Page 44 of Ascension of the Pack

‘Yes. She said they’d detected a threat to me and were moving me to a secure location. They promised they were doing the same to your mother. One of your wolves was with them. He was talking about taking me to themansion, but in the end they took me somewhere else.’ Dad met my eyes. ‘I rang you, Lucy, but you didn’t answer.’

Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through the call history; sure enough, there was a missed call from Dad the day before I’d found out he’d been cleared. I frowned. I didn’t remember seeing a missed call.

My jaw clenched as I reached an inescapable conclusion: someone I trusted had cleared it from the screen before I could see it. ‘Describe the man,’ I said tightly. ‘My wolf.’

It had to be someone with access to the security console; Liam, Archie or Tristan were the likeliest, and I really didn’t want Dad to describe any of them because I trusted them all. I felt sick at the thought of it.

My dad cast his mind back. ‘Average height,’ he started. ‘Pale skin, mousy hair, glasses.’

Glasses? I stared at him. Being changed into a werewolf healed minor imperfections like shitty eyesight. There was only one wolf that wore glasses and it was an affectation, a leftover from his Common life: David.

Suddenly it all made sense. David, whom I often found looking down at the ground or out the window. It had surprised me when we’d met that this meek, mild-mannered man who was eleventh in the pack, because he’d seemed far more subservient than I’d haveexpected an eleventh to be. Maybe it was all a front, a way of hiding but still being in the battle core.

He hadn’t been born a werewolf; he’d been changed after a near-fatal car accident. The werewolf who’d been driving hadn’t wanted to risk being strung up on manslaughter charges so he’d broken the rules and tried to turn David.

David, who could have easily planted the Domini’s invite on Ares’ lean-to that he had built.

David, who knew the rose bushes like the back of his hand, well enough to recognise if a stray rose had been plucked to be laid on the mantelpiece like he’d demanded. He hadn’t needed to stay up carousing in front of our camera monitor, he could have just loitered in the gardens. No one would have thought twice about his presence there.

David, who’d drugged the dark seraph to stop them seeing him set fire to the lawn with his lovely message,Burn, Bitch! David, who was as fastidious and fussy as me, and who would burn a fucking comma into a death threat.

David who was sweet on Daniella but had pulled back from her recently, though he’d been too late. Geneve had discovered his emotional entanglement and kidnapped Daniella as a power play. She’d been trying to teach Davidhis place in the Domini ranks, which was presumably below her.

David, who’d sat in on our heist plans and presumably told Geneve all about them. According to Greg’s intel she was supposed to be away, but no doubt she’d flown back to deal with us personally. As an elder dragon, she was all-but immortal and she hadn’t been scared of us. She’d let her brethren stumble around with Greg whilst she’d dealt with the threat herself. Her arrogance had killed her, and I – I had rescued Daniella and delivered her back to David.

David, whom I’d tied to Nina to keep her from being lonely. Nina had trusted David like I had, and she would surely give him access to the orb if he asked nicely.

Oh my God. My ears were ringing.

Chapter 28

My phone flared to life,Archie calling.Greg’s phone rang at the same time: Liam. We both swiped to answer.

‘Isaacs is here!’ Archie said without preamble. ‘He’s got into Nina!’

‘Fuck! Get the pups down to the basement – Devon ones, too. We’re on our way!’

‘How many?’ Greg barked.

‘Ben, drive back to the mansion,’ I ordered. ‘We’re under attack. Sorry, Dad, we’ve got to bounce.’

‘What do you mean, you’re under attack?’ Dad said, alarmed.

‘We’ll be fine,’ I lied easily. ‘I’ll call later.’ I ran out, leaving him with a host of new memories and a pounding head. I called Maxwell as I ran. ‘I need you!’ I begged hastily. ‘At the mansion. I’m being attacked by a rival werewolf and his pack.’

‘We’re on our way,’ he promised.

‘Get Grandy to phase you. If Isaacs is already inside the seat of power, he might have Terrance – and if he has, he’s got fire magic at his disposal.’

‘On it!’ he responded sharply.

We rang off and I ran out to where Sara and Jacob were talking quietly. ‘Get us back to the mansion! Now! We’re under attack.’

Behind me, Greg had also hung up. ‘I called Bastion,’ he said. ‘He’s on his way.’

I could only hope that all our allies got there before Isaacs could do too much damage. Would he hurt Nina? Surely he needed her to accept him if he was going to try and wear Terrance and name himself King?

‘Face me,’ Sara barked. I stepped up close and personal and she wrapped her arms around me. I clung to her as she bent her legs, beat her powerful wings and thrust us upwards. In a blink of the eye we were airborne, shooting through the air. We were high up and the atmosphere had thinned and cooled. How the dark seraph wore so little clothing was beyond me.

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