ius

ents of the evening churning in my mind. My head of household,

s head. "A delivery arrived

rapped boxes sat. Both bore the Kensington seal. O

ur "heroics" at the lake. A standa

ets his," I ordere

inspect the contents before dispatching it-a standard security procedure. Inside w

I tore the paper off with more force

n a bed of dark v

pine. The title was stamped in faded gold leaf: Arthur

caught in

military historians, a revolutionary text from a forgotten war, long out of print.

perhaps three ot

o

d with the force of a physical b

orn leather. The book was in remarkable condition, clearl

o a random pa

were fille

ine. Alys's. I recognized it from the few formal lett

st a gift. It

rhythm. I sank into the large leather armch

ere sharp, insightful, and at times, brutal

. In modern pack conflicts with rogue splinter cells, the 'front' is fluid. This maneuver risks over

nce with a floating reserve unit-that was so audaciou

new doctrine I had been developing in

ot a coincidence. This was not a lucky guess. This was a meeting of minds so profound

his premises, she praised his genius, all with a clarity and depth that I had never

allow, timid, an unremarkable noble da

f these brilliant, ruthless word

as an Alpha, not as a Duke, but as a mind. The feeling

s P

ngton training grounds. The yew bow felt like an extension of

ce. "You've been at this for hours. The doc

g my eyes off the distant

d to shatter Darius's perception of me, to plant a seed of doubt

a lesson my first life had taught me in the cruelest wa

n. That would be my first foundati

o the tiny red circle in the center

a sharp thwip, a whi

perfect bullseye, its shaft quivering just

heaving slightly. My muscles

ius

ting on the cover. The feel of the wor

Kensi

r my fiancée. It was a puzzle. A challenge. A

astonishment, that I

her family's estate. The cool, rational part of my brain, the part that governed

thing that was just me, didn't care. It

iant, dangerous version of Alys and look her in the