“Maybe not,” I say. “But it’s something for you to consider before I tear your pack apart to get what I want. Do what you will with what we’ve shared and keep your secrets. We don’t need to be friends or even allies. I just need to know if we’re enemies before I go reclaim my mate.”
His fingers twitch against the edge of the desk, his eyes distant for a moment, like he’s weighing the ghosts of loyalty against the truth in front of him. Finally, he nods once, slow and deliberate. “You’ll have freedom to move through our lands. I’ll send word to the patrol along our borders.”
Liz switches from murderous bloodsucker to seductress in the blink of an eye as she gestures toward themap. “Even better, how about you tell which locations within your pack have either been deemed off-limits by the previous alpha or that you’ve had trouble with. We’re not here to grasp at straws. Malrik Vane, the being responsible for this mess, is hiding out on your lands, and we’re going to find him.”
This makes Thane’s teeth crack. “If that’s true, if there is dark magic in our pack, then we’ll help you.”
I shake my head once and snarl. “Not a chance in hell, Beta. My mate’s life is at stake, and we have no clue how many more members of your pack have been compromised.”
We stare off again, and I’m tempted to just walk out, but like the voice of reason he’s always been, Elias steps in again.
“Give us three days,” he says. “If we don’t find her by the fourth sunrise, then send your patrols. We won’t stand in your way.” I start to object, but Elias continues. “Onlyif you give us the intel I know you already have.”
This time, Thane gives no hesitation. He points to the map, a forest to the north. “Three days. Not a minute longer.”
“Agreed,” I reply, taking in the area he’s gesturing to. “Why there?”
“Milo deemed it off-limits a year ago.” Thane’s voice is tight. “He said there was a sickness in the trees and that a witch was going to ward them for now until it could be contained. He didn’t want us to lose any more of our forest areas since they’re already limited in the winter.”
We’re going to get our mate. My wolf’s overzealous optimism floats through me, but I shove it down.
Until I have Rowan in my hands, not just an idea of where I believe her to be, I can’t allow hope in.
“Have any of your wolves broken through the wards?” Liz asks, also analyzing the map. “Like the younger pups? Were there any effects we need to be worried about?”
He nods. “We did have a few boys get lost for a day up there. They crossed the boundary line and couldn’t tell north from south. Or so they said.”
I’m not worried about that. After knowing how the memories of the other wolves were tampered with, they could have been as well.
Nothing will stop me from getting into those woods.
“That’s all we need.” I give the drawing one more look. “I’ll make sure you receive word once we have Rowan.”
“And you’re sure she won’t be a problem for our kind?” Thane presses.
The rumble from my chest silences the room. “As long as you don’t make her one.”
Which is a truth I know deep in my core.
Rowan only hurt those people after the battle because she was forced to, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she’s never put in that position again.
Right after I get her back.
Chapter 8
ROWAN
This place isn’t natural. I knew that the moment I woke up in that room, but it’s still not something I’m used to, and I hope I’m not here long enough to ever do so. The days have passed both in a blur, yet agonizingly slow. They stretch and fold in on themselves like the hallways—each one looping back to where it started, no matter how far I walk. The light inside never changes, either. It’s always that same faint silver glow leaking from the stone walls, bright enough to see by, dim enough to forget whether it’s morning or night.
Cabin fever should have already set in. Maybe it has. Yet, I still keep getting up, for seven days now, and doing exactly what Malrik demands of me.
That has at least gotten easier, and as a result, The Keep has adjusted to my rhythm, and against my better judgment, I’ve learned to work with it. Mornings—if that’s what they are—begin with training. Then food appears in my room like clockwork, followed by more lessons, morepractice, and more quiet.Alwaysquiet. The kind of silence that feels alive, but also suffocatingly isolated.
The walls hum faintly when I walk past, and sometimes, if I linger long enough, they shift just enough to let me through a new passage. Like the castle’s testing me, deciding if I’ve earned access to another part of its secrets. Or maybe it’s Malrik testing me. I can’t tell the difference anymore.
Still, I can’t deny what’s changed. Iamstronger. My control comes easier now. When I draw from the energy in the air, I can stop before it becomes hunger. I canbreathethrough the intensity instead of drowning. The first few times I practiced, it left me shaking and sick with guilt. Now I’m left almost…numb.
I don’t know whether that’s progress or proof I’m losing something vital within myself, but I know it’s bringing me another step closer to getting out of this hell.
