My mouth had gone dry. "I understand, Alpha."
"Good."
I nodded slowly, letting the information settle, but it was not the information that had lodged itself deepest. It was the person he had mentioned. That warrior girl you are fond of. He hadn't said Xena's name, and he didn't need to. He knew enough to dangle her without it, which meant he knew more about me than I had ever given him reason to.
My hands had started shaking somewhere during his threat, and they had not stopped. I pressed them flat against my thighs, willing them still, but the tremor only sank deeper, settling into my wrists like it had made a new home there.
The thought made my stomach turn in a way the threat to my own life hadn't.
"Thank you, Alpha," I managed.
Inside, my mind raced. Every Alpha carried this, and
