Luca watched all of them.
“Something was in the tea,” Isaac said hoarsely.
Nadia’s face drained of color. Her eyes flew to Caidrik, terror cutting through her eyes. “You drank a lot of it.” She stared at the one calm male. “You didn’t, Luca.”
Caidrik turned his head toward Luca with effort. “Why not?” Had Luca somehow poisoned the tea?
Luca met his gaze evenly. “I don’t like tea.”
Dax convulsed once more and then went still, his wolf body collapsing fully into the snow. Blood continued to seep from his ears and snout, vivid against the white.
Nadia bunched to move toward him, and Caidrik stopped her by the arm as panic nearly took him over.
“Are you feeling okay?” Caidrik asked, his vision swimming.
“Yes. I’m fine.” She paled in the cold. “I don’t understand.”
Good. So, the poison was only for the challengers. Not her. Silence fell, broken only by labored breathing and the faint whisper of snow drifting down. What a shitty challenge. Unfair and stupid.
Caidrik’s stomach clenched again, harder this time. He staggered a step and caught himself. His head swam. His body was losing the fight.
Luca tilted his head, staring down at Dax, who had stopped moving. “Well, one down.” Then he studied a heaving Isaac. “Okay.” He bared his teeth and lunged at Isaac, shifting into his wolf form as Isaac did the same.
The two started to fight with a clash of claws and teeth. Isaac didn’t have a chance.
“Be fair,” Caidrik snarled as another wave hit him, brutal and dizzying. He swayed on his feet. He’d never attack when another wolf was down, and Isaac needed help.
Dax lay motionless in the snow, blood spreading slowly beneath him.
Caidrik could barely see. “Shift, Nadia. Now.” It was a risk with the silver in her blood, but she’d be stronger in wolf form. His body automatically shifted into wolf form, and he leaped off the porch to smash into Luca and roll him away from Isaac.
Isaac yelped, lifted unsteadily to his feet, and stumbled into the forest.
Luca jumped onto Caidrik.
Caidrik only had one chance, so he took it, snapping his jaw into Luca’s neck. The wolf howled in pain and rolled away. Caidrik had to get out of there before Luca healed himself or Bulwark came back. He’d had two cups of the tea. He jerked his head to the house, and Nadia stepped back, still in human form. The female needed to learn obedience.
Gasping, snarling, and bleeding from the ears, he prodded toward her, forcing her retreat to the door.
“They need help,” she whispered.
Too bad. She needed to be safe. He continued to stalk her until she opened the door, sliding inside the warm mansion.
Only when he heard the lock engage did he turn, survey the two downed wolves on the ground, and run for safety.
Chapter 4
Nadia backed away from the door, her breath coming too fast, her pulse hammering in her ears. When she heard movement in the kitchen, she turned and ran through the house, her steps echoing sharply off the marble floors. The air felt as if the walls themselves were holding their breath. She skidded to a stop in the kitchen and found Solomon at the counter, methodically cleaning up after the tea, his movements precise and strained.
“What in the world did you do?” she yelled.
Solomon looked up, his face pale, eyes rimmed red as he slowly shook his head. His hands trembled as he placed a cup into the sink. “I honestly don’t know what happened.”
“How could you poison them?”
“I didn’t.” He threw both hands up, frustration cracking through his composure. His tie hung crooked, and his dark hair stood in disarray, as though he had dragged his fingers through it one too many times. “Honestly, I just made the tea.”
Her chest tightened, her breath burning as it scraped in and out of her lungs. “Then who poisoned them?”
