Alarm bells went off in my head, and I picked up the envelope, looking at Emmett. He was also looking at the envelope, his brow furrowed. I read the question in his eyes, and I shook my head.

“I don’t know who it’s from,” I said. “Or how they got our address, whoever sent it.”

My stomach churned uneasily, and I glanced up at the ceiling, where I could still hear the light footsteps of Lilah darting around her nest and getting everything ready for tonight. Killian wouldn’t be home for another hour or so, but we had agreed that the bonding ceremony would commence as soon as he was.

I looked back down at the envelope, and one glance at Emmett—who still looked uncertain and even a little scared—made mydecision for me. Lilah could be upset about me opening her mail for her once I saw that there was nothing to be worried about.

The envelope flap gave easily, and I pulled out the piece of paper inside. I took a deep breath before unfolding it and reading the jagged, harsh script written on the paper.

I only made it two sentences before the blood drained out of my face, and the paper fluttered out of my hands as my vision suddenly tunneled. I was barely aware of Emmett calling my name over and over again, but I couldn’t hear him. I couldn’tbreathe.

At the bottom of the letter, whatever else it said, was a damning symbol.

One I had seen before.

One that haunted my nightmares.

“What is...” Emmett picked up the paper, and I saw the moment he realized what was written in the letter, too. His entire body stiffened, and the paper crumpled in his grip as his fingers tightened on it.

“What thefuckis this?” Emmett asked, his voice low and violent. I could hear his wolf growling, begging for him to let it out, and when I glanced up, his fangs were extending down over his lip. His eyes were glowing gold, and my wolf responded in kind.

I snarled and snatched the paper back from him, scanning over the rest of the letter with violence boiling in my veins. The symbol at the bottom mocked me, and when I closed my eyes,the memory of that symbol—bloody and carved into Jack’s skin, waxy with death—burned behind my closed eyelids.

“The Slicer,” I managed, my voice tight and aggressive. “How the fuck does he have our address?”

I spit out the name of the serial killer who had killed our fourth packmate with as much venom as I could muster, and Emmett shook his head when I looked at him, anger turning to discomfort as my question registered.

“I don’t know,” he said hoarsely.

I swallowed, fear tingling along the edge of my consciousness to join the righteous anger, and I forced myself to finish reading the letter. As I continued, anger started boiling in my veins again, and by the time I’d finished, my hands shook with it.

And along with the anger, I could feel devastation looming at her fuckingbetrayal.

I knew it. I fuckingknewit!

“We need to go upstairs and talk to Lilah. Right the fucknow.”

12

Lilah

I held up the pillow, looking around the room and furrowing my brow as I tried to decide where it needed to go. It was thelastdecoration I hadn’t placed, and I could feel the excitement and comfort of my completed nest filling me with an ecstatic buzz.

The month since I’d first met the pack had passed more quickly than I would have imagined possible. Mom had been so thrilled when I finally got the guts to tell her about the pack that she had practically packed my bags herself, which was impressive given that she barely had the energy to sit up in bed and sip at her bone broth most days.

I’d felt guilty as shit leaving her behind, but I also knew I couldn’t hold on to her forever. She didn’t want me to hang around constantly while she finished wasting away—her words, not mine. She wanted me to get to know the pack.

And god, they were...perfect. Oliver was still a little standoffish, but I’d immediately fallen into a routine with the other two. Killian was still the most intense and the sweetest of the three, but I’d learned that that was his personality rather than a reaction to me specifically.

He was also a little crazy, but it was a part of his charm.

Emmett was stoic, steady, and calm, and the best listener if I felt uncertain about anything. He never said much in response to my freakouts, but that was okay. Most men could take a lesson from Emmett; listening was, most of the time, all a woman really wanted.

If I’d been given the opportunity to get to know Oliver at the same level I’d gotten to know the other two, I would say that the past month had been almost blissfully perfect. And even without that final piece of my trio of alphas falling perfectly into place, I could still say that things were better than I’d ever dreamed they could be, even before I’d presented as an omega.

I hummed softly to myself as I decided on the spot for the pillow, placing it carefully and then stepping back to look at the bed critically.

Killian had offered me the room for my nest almost two weeks after I had moved into the mansion—which was the opposite of taking things slowly, but none of them would hear it when I pointed that out—and even though the speed we were moving was a little terrifying and exhilarating, I had started decorating the nest right away. Killian and Emmett took me shopping for the furniture and decorations for the room, and I’d taken my time setting everything up, making sure none of the alphas stepped foot in the space before it was ready.