Rowan~
I stood up beside nessa, my body still humming with arousal,thank goodness for the loose pants I wore.
The fabric hung generously around my hips, the cotton was soft concealing what my treacherous body couldn't hide.
I was still half hard, my cock straining insistently against the material despite my best efforts at control.
The evidence of my desire was unmistakable, pressing thick and heavy against my thigh, and I was glad that Nessa hadn't seemed to notice.
Treating her wounds had been the sweetest torture I'd ever endured.
Every accidental brush of my fingers against her bare skin had sent jolts of electricity racing through my veins, pooling hot and insistent in my groin.
The soft, breathy gasps she'd made when I cleaned the gash with vinegar,those little sounds of pain that I wanted desperately to turn into sounds of pleasure.
"Rowan." My brother's voice cut through my spiraling thoughts like a whip crack. "There's an intruder, Eastern border Now."
The words should have galvanized me immediately.
As Enforcer, border security was literally my primary responsibility. External threats, perimeter defense, tactical response,these were the things I'd trained my entire life to handle.
My mother swept past me in a rustle of expensive fabric and barely concealed contempt, her spine rigid with disapproval. She didn't spare me a glance, didn't acknowledge my existence beyond a disdainful sniff that spoke volumes about her opinion of my choices.
Let her judge. I didn't give a fuck what she thought.
Kade was already striding down the corridor with long, purposeful steps, his Alpha aura crackling around him like static electricity. I fell into step beside him, my mind already shifting gears, compartmentalizing. Push down the arousal,Focus on the threat. Assess. Strategize. Neutralize.
This was what I'd been trained for. What I was good at.
"Details," I demanded from a guard, my voice dropping into the clipped, professional tone I used for tactical situations.
"Guard spotted movement near the eastern perimeter fence. Single individual, attempting to breach. Gammas responded and detained them." Kade's jaw was tight, his shoulders tense. "They're holding them in the cells now."
He chipped in.
"Armed?"
"Unknown. The gammas didn't specify."
I nodded curtly, my mind already running through possibilities. Rogue wolf looking for asylum? Spy from a rival pack? Vampire testing our defenses? The eastern border backed onto neutral territory, a no-man's-land between pack jurisdictions that attracted all manner of unsavory characters.
"Did they resist capture?" I asked as we descended the stairs toward the lower levels where the holding cells were located.
"Apparently put up quite a fight. Took three gammas to subdue them."
Interesting. Most rogues knew better than to fight multiple pack warriors. Either this person was exceptionally skilled, exceptionally stupid, or exceptionally desperate.
We reached the basement level, the air growing cooler and damper as we moved deeper underground.
The holding cells were Spartan concrete rooms reinforced with silver-infused bars ,strong enough to hold even the most determined wolf.
A gamma stood at attention near the entrance, his posture rigid with military precision. When he saw us approaching, he immediately bowed his head in respect, exposing the vulnerable line of his throat in submission to his Alpha and Enforcer.
"This way," he said, straightening and gesturing down the narrow corridor lined with cells. "The Gammas have detained the intruder. Cell three."
The scent hit me first as we approached,could the intruder be a female?
The guard unlocked the heavy metal door, the sound of the bolt sliding back echoing loudly in the confined space. Kade entered first, his Alpha presence filling the small room like a physical force.
I followed close behind, my hand instinctively moving to the silver blade sheathed at my hip.
The intruder sat slumped on the single metal bench bolted to the far wall, wrists bound with silver-laced restraints that had to be burning her skin.
Her head was down, dirty blonde hair falling in tangled curtains around her face, obscuring her features. Her clothes were torn and mud-stained, her breathing labored.
"Look at me," Kade commanded, his voice resonating with Alpha authority that demanded immediate obedience.
Slowly, painfully, the woman lifted her head.
My breath caught in my throat.
I knew that face.
"Wren?" The name escaped my lips before I could stop it, shock momentarily overriding my professional composure.
Wren. Nessa's friend from the servants' quarters. The mousy girl who I'd sometimes seen whispering with Nessa in corners, who'd snuck her extra food when she thought no one was watching.
What the hell was she doing trying to breach our border?
Her eyes met mine ,red and swollen from crying, but burning with something fierce and desperate beneath the tears. Not the broken, defeated look I'd expected. Something harder. More determined.
"Rowan," she rasped, her voice hoarse probably from screaming during her capture. "I need to talk to you. About Nessa" She glanced at Kade warily.
Kade's expression hardened ."You're in no position to make demands, intruder. You breached pack territory.
Attempted infiltration during a time of heightened security. Give me one reason I shouldn't execute you right now for treason."
"Because I have information," Wren said quickly, desperately, the words tumbling out in a rush. "About the plot against you. About what's really happening in this pack.
About—" She swallowed hard, her bound hands trembling. "About Nessa."
Every muscle in my body tensed at the sound of her name. "What about Nessa?" The question came out as a low growl, my wolf pushing forward, protective and suspicious.
Wren's eyes locked onto mine.
"She sent me," Wren whispered.
"What?" I heard myself ask, though my voice sounded distant.
"Nessa sent me to kill Alpha Kade," Wren continued, her voice gaining strength even as tears began streaming down her dirty face.
"She gave me the poison. Told me exactly how to breach the border, which guards would be where, when to strike. She said—" Her voice cracked. "She said it was the only way to make them pay.
To get revenge for what they did to her father. For what they did to her. I stilled, trying to process this piece of shocking information.
Wren shook her head frantically, her entire body beginning to shake. "I'm not lying, I swear on the Moon Goddess, Nessa has been planning this for months. Ever before the Mating Solstice.
She said the mate bond would be the perfect cover, that you'd all be too distracted to see it coming."
She reached into her torn shirt with her bound hands and pulled out a small glass vial filled with dark liquid. "This is wolfsbane extract mixed with nightshade and silver shavings.
One drop in his food or drink and he'd be dead within hours. She told me—" Wren's voice broke again. "She told me I was the only person she could trust. That I was her only real friend. That if I loved her, I'd help her get justice for her father."
The vial dangled from her fingers, the liquid inside catching the dim light looked deadly.
My mind refused to process what I was hearing, This couldn't be real, couldn't be true.
Nessa, the woman lying broken and bleeding in my chambers, the woman I'd just stitched back together with my own hands, the woman whose pain I'd felt through our mate bond, she couldn't be a murderer. Couldn't be capable of this kind of betrayal.
Could she?
"When?" Kade's voice was deadly calm, more frightening than any shout. "When were you supposed to deliver the poison?"
"Tonight. During the confusion after the Mating Solstice ceremony. She said everyone would be distracted, security would be lax, and I could slip in and out without being noticed." Wren laughed bitterly, "Obviously, that didn't work out as planned."
"Why are you telling us this?" I demanded, my hands clenched into fists so tight my nails bit into my palms, drawing blood. "If Nessa is really your friend, why betray her?"
Wren's expression crumpled, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. "Because I can't do it. I can't kill someone, not even for her. And because" She looked directly at me, her eyes pleading. "Because I think she's wrong. About everything. About you, about what happened to her father, about what revenge will actually accomplish. She's been consumed by hatred for so long, Rowan. It's eating her alive from the inside out. I thought if I came here, if I told you the truth, maybe you could help her. Save her from herself before she does something she can never take back."
The cell felt suddenly too small and I couldn't think past the roaring in my ears, the way my wolf howled in confused anguish, torn between defending my mate and processing this impossible information.
"She's playing you," Wren whispered, and the pity in her voice was somehow worse than the accusation. "All of you. The innocent act, the vulnerability, it's all calculated , Nessa is smart, Rowan. Smarter than anyone gives her credit for. And she's been planning this revenge for three years.
"Kade, let's go somewhere else." I kept my voice level despite the turmoil churning in my gut. "I want to talk to you in private."
I glanced at Wren as I spoke. She sat slumped in her restraints, watching us with those tear-filled eyes. Could Nessa really do this? Could my mate, the woman I'd just stitched back together with my own hands, truly be capable of calculated murder?
She was rebellious, yes. Defiant. Fierce in a way that made my wolf howl with approval. But a cold-blooded killer? Someone who'd manipulate friendship and mate bonds for revenge?
My instincts screamed that something didn't add up.
Kade's silver eyes narrowed, but he jerked his head toward the door. "Fine."
We left the holding cells, ascending the stone stairs in tense silence. The air between us crackled with unspoken accusations and barely restrained dominance. Two alphas on the edge of conflict, held back only by years of brotherhood and pack loyalty.
I led us outside, away from the guards and their curious stares, away from the servants who would report every word back to the pack gossips. We walked in silence through the grounds until we reached the orchard.
The air was cool against my heated skin. The citrusy smell of lime filled my lungs, sharp and clean, cutting through the stale scent of blood from the cells.
"Speak." Kade's growl was impatient, aggressive. He turned to face me fully, his shoulders squared, his stance challenging. "And make it quick. I have a traitor to execute."
There it was. The eagerness barely concealed beneath his words. A part of me knew he wanted this. Wanted Nessa to be guilty so he could justify hanging her, could finally purge the ghost of her father from our pack once and for all. His pride couldn't process the fact that Maddox and I had accepted her as our mate, that we'd defied his rejection, that we'd chosen her over his authority.
"I'm not convinced beyond reasonable doubt," I said carefully, measuring each word. "Something tells me we might not know the whole truth about what Nessa's been accused of."
Kade's glare was hard and unforgiving. Then came the mocking sneer, the cruel twist of his lips that I'd seen him use on enemies and rogues but never thought I'd see directed at me.
"You're letting that bitch lead you around by your dick?" His voice dripped with contempt. "Are you fucking her already? Is that why you can't see what's right in front of your face?"
The accusation hit me like a physical blow. My wolf snarled in outrage, demanding I defend our mate's honor, demanding I make him take back those words.
"Answer me." Kade stepped closer, invading my space, using his alpha presence like a weapon. "Or did she suck you off so good you lost the last of your few remaining brain cells?"
The crude words, the disrespect to nessa, the implication that I was thinking with my cock instead of my brain it all coalesced into white-hot rage.
"No!" I nearly shouted, my voice rougher than intended, echoing off the trees around us. "I didn't touch her like that."
"Tell me the fucking truth, Rowan." Kade's eyes flashed gold, his wolf rising to the surface. "Because the brother I know wouldn't throw away pack loyalty for a piece of ass. Wouldn't risk everything we've built for some traumatized slave girl with daddy issues. So either you're fucking her and she's clouded your judgment, or you've gone soft. Which is it?"
"I'm saying I didn't fuck her!" My voice was so loud I knew the guards posted at the other end of the orchard could hear every word.
Knew this argument would be all over the pack house by morning. But I didn't care. "I treated her wounds. That's all. She was bleeding out in that dungeon, beaten half to death, and I did what any decent person would do. I helped her."
"Decent?" Kade laughed, bitter and harsh. "You brought her to your chambers. Put her in your bed. Spent hours alone with her, touching her, seeing her naked—"
"I was stitching a wound!" I roared. "What the fuck did you want me to do? Let her die?"
"Yes!" The word exploded from Kade's mouth with vicious honesty. "Yes, I wanted you to let her die! She's a traitor's daughter.
She plotted to murder me. And you're standing here defending her like she's some innocent victim instead of the manipulative bitch who's been playing us all from the start!"
My control snapped.
I grabbed him by the shoulders, my fingers digging into the muscle there hard enough to bruise. "You want her dead because it's easier than admitting you might be wrong.
Easier than facing the possibility that you executed an innocent man and tortured his daughter for three years for crimes they didn't commit!"
Kade grabbed my shoulders in retaliation, his grip just as bruising, just as aggressive. We stood there, locked together, our faces inches apart, both of us trembling with barely restrained violence.
"I'm not wrong," he snarled, his breath hot against my face. "Your mate is a liar and a murderer. And when I prove it, when I execute her for treason, you're going to have to live with the fact that you chose her over your own blood."
"And you're going to have to live with murdering an innocent woman because your pride wouldn't let you see the truth!" I shot back.
"Innocent?" Kade's laugh was vicious. "She confessed, Rowan! She admitted she wanted me dead!"
"Because you were going to have her whipped to death!" My wolf pushed forward, my eyes flashing amber, my canines elongating. "What the fuck did you expect? That she'd just lie down and accept execution for crimes she didn't commit? She was defending herself!"
"By plotting assassination!" Kade's own wolf rose to meet mine, his eyes going black, his body beginning to tremble with the effort of holding back the shift.
We were seconds from transforming, from taking this argument from verbal to physical, from brothers to enemies.