**Chapter 25 **
The Silverpaw territory smelled like pine and old blood.
I felt it the moment Damon's truck crossed the border—a shift in the air, a prickle along my spine, the web pulsing with a tension that made my teeth ache. The five of them were crammed in the truck bed, wolves in human skin, their heartbeats syncopated with mine through the bond.
Damon drove in silence. His jaw was set, his knuckles white on the wheel, his eyes fixed on the road that wound deeper into territory that wasn't ours.
"Tell me about him," I said.
"Alpha Vane." Damon's voice was flat. Controlled. "Ancient. Cruel. Smart enough to be dangerous, old enough to be patient." He glanced at me. "He wanted Mom. Before she bonded. She refused. He never forgot."
My stomach twisted. "And now?"
"Now he wants to s
