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“I’m not.” His voice was calm. Steady. “If it was his command, I wouldn’t be here asking you politely. I’d bedelivering an order.”

That silenced me. The truth of it sank in cold and deep. If the Alpha had wanted Dain taken… he would be gone. No discussion. No questions. No choice.

That thought alone sent a shiver down my spine.

“Then why ask? Why even pretend to give me a voice?” I crossed my arms over my chest, voice low. “If I say no, will it matter? Will you listen?”

Garrick tilted his head, and for a moment, the grin that broke across his mouth made him look younger, less like a soldier, more like a man who remembered how to laugh.

“In case you’ve been away from wolves too long, Lexa, let me remind you—nothing has changed.” He leaned against the wall, arms folded. “Politics are still politics. Even in a blood-soaked pack like ours.”

I frowned.

“Sure, we all answer to the same Alpha. But it’s nice to havefriendsin high places. Especially when certain... ambitious bitches want to claw their way to the top. She’d throw me out the first chance she got if she ever managed to get crownedLuna. Which, gods forbid, might actually happen if the Alpha ever starts thinking with the wrong head.”

“And what, you think being friendly with me is going to save you from her claws?”

He chuckled. “No. But I’d rather have astrayat my Alphas side than a poisoned rose.”

I stared at him. And despite the fire still simmering in my chest… gods help me—I smiled.

CHAPTER 10

Andros

The scent of blood seeped through the cracks like a warning—thick, metallic, and wrong. Then the door slammed open.

Tanya stormed into my study like a storm in silk, a fury wrapped in gold and bruises. Her lip was torn, bleeding down her chin in a thin crimson line, and her cheek—gods—her cheek was already turning the color of violets crushed underfoot. But she walked tall, chin up, spine straight, the picture of beautiful rage.

My wolf stirred immediately. Not with concern. With indignation. This wasn’t about her pain. This was about mine.

I stood slowly, letting the silence stretch until it became suffocating. Letting the pressure build behind my eyes, behind my chest. Letting the violence settle into my voice before I spoke.

“What. Happened.”

Tanya’s eyes glistened, but no tears fell. She didn’t needthem. She knew better than to cry—she knew how to twist suffering into performance.

“Thatthing,” she hissed, voice sharp with venom, “thestrayyou dragged into this keep—she attacked me.”

She stepped closer, her movements deliberate, measured, and angry. Not fragile—furious. And beneath the fury, something worse: triumph.

“She lunged at me. No provocation. No reason. Like a beast. She bloodied my mouth and slammed my head against the wall. She meant to disfigure me.”

She raised her hand, fingers stained red, held it out like an offering. “This is what your mercy has brought into our home.”

I moved without thinking. The chair behind me screeched across the stone and crashed to the floor, forgotten. My hands were clenched at my sides, every tendon pulled tight beneath the skin.

She dared. Lexa dared. To strike one of mine. In my house. Under my protection.

It didn’t matter that Tanya made my skin crawl. It didn’t matter that my wolf rejected her scent, her softness, her submission. She was still part of my pack.

And Lexa wasn’t.

“Guards!”I snarled, voice like stone shattering under pressure. “Bring her to me. Now.”

Tanya smiled then. Just a little. The curve of someone who knew they’d played the game and won this round. She stepped closer, bruises shining in the firelight, leaned on the edge of my desk as if it were her throne.

“You promised to protect us,” she murmured. “All of us. Even me. She drew blood, Andros. That can’t go unanswered.”