REJECTED BY ONE ALPHA, CLAIMED BY HIS DEADLIEST RIVAL

BREACH

The horn's echo hadn't even faded before Lucien was moving, boots striking stone in quick, sure strides toward the main gate. Ariana followed on his heels, ignoring Mira's hand reaching for her arm.

"Stay back," Lucien said, not slowing.

"Not a chance."

"Ariana—"

"You can argue with me while we walk, or you can save your breath and let me help."

He didn't argue further. That alone told her how serious the breach was.

The courtyard was already in chaos by the time they arrived, warriors pouring from the barracks half armored, torches lit against the darkness. Grier stood near the outer wall, sword drawn, shouting orders to a cluster of guards fanning out along the perimeter.

"Report," Lucien barked.

"Two intruders spotted near the eastern section, Alpha. One down, one still moving. Whoever it was came in fast and quiet, didn't trigger the wards until they were already inside the wall."

"That's not possible," Mira said. "The wards haven't failed in a decade."

"They didn't fail," Grier said grimly. "Someone knew how to slip past them."

Ariana's stomach twisted. "Someone who already knew the layout of Blackthorn's defenses."

"An inside source," Lucien said, voice flat and cold.

"We don't know that yet," Grier said.

"We will."

A shout rose from somewhere near the eastern wall, followed by the unmistakable clash of steel. Lucien's head snapped toward it, and without another word he broke into a run, Ariana right behind him despite every instinct in her screaming that this was exactly the kind of danger everyone had spent the night trying to protect her from.

They found the fight already ending by the time they arrived. A single intruder lay pinned beneath two Blackthorn warriors, thrashing weakly, blood soaking through torn furs at his shoulder. A second body lay motionless several feet away, clearly the one already down.

"Alive?" Lucien demanded.

"Barely, Alpha," one of the warriors said. "He's not talking."

Lucien crouched in front of the captured intruder, studying him with an intensity that made even Ariana take a half step back. The man's eyes were wild, panicked, darting between Lucien's face and the blade Grier held loosely at his side.

"Who sent you," Lucien said quietly.

The intruder said nothing.

"You crossed into my territory. You slipped past wards that should have been impossible to bypass without inside knowledge. And now you're bleeding out in my courtyard refusing to answer a simple question." Lucien's voice dropped lower, dangerous. "I'd start talking, if I were you."

"You don't understand," the man rasped. "If I talk, I'm dead either way."

"You're dying either way regardless," Grier said flatly, gesturing at the wound. "The only question is whether it's fast or slow."

The man's eyes squeezed shut, something like resignation settling over his face. "The Moonblood girl. We were sent to confirm she's here. That's all. Confirmation, not capture."

"Sent by who," Lucien pressed.

"I don't know his name. Nobody does. He pays well and asks few questions, and that's all any of us needed to know before tonight."

"Convenient," Mira said, arriving breathless beside them.

"It's the truth." The man's voice cracked. "We were told there'd be a source inside the walls. Someone who'd make the breach easier."

Ariana's blood went cold. "A source inside Blackthorn."

"That's what I was told." The man's breathing turned ragged, blood pooling faster beneath him. "I don't know who. I swear it."

Lucien's jaw tightened, something dark and controlled moving behind his eyes. "Get him to the healer. I want him alive long enough to answer more questions."

The warriors moved to comply, hauling the wounded intruder up despite his weak protests, while Grier crouched beside the second body, checking for any sign of life before shaking his head.

"This one's gone, Alpha."

"Search him. Anything that might identify who sent them."

While Grier worked, Ariana stood frozen, the weight of what she'd just heard pressing down harder than anything else that night.

"A source inside these walls," she said quietly. "Someone here is working against you."

"It would seem that way." Lucien's voice was carefully controlled, but she could see the tension coiled through his shoulders.

"Who would even have that kind of access? Enough to know about the wards, about tonight's council session, about everything happening before it happens?"

"That's what worries me." His eyes moved slowly across the courtyard, over every warrior standing guard, every face illuminated by torchlight. "Very few people have that kind of access. Which means whoever it is, they're someone I trust."

The implication settled heavy between them.

"Mira," Ariana said slowly. "Grier."

"I trust both of them with my life," Lucien said immediately. "As I trust very few others."

"Then who?"

Before he could answer, Grier straightened from the body, holding something small between two fingers, expression grim.

"Alpha," he said. "You need to see this."

He held it out, and Ariana leaned closer, heart hammering as torchlight caught the object clearly for the first time.

A ring. Silver, engraved with a crest she didn't recognize at first, until the shape resolved itself into something horribly familiar.

The Silverfang crest, but altered, warped at the edges into something darker.

"That's not standard Silverfang insignia," Lucien said slowly.

"No," Grier agreed. "It's not."

Ariana's breath caught. "Then whose is it?"

Grier's grim expression deepened as he turned the ring over, revealing a smaller mark etched into the inside band, one that made even Lucien go still beside her.

"It belongs to the Silverfang elder council's private guard," Grier said quietly. "Which means whoever attacked us tonight wasn't hired by strangers in the woods."

He looked up, meeting Ariana's eyes directly.

"They were sent by someone inside Silverfang's own council. Someone with enough authority to move against Blackthorn without Kael Draven's knowledge at all."