Chapter 1
Noa
“No, no, no.”
The words crack out of me as I reach for her, my hands slick with blood and shaking uncontrollably. The metallic scent is overwhelming, filling my nose and coating the back of my throat, making my stomach roil. I’m bathed in it from where I fell in the passageway. It’s sticky on my skin, soaking through my leggings. The green color of Rennick’s hoodie—the one I had immediately pulled back on when I’d found it waiting for me on the porch—is barely distinguishable, and his scent is almost lost beneath copper and fear.
My fingers hover just above her pale face.
Heat still radiates from her.
That’s the cruelest part. She’s still warm enough that, for a split second, some irrational piece of me dares to hope. But then I see it.Reallysee it. The blood splattered across her skin. The gaping wound carved into her throat. I don’t know if it was a knife or claws, only that it cut too deep. Too precise. My knowledge, my instincts, my healer’s hands, none of it could’ve stopped this. Not with damage this vicious. Not even if I’d been standing right beside her when it happened.
There’s not enough light down here, none of the string lights overhead are glowing, but the dark smear trailing behind her tells me she was dragged. Dragged and left like she was nothing. As if she didn’t mean anything to anyone, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
My fingertips trail up the side of her face, brushing away the strands of hair sticking to her skin. The wild coils cling to her cheeks and forehead, tangled with the rapidly drying blood. I know these curls. I know this jawline. I know that stoic brow, even now, slack with death.
I don’t want to say her name, because doing so feels like surrender. Makes it final.
How could this have happened?
How could someone get into Ashvale—intoour sanctuary—without anyone knowing? If there’d been even the faintest hint of danger inside our borders, the coven would’ve known. The magic Amara wove into this place is rooted deep, sensitive enough to catch a whisper of foulness crossing the border. If they’d been aware of a threat, they would’ve sounded the alarm. I would’ve gotten a text, a knock at my door,something. We have protocols for this. Systems in place to protect our town’s people and the Nightingales in our care here. Who could have done this toherand how did they get past every safeguard meant to keep this exact kind of nightmare from becoming real?
All I did was leave for coffee. Just a walk down the street. And somehow, in that sliver of time, everything has gone to hell.
I trace her cheekbone.
It shouldn’t have been her. Out of all of us, itshouldn’thave been her.
She’s the strong one. The protector. The one who stands between danger and the people under her care without hesitation. She’s the reason so many feel safe here, even when nothing about this worldissafe. Not really, not when you’re truly aware of the monsters lurking in the shadows.
Even as I try to hold it back, her name breaks free. Hoarse and cracked. “Lowri…”
Lowri Craddock. Alpha of the Craddock Pack. Amara’s partner. One of the fiercest women I’ve ever known.
Gone.
It doesn’t feel possible. Doesn’t feelreal.
My fingers twitch helplessly against her cheek as if touch and my silent plea alone can call her back to this earthly plane. But there’s no spark or flicker of life. Nothing but stone-cold silence and the sickening darkness that’s blanketing us.
“Please,” I whisper, forehead bowing toward hers. “Wake up, Lowri. Don’t do this to us. Toher.” Amara. How am I supposed to tell the High Priestess that the person she loves is dead? “Please.”
Tears drip from my chin and splatter against her skin, mingling with the crimson drying there. I can’t stop them, I don’t have the strength to. I let it hit me, the truth of what our community has lost.
But grief doesn’t get to settle long, because something colder takes its place. Something worse.
Fear.
The room is too quiet. I can’t think of a reason Lowri would have been here today, but Seren, Rhosyn, Edie, and Siggy? They were meant to be down here watching a movie. Ivey’s nap is also usually over by this time. Seren would have gone and collected her daughter from her crib upstairs by now.
But there’s no movement. It’s still and silent.
My eyes fly open. I sit back fast, knees scraping against the slick floor.Heart hammering, I force myself to push through the static clouding my senses—the dull, lingering aftermath of the bond Rennick tore from me. I reach for any sign of life, straining my ears. But the only thing I hear is my own pulse thudding against my skull. No giggles, no baby babbles, no whispered teasing or laughter. I’m met with an aching hollow void.
The popcorn bowl is still full on the coffee table. So are their drinks, condensation dripping down the sides of the cups. Something resembling a nest has been half built on the darkblue sectional couch, the soft blankets and pillows having been brought in from the nesting supply closet like we do every group movie night. It looks like they stepped away for more snacks or more blankets and would be back any second to resume the festivities.
But no one is here.
