The Wolf King's Unwanted Mate

ordenmaar open

e sound rolled across the snow-blind courtyard and settled into Ziva

did not move a single muscle sh

h these gates before her. N

d her face arranged into something that gave nothing away. Her pack Alpha had told her the tribute

e tribute document without looking up from his other corr

ed at. Honestly. Black stone walls rising from the mountain like the rock itself had decided to become something that could

. Then she st

he boot tracks in the snow. One visible exit. The gate w

of it and wa

s of someone who had performed this reception before and found it unremarkab

the Ossian

es

ssaly. F

d followed and found she preferred it. False warmth

l swallowe

r neck feel alert without knowing why. She memorised everything simultaneously. Left turn after the second archway. Right turn at the stair

idn't look

re remembered things the newer sections didn't. Zivah noted the locked door at the corridor's

it and sai

urning. Someone had placed a water jug on the desk with the careful positioning of

tood in th

rteenth hour. Permitted areas

is the

before it arrived. She said, "I'll have someone show y

s fade. Then she listened to t

ft unacknowledged surfaced at the worst possible moments, so she felt it completely. The locked do

. Then she fo

urviving Vordenmaar and enduring it were two entirely different things. She added her first detail

er. Spotted the uneven edge the moment she walked

und something

er. Pulled it out and held

name on the outside. She o

ne stopped h

s, you came after me.

named Lenne. Precise. Intelligent. Building a careful record of everything she ha

een was f

ows I

ged sideways fro

paper than anything else, added af

stil

k and understood that whatever Lenne had discovered inside Vordenmaar, it hadn't ended with her. I

udin