Chapter 17 · Hand Her Over by Dawn

The envoy's blood is still wet on the courtyard stones when I shove past Cain and head for the east wing.

"Lila." His voice cracks across my back like a whip. Alpha command, the kind that drops wolves to their knees.

I don't stop. The bond between us twists hard in my chest but I grit through it and keep walking. He can choke on his orders. I'm not his soldier.

Footsteps behind me. Fast. I break into a run.

The east wing is where they keep the records. Every trial, every exile, every sentence signed and sealed. If Ivy framed me three years ago there's proof in those files. A witness log. A confession she buried. Something. And I've got until dawn to find it before Cain hands me over in a box or the northern packs come through the gates and turn this place into a killing floor.

I'm halfway down the corridor when he catches my wrist and yanks me back. I slam into his chest. He's hot, too hot, and the bond purrs under my ribs like it thinks this is good.

"Let go."

"You're not going in there."

"Watch me.