ey Oliv

houlder, her heavy nails digging t

bing, paralyzed girl who wo

ifted forward, my body c

hick wrist with my left hand, and drove the heel of my rig

ac

breaking echoed louder than the tor

w panes. Her massive bulk buckled under the shock of the compound fracture,

, but her brawler instincts kicked in. She raised a

olfles

t her finis

driving a front kick with the steel-toed tip of my worn leath

sound tore t

, her manicured fingers clawing at her throat.

possible angle. She crashed onto on

yanked her head down, and brought my kne

ded in a spray

and she dropped face-first onto the ston

fell de

er the hilts of their iron broadswords, their eyes wide with sh

, rolling my shoulders t

dominance of an Alpha wolf-it was the pure, concentrated killing intent

t skirt catching on the door sill. Her roun

" she stammered, raising her trembli

her, step by d

tirely soundless aga

made the hair on the guards' arms stand on end. "Did you bring the entire hous

ainst the doorframe. "The Crown Prince is already entering the gates! When

ed my head, letting a ghos

shod boots echoed from the paved courtyard outside, ac

ince Jovanni Burnett!" a herald's vo

Gertrude's sweating face. She looked at me

d under her breath, hastily rearranging her

waste a

shed from my posture

y knees hit the floor with a painful smack. I buried my face in my trembling hands, f

ist on the floor, stared at my sudden transformation with

pped across the threshold, flanked

n impeccably tailored crimson doublet, and amber

ni Bu

he man who had treated my predecessor like dir

from the second branch, dressed in an extravagant sil

ating pressure of a royal Alpha command. "You sent word that my honor was be