ra

ical copy of this page," I commanded, my voice leaving no space for refusal. "And y

ture Alpha..."

to his throat, but merely rested its flat, cold side against his trembling hand on the desk. "The future Alpha h

t. He placed it over the contract and muttered a duplication incantation. A soft blu

the copy fr

of the page, was a

d ink belon

tion, his script was a carele

r's consecrated rest for

shoved it deep into the poc

n the floor and moved toward th

s a heavy iron door, its surface a

r groaned under the

nd stagnant water bi

ere, only a dense, suffocating b

end; by the third level, the chill of stan

at the v

corridor until I reache

a mere storage locker, se

ottled metal

forlornly on the damp, filthy floor,

re no of

flame to guide his so

this lightless, fetid s

ound the iron bars; the rust on them

etal bit i

moment the Silver poiso

ered that he

l to keep from falling. The sharp, uneven rocks of the floor dug into my kne

lungs felt as if they had inhaled a draft of powdered g

, sorrowful whimper that ech

Wolf, ancient and patient, pressing against the cage of

g time, letting the damp

I st

e stairs, leaving t

arriage waiting out

e, waiting for the command

not

ut a small magic po

e of the day my father

white magnolias sway

ind my eyes, but I refus

re for t

g me, not just the sacred rites of the crypts, but the legal codes that protected them. He knew this day might come

r's edge by grief and fury,

mitted three

d magic contract that w

e core Pack Law by dis

an outsider's pet to defile our Ancestral Crypt

blasphemy agains

ime punisha

I told th

or, my lady

thing. "Take me to the estate of Silas,

urched forward

e window at the

a quiet, obedient Beta

were not my prison-they were my doma