Chapter 3

After the servant left, I picked up the bowl.

It smelled faintly sweet.

I walked to the window and poured the entire thing onto the ground outside.

The liquid splashed against the stone, spreading into a dark stain.

Late that night, a soft thud came from the rooftop.

A shadow dropped down and knelt before me.

One of my hidden scouts. The ones I'd kept outside the territory.

"Luna. Something Urgent. Chloe's cousin intercepted General Marcus's supply convoy at the border. Thirty thousand pounds of provisions. Not a scrap left."

My grip tightened around the arm of my chair.

Marcus—my brother—was stationed at the northern border. Thirty hundred warriors depended on those supplies.

Cutting them off was the same as sentencing them to death.

The wood cracked beneath my fingers.

"Got it."

I sat in the darkness, staring at my hands.

He wasn't just coming for me. He was coming for the whole pack.

The next morning.

My door was kicked open from the outside.

Kaelen strode in, boots echoing against the floor with every step.

Chloe followed behind him. Kaelen walked straight to the table and slammed a piece of paper down.

"Luna. Read this."

A letter. My brother's handwriting. The contents accused him of conspiring with enemy packs. Treason.

The handwriting was close. But Marcus had an old injury in his right hand. His strokes always hitched at the end.

This letter was too smooth. Every line too perfect.

It was forged.

"Your brother, Marcus has been caught red-handed. Conspiring with rogues. Plotting against the pack." Kaelen crossed his arms, looking down at me.

"Hand over the Obsidian Fang. Maybe I'll let him die in one piece."

Chloe smiled maliciously.

"Luna, I'm only trying to help. Marcus's bad leg—he got that protecting our Alpha, didn't he? Such a shame if he dies a traitor."

Years ago, during a rogue attack on the border, Marcus had shielded Kaelen with his own body.

Took a blow meant for a boy who was nobody back then. He'd walked with a limp ever since, stationed at the frozen border for seven years.

And now they wanted to execute him for treason.

Kaelen shifted. His claws extended, gleaming in the low light. He held them inches from my chest.

"I only ask once more." His voice dropped low.

"Give me the Fang and the last Blood Decree. Or tonight, I'll feed Marcus's remains to the rogues."