Page 68 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

And even if I could convince them to not tell the rest of the packs, that would present a problem down the line. Because sooner or later, it would get out that the Alpha Pack had known about Erendriel, Queen Velika, the truth about the wraiths . . . and hadn’t told anyone.

Tensions between the Velesians were rising, and that could very well be the final blow that caused a war to erupt amongst the packs.

Rynn was promised to the Alpha Pack. She would be in the middle of it. I would sooner bring the wrath of the Alpha Pack down on me than put my friend in jeopardy.

“You’ll have to admire my pretty face another time, Bastian,” I said smoothly. “This is Moroi business.”

The easy-going grin slid off his beautiful face. “You sure that’s how you want to play this? You want me to return to Cade and tell him I saw you skulking around this old human settlement—where wraith activity has been spotted—and that you collected something from it?”

Tension bled between all of us, but I kept my expression even. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Bastian shook his head. “You’re making a mistake, Samara. Thought you were smarter than this.”

Doing my best with the shitty options presented to me, furball.

“Duly noted.” I flicked my gaze towards the forest behind us. “Time to leave.”

He looked at me for a long moment before shrugging and turning around to stride towards the trees. “I’ll give Rynn your regards,” he tossed over his shoulder.

Before I could curse him, Bastian shed his clothing, shifted into a sleek black panther form, and took off through the trees.

That hadn’t been a physical threat towards Rynn—he would never harm her, nor would any of the Alpha Pack. For all intents and purposes, they were good people. Well, as good as anyone could be in Lunaria. But that didn’t mean they weren’t cunning and devious at times.

Bastian’s dig had been a reminder that they had a claim on Rynn.

I’d have to tell her about this encounter when we made it back and hope I hadn’t just made her life infinitely harder.

“Interesting way of handling delicate political situations.” Ary started walking towards me. “Not sure that’s how I—oww!!! Motherfucker!”

He clutched his nose and backed away as blood flowed down the lower half of his face.

“I’ll do more than break your nose if you ever ambush me like that again,” I growled.

Vail chose that moment to stalk through the few buildings that still stood, Nyx right behind him. The two of them joined our group, and Vail’s grey eyes took in Ary before glancing at Emil, who I’d shoved aside to punch the Tepes Heir.

“Ary here thought it would be a good idea to invite Bastian to visit this settlement.” A wry smile played across the older Moroi’s lips. “Samara was giving him feedback on that.”

“Interesting,” Nyx said. “I don’t recall Drudonia teaching us that providing feedback involved our fists, but I did skip out on my lessons early.”

“What did you tell the Alpha Pack?” Vail asked the Tepes Heir harshly.

Ary used the back of his hand to wipe more blood away before directing a hard stare at Vail and then me. “Wasn’t much I could tell them, was there? You lot haven’t told me anything. All I know is that there is something weird going on with the wraiths and you all know more about it than you’re sharing. We all need allies. With the way things are going with the other Houses, I personally think the Alpha Pack is looking like a better choice every day.”

We all glared at each other for a long moment before I sighed and stomped over to Ary, who eyed me warily. “You’re not wrong.” I gripped his nose before jerking it into place. “Come with us back to the outpost, and we’ll tell you what we can there. We’ve already stayed here too long. The wraiths will be back.”

The five of us headed in the direction of our mounts.

“Where’s your horse?” Vail asked.

“Had to give it to one of my rangers,” Ary replied. “I wasn’t lying about them dealing with a monster nest. A pack of howlers grew too large, attacked us yesterday, killed two of our horses, and seriously injured a couple of us.”

“You can have Samara’s mount. She’ll ride with me.”

My head whipped towards Vail. “Oh, I will, will I?”

“Yes.” He bared his teeth.

“Gods, you didn’t bring Zosa did you?” Ary interrupted.

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