Vanc

ing long shadows across the room. I hadn't slept. I sat in the same chair all night,

op of wax from a nearby candle. There was no crest, no flourish. It was as pla

. My face was a mask of calm, scrubbed clean of last nig

the Great Hal

reathtaking beauty, with hair like tongues of fire and a graceful, aristocratic bearing. She

r, but it didn't reach his eyes. He gave me a cas

She'll be staying with us for a while." He said it as if he were introd

ly false. Her eyes, a brilliant shade of green, swept over

ng of my place at his side, was somehow more brutal than the words I'd overhe

ledge the introduction. I simply walked past them,

rossing his features. But then Seraphina touched his arm, murmuring someth

ewing a stack of patrol reports. He looked up

eld out the envelope. "Please ensure

y face, the rigid set of my jaw, and a flicker of unease crossed his own. He must ha

not back to my room, but towards the main doors of the Packh

small, encrypted tactical communicator, a device every Blackwood warrior carried for emerg

se forest that marked the edge of Blackwood territory. Each step was a delibera

s icy cold, and I knelt, splashing it on my face, washing away the s

nal step, to cross the rushing w

one this close to the bor

that made the hair on my arms stand up. It

nce at tense territorial meetings. He was tall, powerfully built, and his presence radiated an authority that ri

r Alpha, Ka

y mind, but strangely, there was no real malice

d to toe, and I knew he could smell the grief rolling off me in waves. But he could also s

e clear and cold. "I'm no

d in interest. "Oh? A rogue, t

ce of his Alpha presence washed over me, a heavy pressure demanding

can feel your power," he said, his voice a low rumble.

e fists clenched at my

kind smile, but it wasn't cruel either. It was the smile of

he said. "My name is Kael Sterling. M