The wolvesโ Den in Moonwood occupied ten entire city blocks, a sprawling villa built around a wild tangle of forest and grass that legend claimed had grown there since before anyone had touched these lands. Through the iron gates built into the towering limestone arches, Bryce could see through to the private park, where morning sunlight coaxed drowsy flowers into opening up for the day. Wolf pups bounded, pouncing on each other, chasing their tails, watched over by gray-muzzled elders whose brutal days in the Aux were long behind them.
Her gut twisted, enough to make her grateful sheโd forgone breakfast. Sheโd barely slept last night, as she considered and reconsidered this plan. Hunt had offered to do it himself, but sheโd refused. She had to come hereโhad to step up. For Danika.
In his usual battle-suit, Hunt stood a step away, silent as heโd been on the walk over here. As if he knew she could barely keep her legs from shaking. She wished sheโd worn sneakers. The steep angle of her heels had irritated the wound in her thigh. Bryce clenched her jaw against the pain as they stood before the Den.
Hunt kept his dark eyes fixed upon the four sentries stationed at the gates.
Three females, one male. All in humanoid form, all in black, all armed with guns and sheathed swords down their backs. A tattoo of an onyx rose with three claw marks slashed through its petals adorned the sides of their necks, marking them as members of the Black Rose Wolf Pack.
Her stomach roiled at the hilts peeking over their armored shoulders. But she pushed away the memory of a braid of silvery-blond hair
streaked with purple and pink, constantly snagging in the hilt of an ancient, priceless blade.
Though young, the Pack of Devils had been revered, the most talented wolves in generations. Led by the most powerful Alpha to grace Midgardโs soil.
The Black Rose Pack was a far cry from that. A far fucking cry. Their eyes lit with predatory delight as they spotted Bryce.
Her mouth went dry. And turned positively arid as a fifth wolf appeared from the glass security vestibule to the left of the gate.
The Alphaโs dark hair had been pulled into a tight braid, accentuating the sharp angles of her face as she sneered toward Bryce and Hunt. Athalarโs hand casually drifted to the knife at his thigh.
Bryce said as casually as she could, โHi, Amelie.โ
Amelie Ravenscroft bared her teeth. โWhat the fuck do you want?โ
Hunt bared his teeth right back. โWeโre here to see the Prime.โ He flashed his legion badge, the gold twinkling in the sun. โOn behalf of the Governor.โ
Amelie flicked her gold eyes to Hunt, over his tattooed halo. Over his hand on the knife and the SPQM she surely knew was tattooed on the other side of his wrist. Her lip curled. โWell, at least you picked interesting company, Quinlan. Danika would have approved. Hel, you might have even done him together.โ Amelie leaned a shoulder against the vestibuleโs side. โYou used to do that, right? I heard about you guys and those two daemonaki. Classic.โ
Bryce smiled blandly. โIt was three daemonaki, actually.โ โStupid slut,โ Amelie snarled.
โWatch it,โ Hunt growled back.
Amelieโs pack members lingered behind her, eyeing Hunt and keeping back. The benefit of hanging with the Umbra Mortis, apparently. Amelie laughed, a sound filled with loathing. Not merely hatred for her, Bryce realized. But for the angels. The Houses of Earth and Blood and Sky and Breath were rivals on a good day, enemies on a bad one. โOr what? Youโll use your lightning on me?โ she said to Hunt. โIf you do, youโll be in such deep shit that your master will bury you alive in it.โ
A little smile at the tattoo across his brow.
Hunt went still. And as interesting as it would have been to finally see how Hunt Athalar killed, they had a reason for being here. So Bryce said to the pack leader, โYouโre a delight, Amelie Ravenscroft. Radio your boss that weโre here to see the Prime.โ She flicked her brows in emphasis of the dismissal she knew would make the Alpha see red.
โShut that mouth of yours,โ Amelie said, โbefore I rip out your tongue.โ
A brown-haired male wolf standing behind Amelie taunted, โWhy donโt you go fuck someone in a bathroom again, Quinlan?โ
She blocked out every word. But Hunt huffed a laugh that promised broken bones. โI told you to watch it.โ
โGo ahead, angel,โ Amelie sneered. โLetโs see what you can do.โ Bryce could barely move around the panic and dread pushing in,
could barely breathe, but Hunt said quietly, โThere are six pups playing in sight of this gate. You really want to expose them to the kind of fight weโd have, Amelie?โ
Bryce blinked. Hunt didnโt so much as glance her way as he continued addressing a seething Amelie. โIโm not going to beat the shit out of you in front of children. So either you let us in, or weโll come back with a warrant.โ His gaze didnโt falter. โI donโt think Sabine Fendyr would be particularly happy with Option B.โ
Amelie held his stare, even as the others tensed. That haughty arrogance had made Sabine tap her as Alpha of the Black Rose Pack, even over Ithan Holstrom, now Amelieโs Second. But Sabine had wanted someone just like herself, regardless of Ithanโs higher power ranking. And perhaps someone a little less Alpha, tooโso sheโd have them firmly under her claws.
Bryce waited for Amelie to call Huntโs bluff about the warrant.
Waited for a snide remark or the appearance of fangs.
Yet Amelie plucked the radio from her belt and said into it, โGuests are here for the Prime. Come get them.โ
She had once breezed through the doors beyond Amelieโs dark head, had spent hours playing with the pups in the grass and trees beyond it whenever Danika had been given babysitting duty.
She shut out the memory of what it had been likeโto watch Danika playing with the fuzzy pups or shrieking children, who had all worshipped the ground she walked upon. Their future leader, their protector, who would take the wolves to new heights.
Bryceโs chest constricted to the point of pain. Hunt glanced her way then, his brows rising.
She couldnโt do this. Be here. Enter this place.
Amelie smiled, as if realizing that. Scenting her dread and pain.
And the sight of the fucking bitch standing there, where Danika had once been โฆ Red washed over Bryceโs vision as she drawled, โItโs good
to see that crime has gone down so much, if all you have to do with your day, Amelie, is play guard at the front door.โ
Amelie smiled slowly. Footsteps sounded on the other side of the gate, just before they swung open, but Bryce didnโt dare look. Not as Amelie said, โYou know, sometimes I think I should thank youโthey say if Danika hadnโt been so distracted by messaging you about your drunk bullshit, she might have anticipated the attack. And then I wouldnโt be where I am, would I.โ
Bryceโs nails cut into her palms. But her voice, thank the gods, was steady as she said, โDanika was a thousand times the wolf you are. No matter where you are, youโll never be where she was.โ
Amelie went white with rage, her nose crinkling, lips pulling back to expose her now-lengthening teethโ
โAmelie,โ a male voice growled from the shadows of the gate archway.
Oh gods. Bryce curled her fingers into fists to keep from shaking as she looked toward the young male wolf.
But Ithan Holstromโs eyes darted between her and Amelie as he approached his Alpha. โItโs not worth it.โ The unspoken words simmered in his eyes. Bryce isnโt worth it.
Amelie snorted, turning back to the vestibule, a shorter, brown-haired female following her. The packโs Omega, if memory served. Amelie sneered over a shoulder to Bryce, โGo back to the dumpster you crawled out of.โ
Then she shut the door. Leaving Bryce standing before Connorโs younger brother.
There was nothing kind on Ithanโs tan face. His golden-brown hair was longer than the last time sheโd seen him, but heโd been a sophomore playing sunball for CCU then.
This towering, muscled male before them had made the Drop. Had stepped into his brotherโs shoes and joined the pack that had replaced Connorโs.
A brush of Huntโs velvet-soft wings against her arm had her walking.
Every step toward the wolf ratcheted up her heartbeat. โIthan,โ Bryce managed to say.
Connorโs younger brother said nothing as he turned toward the pillars flanking the walkway.
She was going to puke. All over everything: the limestone tiles, the pale pillars, the glass doors that opened into the park in the center of the villa.
She shouldnโt have let Athalar come. Should have made him stay on the roof somewhere so he couldnโt witness the spectacular meltdown that she was three seconds away from having.
Ithan Holstromโs steps were unhurried, his gray T-shirt pulling across the considerable expanse of his muscled back. Heโd been a cocky twenty-year-old when Connor died, a history major like Danika and the star of CCUโs sunball team, rumored to be going pro as soon as his brother gave the nod. He could have gone pro right after high school, but Connor, who had raised Ithan since their parents had died five years earlier, had insisted that a degree came first, sports second. Ithan, who had idolized Connor, had always folded on it, despite Bronsonโs pleas with Connor to let the kid go pro.
Connorโs Shadow, theyโd teased Ithan.
Heโd filled out since then. At last started truly resembling his older brotherโeven the shade of his golden-brown hair was like a spike through her chest.
Iโm crazy about you. I donโt want anyone else. I havenโt for a long while.
She couldnโt breathe. Couldnโt stop seeing, hearing those words, feeling the giant fucking rip in the space-time continuum where Connor should have been, in a world where nothing bad could ever, ever happen
โ
Ithan stopped before another set of glass doors. He opened one, the muscles in his long arm rippling as he held it for them.
Hunt went first, no doubt scanning the space in the span of a blink. Bryce managed to look up at Ithan as she passed.
His white teeth shone as he bared them at her.
Gone was the cocky boy sheโd teased; gone was the boy whoโd tried out flirting on her so he could use the techniques on Nathalie, who had laughed when Ithan asked her out but told him to wait a few more years; gone was the boy who had relentlessly questioned Bryce about when sheโd finally start dating his brother and wouldnโt take never for an answer.
A honed predator now stood in his place. Who had surely not forgotten the leaked messages sheโd sent and received that horrible night. That sheโd been fucking some random in the club bathroom while ConnorโConnor, who had just spilled his heart to herโwas slaughtered. Bryce lowered her eyes, hating it, hating every second of this fucked-
up visit.
Ithan smiled, as if savoring her shame.
Heโd dropped out of CCU after Connor had died. Quit playing sunball. She only knew because sheโd caught a game on TV one night two months later and the commentators had still been discussing it. No one, not his coaches, not his friends, not his packmates, could convince him to return. Heโd walked away from the sport and never looked back, apparently.
She hadnโt seen him since the days right before the murders. Her last photo of him was the one Danika had taken at his game, playing in the background. The one sheโd tortured herself with last night for hours while bracing herself for what the dawn would bring.
Before that, though, there had been hundreds of photos of the two of them together. They still sat on her phone like a basket full of snakes, waiting to bite if she so much as opened the lid.
Ithanโs cruel smile didnโt waver as he shut the door behind them. โThe Primeโs taking a nap. Sabine will meet with you.โ
Bryce glanced at Hunt, who gave her a shallow nod. Precisely as theyโd planned.
Bryce was aware of Ithanโs every breath at her back as they aimed for the stairs that Bryce knew would take them up a level to Sabineโs office. Hunt seemed aware of Ithan, too, and let enough lightning wreathe his hands, his wrists, that the young wolf took a step away.
At least alphaholes were good for something.
Ithan didnโt leave. No, it seemed he was to be their guard and silent tormentor for the duration of this miserable trip.
Bryce knew every step toward Sabineโs office on the second level, but Ithan led the way: up the sprawling limestone stairs marred with so many scratches and gouges no one bothered to fix them anymore; down the high-ceilinged, bright hall whose windows overlooked the busy street outside; and finally to the worn wood door. Danika had grown up hereโ and moved out as soon as sheโd gone to CCU. After graduation, sheโd stayed only during formal wolf events and holidays.
Ithanโs pace was leisurely. As if he could scent Bryceโs misery, and wanted to make her endure it for every possible second.
She supposed she deserved it. Knew she deserved it. She tried to block out the memory that flashed.
The twenty-one ignored calls from Ithan, all in the first few days following the murder. The half-dozen audiomails. The first had been sobbing, panicked, left in the hours afterward. Is it true, Bryce? Are they dead?
And then the messages had shifted to worry. Where are you? Are you okay? I called the major hospitals and youโre not listed, but no one is talking. Please call me.
And then, by the end, that last audiomail from Ithan, nothing but razor-sharp coldness. The Legion inspectors showed me all the messages. Connor practically told you that he loved you, and you finally agreed to go out with him, and then you fucked some stranger in the Raven bathroom? While he was dying? Are you kidding me with this shit? Donโt come to the Sailing tomorrow. Youโre not welcome there.
Sheโd never written back, never sought him out. Hadnโt been able to endure the thought of facing him. Seeing the grief and pain in his face. Loyalty was the most prized of all wolf traits. In their eyes, she and Connor had been inevitable. Nearly mated. Just a question of time. Her hookups before that hadnโt mattered, and neither had his, because nothing had been declared yet.
Until heโd asked her out at last. And she had said yes. Had started down that road.
To the wolves, she was Connorโs, and he was hers.
Message me when youโre home safe.
Her chest tightened and tightened, the walls pushing in, squeezingโ
She forced herself to take a long breath. To inhale to the point where her ribs strained from holding it in. Then to exhale, pushing-pushing-pushing, until she was heaving out the pure gut-shredding panic that burned through her whole body like acid.
Bryce wasnโt a wolf. She didnโt play by their rules of courtship. And sheโd been stupid and scared of what agreeing to that date had meant, and Danika certainly didnโt care one way or another if Bryce had some meaningless hookup, butโBryce hadnโt ever worked up the nerve to explain to Ithan after sheโd seen and heard his messages.
Sheโd kept them all. Listening to them was a solid central arc of her emotional death-spiral routine. The culmination of it, of course, being Danikaโs last, foolishly happy messages.
Ithan knocked on Sabineโs door, letting it swing wide to reveal a sunny white office whose windows looked into the verdant greenery of the Denโs park. Sabine sat at her desk, her corn-silk hair near-glowing in the light. โYou have some nerve coming here.โ
Words dried up in Bryceโs throat as she took in the pale face, the slender hands interlaced on the oak desk, the narrow shoulders that belied her tremendous strength. Danika had been pure wildfire; her
mother was solid ice. And if Sabine had killed her, if Sabine had done this โฆ
Roaring began in Bryceโs head.
Hunt must have sensed it, scented it, because he stepped up to Bryceโs side, Ithan lingering in the hall, and said, โWe wanted to meet with the Prime.โ
Irritation flickered in Sabineโs eyes. โAbout?โ โAbout your daughterโs murder.โ
โStay the fuck out of our business,โ Sabine barked, setting the glass on her table rattling. Bile burned Bryceโs throat, and she focused on not screaming or launching herself at the woman.
Huntโs wing brushed Bryceโs back, a casual gesture to anyone watching, but that warmth and softness steadied her. Danika. For Danika, sheโd do this.
Sabineโs eyes blazed. โWhere the Hel is my sword?โ
Bryce refused to answer, to even snap that the sword was and would always be Danikaโs, and said, โWe have intel that suggests Danika was stationed at Lunaโs Temple the night the Horn was stolen. We need the Prime to confirm.โ Bryce kept her eyes on the carpet, the portrait of terrified, shameful submission, and let Sabine dig her own grave.
Sabine demanded, โWhat the fuck does this have to do with her death?โ
Hunt said calmly, โWeโre putting together a picture of Danikaโs movements before the kristallos demon killed her. Who she might have met, what she might have seen or done.โ
Another bit of bait: to see her reaction to the demonโs breed, when it hadnโt yet been made public. Sabine didnโt so much as blink. Like she was already familiar with itโperhaps because sheโd been summoning it all along. Though she might just not have cared, Bryce supposed. Sabine hissed, โDanika wasnโt at the temple that night. She had nothing to do with the Horn being stolen.โ
Bryce avoided the urge to close her eyes at the lie that confirmed everything.
Claws slid from Sabineโs knuckles, embedding in her desk. โWho told you Danika was at the temple?โ
โNo one,โ Bryce lied. โI thought I might have remembered her mentioningโโ
โYou thought?โ Sabine sneered, voice rising to imitate Bryceโs. โItโs hard to remember, isnโt it, when you were high, drunk, and fucking strangers.โ
โYouโre right,โ Bryce breathed, even as Hunt growled. โThis was a mistake.โ She didnโt give Hunt time to object before she turned on a heel and left, gasping for breath.
How she kept her back straight, her stomach inside her body, she had no idea.
She barely heard Hunt as he fell into step behind her. Couldnโt stand to look at Ithan as she entered the hallway and found him waiting against the far wall.
Back down the stairs. She didnโt dare look at the wolves she passed. She knew Ithan trailed, but she didnโt care, didnโt careโ
โQuinlan.โ Huntโs voice cut through the marble stairwell. She made it down another flight when he said again, โQuinlan.โ
It was sharp enough that she paused. Looked up over a shoulder. Huntโs eyes scanned her faceโworry, not triumph at Sabineโs blatant lie, shining there.
But Ithan stood between them on the steps, eyes hard as stones. โTell me what this is about.โ
Hunt drawled, โItโs classified, asshole.โ Ithanโs snarl rumbled through the stairwell.
โItโs starting again,โ Bryce said quietly, aware of all the cameras, of Micahโs order to keep this quiet. Her voice was rasping. โWeโre trying to figure out why and whoโs behind it. Three murders so far. The same way. Be carefulโwarn your pack to be careful.โ
Ithanโs face remained unreadable. That had been one of his assets as a sunball playerโhis ability to keep from broadcasting moves to his opponents. Heโd been brilliant, and cocky as fuck, yes, but that arrogance had been well earned through hours of practice and brutal discipline.
Ithanโs face remained cold. โIโll let you know if I hear anything.โ โDo you need our numbers?โ Hunt asked coolly.
Ithanโs lip curled. โI have hers.โ She struggled to meet his stare, especially as he asked, โAre you going to bother to reply this time?โ
She turned on her heel and rushed down the stairs into the reception hall.
The Prime of the wolves stood in it now. Talking to the receptionist, hunched over his redwood cane, Danikaโs grandfather lifted his withered face as she came to an abrupt halt in front of him.
His warm brown eyesโthose were Danikaโs eyes, staring out at her.
The ancient male offered her a sad, kind smile. It was worse than any of the sneers or snarls.
Bryce managed to bow her head before she bolted through the glass doors.
She made it to the gates without running into anyone else. Had almost made it onto the street when Ithan caught up to her, Hunt a step behind. Ithan said, โYou never deserved him.โ
He might as well have drawn the knife she knew was hidden in his boot and plunged it into her chest. โI know,โ she rasped.
The pups were still playing, bounding through the high grasses. He nodded to the second level, to where Sabineโs office overlooked the greenery. โYou made some dumb fucking choices, Bryce, but I never pegged you for stupid. She wants you dead.โ Another confirmation, perhaps.
The words snapped something in her. โLikewise.โ She pointed to the gates, unable to stop the rage boiling in her as she realized that all signs pointed toward Sabine. โConnor would be ashamed of you for letting Amelie run rampant. For letting a piece of shit like that be your Alpha.โ
Claws glinted at Ithanโs knuckles. โDonโt you ever say his name again.โ
โWalk away,โ Hunt said softly to him. Lightning licked along his wings.
Ithan looked inclined to rip out his throat, but Hunt was already at Bryceโs side, following her onto the sun-drenched street. She didnโt dare look at Amelie or her pack at the gates, sneering and snickering at them.
โYouโre trash, Quinlan!โ Amelie shouted as they passed by, and her friends roared with laughter.
Bryce couldnโt bear to see if Ithan laughed with them.