Dominic’s eyes narrowed, voice dropping into a growl. “Your alpha is playing a dangerous game.”
Chase’s lip curled. “So are you, if you think we’ll let witches walk freely through our home.”
“You do not speak for your alpha.”
“I do until he arrives.”
“Then he’d better arrive quickly,” Dominic snapped. “Because I will not be kept waiting by pups with more pride than sense—”
A ripple moved through the Nordan line.
Every head turned sharply toward the forest.
Wolves stilled.
Witches faltered.
Even Dominic’s posture changed, straightening as though preparing for impact.
A voice rolled across the clearing like winter thunder.
“Enough.”
Dani’s blood froze.
She knew that voice.
Knew it in her bones.
Arthur stepped out from between the trees as though the forest parted for him.
Broad-shouldered. Towering. A fur-lined coat draped over a body built of war and wilderness. His hair was tied back, his beard full. His eyes,Gaia, those blue eyes, were as cold andsharp as glacier ice. Three scars, silvery-white, shone in stark contrast to his tanned skin from his temple down to his jaw.
Power radiated off him. Authority. Fury.
Her breath caught. Her lungs stopped working entirely.
The Ice Bear.
Arthur strode forward, surrounded by elite Nordan warriors. Every wolf bowed their head instinctively as he passed.
Dani couldn’t move.
Couldn’t think.
Her knees trembled. Her pulse roared in her ears.
He was older. Harder. Every inch the alpha she always knew he would become.
And when his gaze swept the coven…
When it landed on her…
He stopped walking.
The entire clearing seemed to freeze in time.
Arthur stared at her like the world had just tilted beneath his feet.
