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My son was here.
I let Denny take the lead. He paused at each door he passed, breathing in slow and deep, before moving on.
As we neared the end of the hall, my skin began to prickle. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood on end. A nauseating sensation stirred in my stomach. It reminded me of when I was a kid and ate all my Halloween candy in one sitting, except instead of just wanting to throw up, I wanted to throw a punch.
I knew this feeling. I’d almost forgotten it, but Samuel Morrow’s aura was unmistakable.
The farther down the hall we traveled, the more intense his aura grew. Denny was moving a little more stiffly now. Though he made no sound, I knew he was feeling it too.
The aura peaked as we passed what must have been the master suite. Its double doors were larger and grander than any of the others, and slightly ajar.
“—stinking ferals,” sneered a haughty male voice from within. “Honestly, cousin, when I said I would open my home for your allies, I thought you meant the kind that bathed.”
A pouring sound followed. Liquid being tipped into a glass.
“A necessary malodor, my friend.” That was Samuel’s voice. I held my breath as I listened. “Believe me, I have no more love for the ferals than you do. But where that Striga bitch failed us, Houghton has succeeded. He’s worked hard to turn this many, and we must give them quarter. When he’s back from his trip to the South, he’ll have even more to add to the ranks. And we cannot pretend they do not have their uses.”
“We can’t?” The first voice again. “So far, all I’ve seen them do is chew my throw pillows, piss on my rugs, and drink my wine. Those criminals he picked up in Texas do seem delightfully dangerous, I’ll admit. I wouldn’t want to make enemies of them. And they are easier to deal with now that we’ve put them out of the mansion and onto the grounds. But I fail to see the prudence in this feral army business. I have no use for untrained mutts.”
“I do,” Samuel replied. “Your wine will keep them under control for now, but in three months, they’ll all be unrecognizable. Fully turned, blood-bound to Houghton, and prepared to march on Evergreen. Their training won’t matter then. They’ll obey his every command.”
The nausea in my stomach rose into my throat, clinging to my esophagus.
Quincy hadn’t just begun forming his army of feral wolves—he and Samuel had plans in place to use them against my people. Against my pack. I wasn’t sure what blood-bound meant. I’d never heard that term before. But Samuel sounded so certain that it would allow Quincy to command this army of ferals he was building.
Three months. It wasn’t enough time.
“That’s fine and well, Samuel,” the first voice scoffed. “But honestly. All this for a woman? A human, no less?”
My blood began to simmer. Felicity. They were talking about my mate.
Samuel snorted. “She births alphas. In pairs, Gregory! Bred properly and managed well, she could solve everything. Through her, we could remake our world.”
In a flash, the simmer in my blood rose to a boil. I wanted nothing more than to push through those doors and leap at Samuel’s throat. He wouldn’t have such disgusting things to say about Felicity if he was drowning in his own blood.
Denny elbowed my ribs and shot me a stern look. He cocked his head toward the rest of the hallway, as if to say,we need keep moving, jackass.
I clenched my fists, letting the short crescents of my nails dig into the heels of my palms. I rode out that small pain, pressing harder and harder, until it replaced the anger boiling in my bones.
He was right. If I stopped to kill Samuel now, no matter how much I wanted to, then all was lost. Even if I succeeded, if he was at all able to alert his faithful before his last breath, we’d be outnumbered a hundred to one.
Samuel Morrow, I thought to myself, pinning his name to a curse in my mind’s eye.Someday, I will kill you, you greasy old fucker. Someday, I’ll make you pay for all of this. I’ll choke the light from your eyes myself.
At the very last door in the hall, Denny nodded.
This was the one. It had to be. There was nowhere else to look.
As quietly as I could, I twisted the handle and opened the door.
The room was dark, illuminated only by the embers in its hearth. The walls were plain. A changing table and crib marked it as a nursery, but the crib was empty.
My heart sank. Where was Ryder?
I couldn’t bear the thought that this would be yet another dead end.
Denny nudged me with his elbow and pointed to the left. In the corner nearest to the door, a woman sat slumped in a rocking chair. Her hands were folded on top of her belly as she slept.
I recognized the fringed shawl around her shoulders, the gray curls piled atop her head, and giant glasses perched at the tip of her nose.
