Evelyn’s blood reached the snow.
Red spread through the crust in thin lines against the white.
The iron scent cut through pine and cold stone. Wind hissed over the ridge, blowing loose crystals across the darkening stain.
Lucian’s wolf tore free.
The world narrowed to one scent: her blood.
Edric knelt twenty yards away, bound beneath Garrick’s guard.
Lucian charged.
No one reached him in time.
He needed to end the man who had put a bolt through Evelyn’s shoulder.
“Stop.”
Her voice crossed the slope.
Lucian kept running.
His wolf had no use for court law, witnesses, or trials.
Edric’s throat was exposed.
One bite would end the hunt. The arrows. The insult of Evelyn bleeding for a man who had failed to protect himself.
“Lucian.”
Sharper now—a command. Ten steps.
The guards r
