look like a c

ing, gates hanging off hinges, wolves with hollow eyes who had forgotten what safety felt like. Three years of is

instead was a for

ost, not the sputtering kind that Ironveil used on its outer perimeter, but steady, well-maintained flames that meant someone was tending them on a reg

ing. The kind that came from a

ither a place you could defend or a place that could kill you. Ashveil, so far, was neithe

had never seen wolves react to an Alpha. No flinching, no performance of submission, no straightening spines to

gaze dropped to my Ironveil crest before he caught himself and looked

t smelled of pine resin and cold stone, then stopped o

e," he sa

ooked

e stepped into the side room without argument, which was the bravest thing s

the main room a

territorial charts spread across it, weighted at the corners with pieces of black stone. Candles burned in clu

ritorial lines and

marked in red ink with dates beside each notation. He had known for weeks, maybe longer. Which meant

othing

ce still and

ered me a seat and I had not taken one. We stood on opposite sides of the m

the Thirteenth

tained line of my co

w what you m

he forest. Like he was simply naming what was already true. "The child you're carrying isn't an ordinary p

ng nothing was the o

eived in the window between a mate bond rejection and its completion. The pup carries the power of both wolv

was ver

ood, with a cold clarity that settled into my bo

oming before I cross

t had not been discovery. It had been confirmation. He had been building toward this room, this conver

new,"

es

w l

me steadily.

not let them curl into fists, though every

onight," I said quietly. "I was f

aid no

s answer