Chapter 37 · The One Buried Without a Body

"Stay down." My boot drove into the back of Justin's knee before he could rise.

He hit the stone hard. Blood slipped from the corner of his mouth and dotted the white floor.

Nobody moved. Nobody dared.

Kane stood three steps behind me, one hand wrapped around the hilt of his black blade. His other hand rested against my lower back, warm and steady.

It should've calmed me.

It didn't.

Justin spat red onto the floor. "You think a crown makes you queen?"

"No." I stepped closer. "The pack does."

A growl rolled through the hall.

Justin glanced at the wolves gathered around us. "They bowed because they were afraid of him."

He jerked his chin toward Kane.

"They bowed because you lost," I said.

"I lost to a monster."

Kane's fingers pressed once against my back.

A warning. Or a promise. With him, those two things had started to feel dangerously similar.

I leaned over Justin. "You lost to me."

His laugh came out rough. "You? The girl we threw past the northern gate? The girl nobody wanted to claim?"

"Keep talking."

"You were nothing, Sia. No wolf. No rank. No family willing to stand beside you.