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The lower alpha schooled his face, seeming to tuck some of his ideas away. “Does she not have any shred of loyalty to her homeland? To her family?”
“Alpha Kai is her fated mate. That holds precedence over all, by law and Code.”
Locke’s jaw set, his eyes narrowing as he chuckled bitterly with a shake of his head. “It’s unbelievable, actually.”
Cassius rose a brow and turned his head with predatory slowness. “What exactly?”
“They were at the feast, they were inthe Hunttogether, and some saw them speaking in the fields before it. Alpha Kai saved her Goddess-damn life. If they were mates,they knew it, and then she returned here, did she not? The Alpha of Deimos’s fated mate right under your nose, likely spying for him, and then you permitted her warrior assignment to his kingdom. How could—”
It was difficult for Locke to continue with Cassius’s claws dug into his throat.
Crimson eyes flaring, the Imperial Alpha rose to his feet, his aura of power a near shockwave through the room and reverberating off the steel and rock. Locke cowered beneath him as blood dripped down his neck, soaking his white shirt.
Locke trembled but didn’t fight, knowing that Cassius held his life in his hands. One move and he’d cleave open his throat entirely. “I apologize,” he rasped. “I—I’m sorry, Alpha. I didn’t mean—”
“Do you take me for a fool?” Cassius snarled.
Locke went to shake his head and regretted it. A whimper slipped from his mouth. “No.”
Cassius’s claws seemed to bury a bit deeper. “Nothing I do, nothing I allow in my kingdom, onmycontinent, is without intention.” The low, lethal words pierced the air. “Do you doubt me, alpha?”
“N—no.”
“My father put your miserable bloodline in power, pulling them from nothing. Don’t think I can’t undo it just as easily.”
As Locke attempted to nod as a knock came at the chamber’s doors. Locke’s eyes darted to it, then back at Cassius, who didn’t release his grip. Adrien’s grip on the rafters tightened, realizing he was losing his leash on his tempered heartbeat, but there was enough chaos in the room to disguise it.
Slowly, Cassius removed his claws, the sound of wet flesh echoing up to where Adrien lay. He used Locke’s shirt to clean off his blood-smeared hands and didn’t dilute his power—or sit.
“Come in,” Cassius called out, and the door swung open.
Two Imperial Guards stepped into the room, their features like stone as they bowed to his father. “Imperial Alpha.”
Adrien caught the bodies behind them, two women clad in black robes, their faces shadowed by their hoods, familiar crystal pendants hanging from their necks, and he knew within their folded sleeves, there were several hidden weapons. He also knew the woman they led—regal, deadly, and beautiful beyond reason—before she was even introduced.
“I present Her Highest, Ellena Hale, Matron of All Witches.”
CHAPTER22
RAANA
It had been two nights, and Raana could not get the image of the dead man out of her head.
Eli. His name had been Eli, and she only knew it because he’d tried getting through to Nerissa’s soldier when he’d caught them trying to flee through the storm…before the soldier had clawed him to bits.
After finding her way back from the window, after finally finding the throne room and collecting some of the ash mixed with Kai and Isla’s blood, Raana had been so exhausted that she could only manage to get them both out of the hall through the shadows before they scaled the rest of the territory on foot.
Then, the storm had raged, and it had become their saving grace. Because for some reason, with it, Raana had felt a new surge of power, able to pull magic from somewhere deeper inside herself. But before they could flee, a man had been searching for Isla through the torrential downpour, and either her name or the man’s voice had stalled him.
That’s when Raana learned the soldier’s name was Callan and that, somehow, he knew Eli. Well enough that Eli had nearly fallen to his knees in disbelief upon seeing him. Well enough that he wrapped Callan in a hug.
Enough that Raana saw Callan’s mask falter until Nerissa’s spell, a spell she’d reinforced herself, lashed pain through him, and he shoved his claws into his friend’s gut.
Amidst the howling winds, Eli had been too stunned to defend himself. The blows Callan threw were with the ferocity and skill of an apex predator striving for death, rendering him too weak to truly fight back. A single shot of adrenaline had given him enough strength to send him and Callan tumbling down the riverbank.
But it wasn’t enough.
Unable to school her sobs, Raana had tried desperately to save him, heal him, as his blurring eyes blinked at Callan standing behind her. A man turned beast who she thought might deliver one final death blow, a clean slice along his neck, but remained frozen, breathing hard and twitching as if still battling that pain—still battling Nerissa’s magic.
