Dani smiled back, unable to properly sort through the maelstrom of feelings in her chest. Happiness, shyness, excitement, fear. They all bubbled inside her and threatened to spill out.
So she chose silence, and they stood there, in the humming quiet of Thistlehouse, breaths puffing faint fog in the cool air. Outside, somewhere out in the woods, wolves were busy squaring up to one another. Vampires were watching. Her sisters were wrapping themselves all up in wards.
She didn’t know yet which way it would all fall.
She did know this. She had power. Real power. And she wasn’t going to hide it or make it smaller or compromise any part of it. Not for Lavinia. Not for the pack. Not for Arthur.
“Come on,” Edith said, releasing her, “show me that trick again, but slower. And then we’ll talk about how to stop you accidentally roasting any more bookshops.”
“It was one bookshop,” Dani protested.
“Give it time,” Edith said, and for the first time that morning, Dani laughed.
Chapter 14 - Arthur
Arthur hit the door at a run.
Cold slammed into him, sharp and clean after the thick air of the Inn. Chase was lingering at the tree line, anxiety sparking from him.
“Where?” Arthur snapped.
“Clearing off by the north road,” Chase said, “Dominic’s territory line.”
Arthur’s wolf surged against his skin, ferocity building.
He’d been an idiot.God,he’d been an idiot. Pride had led him to try and get one up on Dominic, to invite his enemy into his home. It had been petty and short-sighted and the sort of thing his father would never have done. In the chaos of the past few days, his head had been too wrapped up in Dani and Aurelia to give it a second thought.
He should have warned Dominic. Called off Leonid.
It was too late now. He could only hope this would not cost him, cost his pack, their fiercest ally.
He broke through the trees into the clearing, his wolf unfurling beneath his skin, just below the surface Ready to burst free at a second’s notice.
Volkhov wolves on one side, Volnoye on the other, two banks of bodies with a gap of ten paces between. They were, thankfully, in human shape, though a few on both sides were ducked close to the ground, teeth bared, ready to attack. Dominic stood at the center of his line, shoulders bunched, hands flexing and unflexing at his sides.
Opposite him, Leonid looked like a cat that had got the cream.
Tall, lean, golden hair falling in artless waves to his jaw, cheekbones sharp enough to cut on, he wore no coat despite the cold. Just a black shirt open at the throat, sleeves rolled to his forearms. His mouth curled in a lazy, cruel smile, eyes bright with a spark of delight.
“Dominic,” Arthur called, striding straight into the no-man’s-land before anyone could think to stop him.
Both lines shifted, attention snapping to him. The pressure of so many alphas’ focus hit like a physical thing.
Dominic’s head whipped round. Julian hovered to his left, still as a statue. Theodore lounged against a tree like he’d just wandered in for the show, but his posture was too careful, eyes too sharp.
On the other side, Leonid’s wolves leant forward, hungry.
Leonid’s grin widened when he saw Arthur.
“Arthur Wells!” he exclaimed. “You made it. I was beginning to think you’d let our brothers tear each other apart without you. Rude, considering the invitation.”
The words hit Dominic like a slap.
His gaze cut from Leonid to Arthur, slow and lethal. “Invitation?” he said, very softly.
Arthur’s stomach dropped.
He kept his face steady. “Leonid,” he said. “You weren’t due till tomorrow.”
