Page 58

Prologue

M arjani jolted awake, hand on the dagger beneath her pillow.

Someone was hammering on the door at the surface. She waited for Adric to answer it, but her brother must not have come home yet.

The hammering came again.

Damn. It might be important. Adric was clan alpha.

Snatching up the dagger, she threw off the sheet and jogged through the underground den the two of them shared. The amber quartz in the wall sconces glowed on, lighting her way. She took the stairs to the surface two at a time, halting at the thick steel door at the top.

“Who is it?” When no one answered, she tried again, louder. “Hey! Anyone there?”

Shifters had excellent hearing. If a fada waited on the other side, they’d hear her, steel door or not.

She pressed her ear to the cool metal.

Silence.

Her neck tightened. She had a feeling that whoever had knocked on the door was bad news. Dagger ready, she disengaged the lock and eased the door open.

Other than weeds and a scraggly hawthorn tree, the only living thing in the backyard was an oversized rat rooting through a garbage can.

She couldn’t even pick up a scent. But a folded slip of paper that had been stuck in the doorjamb fluttered to the ground.

Snatching it up, she slammed the door shut and threw the bolt.

The note was addressed to Adric in their cousin Corban’s distinctive black scrawl. She frowned. Corban wasn’t in Baltimore—was he?

She waited until she was back downstairs before unfolding the paper. The message was short, cryptic.

See you in Reykjavik.—CS

Her heart thumped—hard, uneasy beats. She crumpled the paper in her hand.

Corban Savonett. Her oldest cousin…and the man who wanted her brother dead.

For a long time she just stood there, staring into the glowing amber quartz in the living room fireplace. Then she smoothed and refolded the paper, decision made.

Her internal clock told her it was five a.m. Adric would be home soon, and he’d be hungry. Might as well make breakfast.

The food was almost ready when she heard him run lightly down the steps. He poked his head into the kitchen. “You’re making breakfast?” He said it as if she’d grown an extra tail.

“Scrambled eggs and fried ham.” She flipped a thick slice of sizzling meat. “And good morning to you, too.”

“My favorite.” He wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Thanks, Jani.”

She leaned her cheek against his. She hadn’t been much of a sister lately. Adric wasn’t this happy because she’d cooked breakfast; it was because she’d done anything at all. This past year, she’d spent whole days as her cougar, curled up on the living room rug and staring into the fireplace.

She swallowed a pang of guilt. “Make the coffee, okay?”

“Sure.” While he fixed two large cups with lots of cream, she filled their plates and set them on the battered kitchen table. The den they shared was furnished in early thrift shop. She frowned at her chipped plate. When had that happened?

Adric dug into the food like he was starving…which he probably was. The man was always forgetting to eat. Like her, he was a cougar fada. Hard, edgy, with black hair bleached blond at the tips, and too handsome for his own good.

But lately, he’d lost weight. Their clan, the Baltimore Earth Fada, had had a rough summer, and as alpha, too much rested on his shoulders. His normally lean body looked downright thin.

Not that she should talk. The other day, she’d actually flinched at the sight of herself in the mirror. Was that skinny, big-eyed stranger with the shaved head her ?

No more. She needed her strength.

She forked up some eggs and gamely chewed.

In her back pocket, the message seemed strangely heavy, as if it were a rock instead of a slip of paper. She waited until Adric had finished his breakfast before handing it over.

“This came for you. About an hour ago.”

“What the fuck?” Adric scowled at the note. “The SOB’s in Iceland?”

A wolf fada, Corban had tried for years to overthrow Adric and take over as alpha.

But he’d crossed a line when he’d shared the secret of the earth fada’s quartz crystals with a night fae.

Their cousin was a marked man, sentenced to death by a tribunal of earth fada alphas.

But he’d disappeared over six weeks ago, and no one knew where he was.

“Looks like it.”

Her brother’s dark brows beetled. “Where did you get this?”

“Someone banged on the door at the surface. When I went up top, whoever had left it was gone—I couldn’t even pick up their scent.”

“He wouldn’t come himself. He knows it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s a dare,” she burst out. “You can’t go. He wants to get you out of Baltimore.”

Adric fingered the note. “You really think Corban’s stronger than me?”

She blew out a breath. “Of course not. But he’s not working alone. We know he’s formed alliances with both the night fae and the ice fae.”

“So he’s in Iceland,” Adric said. “That explains why the trackers haven’t been able to trace him. The ice fae don’t allow any fada clans that close to home.”

She nodded. The ice fae and their king, Sindre, were almost as reclusive and territorial as the fada. Marjani had seen one, maybe two, in her entire life.

She and Adric went back and forth a little more on why Corban had summoned Adric to Reykjavik. But in the end, they just didn’t have enough information.

“Whoever’s working with him,” Adric said, “I have to go. Corban’s my responsibility. I claimed right of execution before the other alphas.”

Marjani’s heart clenched. They’d lost their mom and dad during the Darktime, when bloody feuds had split the clan into vicious factions. She’d be damned if she’d lose her brother now, when things were finally getting better.

Yeah, Adric was stronger, but Corban would fight dirty. What did he have to lose? There was no way in Hades she’d let that prick anywhere near her brother.

“No,” she said. “I’ll go. The clan needs you here right now.”

Adric speared his fingers through his spiked-up hair.

“I’m right,” she said. “You know I am.”

“Jani…” He trailed off and shook his head.

“I’ll go,” she repeated. “I’m your second. It’s my job to have your back.”

He growled. “Absolutely not. You’re too—”

“Weak,” she finished. He couldn’t have hurt her more if he’d slammed a fist into her stomach. She set down her fork and concentrated on breathing.

“Fuck. I’m sorry, Jani. I don’t really think you’re weak. But—”

She lifted her chin. “Maybe you’re right. But I need to know, and that’s never going to happen if I stay here in Baltimore. Everyone treats me like I’m made of fucking eggshells.”

And as Adric knew, she had her own reasons for hating Corban.

He forked up a last piece of ham. “What about Luc?”

“What about him?” she asked in a cool voice.

“I thought maybe you two—”

“No. We’re friends, and that’s all we’ll ever be. I’ve told him that, straight out, but he thinks he can change my mind.” She gave a hard swallow and stared down at the eggs congealing on her plate. “I’ll probably never mate.”

“Jani. You don’t mean that.”

“No?” She shrugged and turned the subject. “You’re the alpha. You’re the one who should find a mate—and not Rosana do Rio.”

His bronze eyes went flat. “Shut it.”

But hurt made her keep going. “You think I don’t know you slip off to Grace Harbor hoping you’ll run into her? She’s the Rock Run alpha’s baby sister, asshat. A river fada. You want to start a fucking war?”

“Shut it, I said.”

They glared at each other.

Marjani’s chin jutted. “Only if you shut up about me and Luc.”

“Deal. But you’re not going to Iceland, got it?” He picked up his coffee cup, realized it was empty, and set it back down.

“Yeah.” It wasn’t a lie, because she did get that Adric didn’t want her to go.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t.

She got up and poured them both more coffee.