Chapter 12 · The Royal Bargain

Marcus's blade was three inches from my throat when Kade moved.

He didn't shift. Didn't need to. One second he was kneeling beside me, wolf-gold eyes locked on mine. The next he had Marcus by the wrist, the enforcer's arm bent back at an angle that made my own bones ache in sympathy.

"Drop it."

Kade's voice was barely human. All gravel and wolf and something darker I couldn't name.

Marcus didn't drop the blade. His face was red, veins standing out on his neck. "She's a bloodsucker, Alpha. She's been lying to us for—"

"I said drop it."

The blade clattered to the stone.

Kade shoved Marcus back hard enough that the enforcer stumbled into two other wolves. The crowd rippled, some pressing closer, others backing away. I could smell their fear. Their rage. The way those two scents tangled together into something combustible.

Silas stepped between Kade and the enforcers, hands up, voice calm in that way that meant he was one wrong word from losing it. "Everyone needs to back up. Now."

"Back up?" That was Jenna, one of the younger pack members, her voice shrill. "She's a vampire!