The Alpha Who Hunted Me First

bane worked best cold. She'd have maybe four seconds after it hit the goblet bef

the fire pits and the trestle tables loaded with roast boar and the pack elders arguing a

ler's apprentice. That was t

tables over. Older, kind eyes, an apron staine

three months straight until it came out of her mouth without a single h

rst one, though." The woman nodded toward the head table. "Full moon

otic

them could probably scent a lie at twenty paces if they were paying attention. They weren't. That was the gift of a room th

kept

because that was where the Alpha of the Ashbourne pack was laughing at something his Beta had said, h

told Wren, over and over, in the cellar where they trained. Say Alpha and nothing else. Don't

with that logic

ed, and reached the end of the table where three empty cups sat waiting for a servant's attention. Her own cup, the

packs. One for the Alpha, and this was the one that mattered,

po

nderwater, with Iris screaming numbers at her to break her focus. Her hand did not shake now,

wolf that m

ient and perfectly leashed for fifteen years, suddenly reared up inside her chest like something ha

eady looki

water pulled out before a wave, and every hair on her arms lifted at once. Her wolf pressed so hard against the inside of her ribs it hurt, and it wa

spered, and Wren's whole p

t looking at it, gaze locked on her, nostrils flaring once, twice, like

still wrapped arou

ne do what it was bred to do. Fifteen years of Iris's voice in her skull, fifteen years of a burned pack and a dead mother and a promise made

angled wrong, a servant's careless mistake, and she p

ed around her

rl before she dropped her tray, and that was exactly how it would look to everyone watching

g on purpose," he sai

ing to her chest tha

to spill anyt

pulse point, and Wren's traitor heart slammed against her ribs hard enough that she was certain

know what

ds with a serving girl. But his grip on her wrist hadn't loosened, and his eyes hadn't left her face, and underneath the table she could feel the tension coiling through his whole body

t certainly didn't cover the raw bite of wolfsbane soaked into the hem of her sleeve, c

chens," she said. "Marta will

second to understand what he'd just told her. "I grew up in this pack. I know every family

dropped thro

lo

ter, almost to himself, like the word had surpri

do anything except stand frozen in front of an Alpha who had just caught her in a lie w

fully, but with a purpose th

otion that looked, to the rest of the hall, like a lord escorting a nervous servant girl somewhere qui

done anyt

can smell it on your sleeve from here. So we're going to walk out of this hall together, and you're going to tell me

ole body

if I

d terrifyingly steady, hel

in caught in an Alpha's own hall. But I don't think that's what's go

the girl being led away had just tried to end their Alpha's life. Wren's tray clattered to the floor behind her, forgotten, and the last t

had, t

ing had