REJECTED BY ONE ALPHA, CLAIMED BY HIS DEADLIEST RIVAL

CARVED IN STONE

The message was carved deep into the wood of the eastern wall, letters gouged so hard splinters still hung from the edges.

Ariana stopped walking the second she saw it. Torchlight flickered across the words, making them almost seem to move.

The council can't protect you. Neither can he.

Below it, the prisoner's body lay slumped against the base of the wall, throat slit clean, eyes still open.

"Don't look," Lucien said, stepping in front of her.

"I've already seen it."

"You don't need to see the rest."

"I'm not made of glass, Lucien." Her voice shook despite the words. "I need to understand what I'm dealing with."

He didn't move aside, but his hand found hers, steady and grounding. "You understand plenty. You don't need every detail burned into your memory too."

Grier crouched beside the body, expression grim. "Same wound pattern as whoever attacked him earlier. Fast, clean, professional."

"So they killed their own man," Mira said, arriving at a run. "To keep him quiet."

"Or to send a message," Lucien said, eyes fixed on the carved words. "Both, probably."

Ariana forced herself to look past Lucien's shoulder at the wall again. "The council can't protect you. Neither can he." Her stomach twisted. "They know about the council session. About Kael's proposal. Everything."

"Someone's still talking," Grier said.

"Or someone's still watching," Lucien corrected. "Closely enough that they know things almost as fast as we do."

A cold wind swept through the courtyard, carrying the smell of smoke and blood, and Ariana wrapped her arms tighter around herself.

"What if it's not one traitor," she said quietly. "What if it's more than that."

Lucien's jaw tightened. "Meaning."

"Meaning maybe I'm not just dealing with a rogue elder and some hired assassins. Maybe this is bigger. Organized. Watching both packs at once."

"That's a frightening thought."

"It's the only one that makes sense of everything happening so fast."

Mira crossed her arms, studying the carved letters. "If that's true, we're not just protecting her from Silverfang politics anymore."

"No," Lucien agreed. "We're protecting her from something with resources and patience. Something that's been waiting a long time for the right moment."

Grier straightened from the body, wiping his hands on a cloth. "Alpha, we should move her somewhere more secure. Deeper into the stronghold. Somewhere with fewer access points."

"Agreed." Lucien turned to Ariana. "Tonight, you're staying in my personal quarters."

"Excuse me?"

"It's the most secure room in this entire stronghold. Warded, guarded, accessible only through one corridor I control personally."

"That's not exactly subtle."

"Subtlety isn't the priority right now. Keeping you alive is."

Ariana opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again, the exhaustion and fear of the last few hours finally catching up all at once. "Fine. But I'm not hiding there tomorrow. I meant what I said about training."

"You'll get your training." Something almost gentle crossed his face despite the grim circumstances. "Tonight, you rest."

They made their way back through the stronghold in silence, warriors falling in around them at a discreet distance, tension thick enough to feel in the air itself. When they finally reached Lucien's quarters, he pushed open the heavy door and gestured her inside.

The room was larger than she expected, sparse but warm, a fire already burning low in the hearth. A single bed sat against one wall, and Ariana felt her face heat slightly at the implication.

"I'll take the floor," Lucien said immediately, catching her expression. "Or the chair. Whatever you're comfortable with."

"You don't have to do that."

"I do, actually."

"Lucien, you've been up all night. You need real sleep."

"So do you." He moved toward the chair by the fire regardless, settling into it with the ease of someone who'd clearly done this before. "I'll manage."

Ariana sank onto the edge of the bed, suddenly aware of how heavy her limbs had become, how many hours had passed since she'd last felt anything close to safe.

"Lucien."

"Yes?"

"Earlier. Before the fire in the healer's quarters. You were about to say something."

He went still.

"I remember," he said quietly.

"You don't have to finish it tonight. I just wanted you to know I haven't forgotten."

Something soft moved behind his tired eyes. "Neither have I."

Silence stretched between them, comfortable despite everything else happening around it, until Ariana finally let her eyes close, exhaustion pulling her under faster than she expected.

She didn't know how long she'd been asleep when a sound jolted her awake, sharp and sudden.

Not an alarm. Not shouting.

A voice, low and familiar, coming from just outside the door.

Ariana sat up slowly, heart hammering, straining to make out the words.

"...can't keep her here forever, Lucien. Eventually she'll have to choose. And when she does, you'd better hope she chooses you, because if Kael wins her back, everything we've built collapses."

Ariana froze.

The voice belonged to Mira.