Matteo
The Great Hall had been a powder keg, and Aveline had walked into it with a torch.
As I led her back to the suite, the silence of the corridors felt different. My men didn’t just look at her with suspicion anymore; there was a flicker of something new—fear. Or perhaps, recognition. She had dismantled Serafina Moretti with the clinical precision of a surgeon, and she had done it without baring a single tooth.
My wolf was practically preening. That is our mate, he growled in the back of my mind. Not a mouse. A lioness.
I slammed the door of the suite and turned to her. She was already unfastening the emerald necklace, her fingers trembling. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving her frayed and pale.
"That was a dangerous game you played tonight, Aveline," I said, my voice low. I
