Alina fell asleep on Avery Durke's couch with a strategy deck on her chest, and woke to the sound of a lock turning.
It was a small sound. A soft metallic *click* somewhere down the long dark hall. In any other apartment in the city, it would have been nothing. A neighbor. A pipe. The building settling its bones.
In the Summit, at this hour, it was the loudest thing in the world.
She lay very still. The printed pages slid off her chest and fanned across the rug with a whisper.
*Daxy?*
*I heard it.* Her wolf was wide awake, every sense flaring. *Don't move.*
---
It had been Dessa's idea. Of course it had.
After the Rinora party, after Arker Delle had whispered into her ear and walked away whistling, Alina had climbed into the back of the Rolls with her heart hammering and every inst
