The bathroom door clicked open, and Lady Valerie stepped out, her northern hunting leathers securely fastened, her silver dagger gleaming at her hip. The smug, triumphant sneer on her face remained entirely intact as she looked at the shattered porcelain on the floor.
"Still here, little bird?" Valerie purred, adjusting the collar of her jacket. "I suggest you start packing. The elders are already waiting downstairs to"
She didn't get to finish her sentence.
With a burst of speed that shouldn't have been possible for a human guise, I lunged forward. My hand clamped around Valerie’s throat, my fingers digging into her skin with a lethal, vice-like grip. Her ice-blue eyes widened in sudden, absolute terror as the sheer, unmasked strength of a royal Alpha bloodline pinned her in place.
"A
