first thing I noticed, and I didn't like it. My wolf dug in his claws and refused to budge, and for a few seconds I stood there with my back against a locked door like a guard on duty.

She was asleep. The lock was solid. Nothing was going to happen in the ten minutes it took to read a report.

"Lead the way."

He walked ahead and I followed, down the stairs and along the corridor where warriors straightened as we passed. Every step away from that door felt wrong, like walking out of a fight and leaving my weapon behind. I kept listening for her until the corridor bent and there was nothing left to hear.

Inside the office, Eric crossed to the desk, picked up a folded report and held it out without a word.

I read it standing. The first paragraph told me what I already suspected. By the second, my hand had curled around the edge of the page hard enough to crease it.

"They still won't listen," I said. "Do they?"

"Not this time either."

"I gave them a chance. Twice."

"I know."

"Then I'm done asking." I dropped the report on the desk. "I'll strip every one of them of their title."

"You can't." Eric kept his voice even. "Not without solid evidence. They'd call it a power grab, and half the pack would agree with them."

"I'm the Alpha." I said it quietly, which was worse than shouting, and he knew it. "I can go to any length to do whatever I want."

Eric didn't argue. He folded his arms and watched me, the way he always did when he wanted me to hear my own words.

I looked away first.

I picked up a pen for no reason, then set it down again. In the middle of the elders and their excuses, I'd caught myself listening for the click of a door. I hated that more than I hated the report.

"Any news on Hunter?"

It came out too fast. Eric noticed, he always did.

"You should stop wrapping your mind around Hunter."

"He's my brother."

"He's doing his own thing, Alpha." Eric rubbed the back of his neck. "And from where I stand, he isn't bothered by anything that happens in this pack." His voice dropped a little. "He has his own pack now."

I laughed once, without any humor in it. It sounded wrong in the quiet room.

"I still can't believe it. Hunter, with his own territory. His own walls, his own warriors." I shook my head slowly. "The last time I saw him, he walked away with nothing."

My brother, who had never asked anyone for anything. Who would burn a bridge and stand on the ashes just to prove he could.

The door banged open before Eric could answer.

One of my guards stumbled in, out of breath, and froze the second he saw my face. "Forgive me, Alpha. I'm sorry for barging in."

"Speak."

"It's the rogue, Alpha. The one we put in the cell." He swallowed. "He's gone and the cell is empty. It's like he escaped."

Eric's head snapped toward me. I didn't look at him.

"What should I do?" the guard asked.

I let the question sit. Somewhere above us, behind a locked door, she was sleeping in my bed with my shirt on, and for the first time that night, I felt how quiet my own heartbeat had gone.

No one could know. I hadn't said it out loud, but I'd made that rule the moment she'd shifted on that cold floor.

"Nothing."

The guard blinked. "Alpha?"

I locked eyes with him. I didn't repeat myself, I never had to.

His throat moved as he swallowed. Then he bowed low, backed out, and pulled the door shut behind him.

The silence that followed was thick with tension.

Eric turned to face me slowly, taking his time, like a man choosing which step to put his weight on.

"I know you're hiding something."

I said nothing.

"I'm not going to ask what." He rubbed his jaw. "But if my suspicion is right, it'll be a surprise. A shock, even."

I locked my eyes on his and raised a brow.

He cleared his throat. Then he lifted one hand and pointed toward the door, in the direction of my room, and I felt it in my spine before he said a word.

"Don't tell me that rogue is in your room." His voice stayed calm, almost careful. "Because there are only two possibilities. Either the rogue is your mate..." He paused, and his eyes didn't leave mine. "Or he isn't a he at all. He's a she."