RIDDLE

rble floors of the west wing. This part of the manor was cold a

thing to do with our earlier fight and everything to do with where we were going. We were unit

behind me, his voice flat. It wasn't

h Augusta Welch had no love for her great-grandson. She found him arr

d of the corridor. There were no guards here. No

e raised a hand and knocked firmly. "Great-Grandmother.

ep, profound silence that seemed

r, more commanding. "Augusta! M

It was like kno

nd pacing. "It's useless. She's ignoring me." His Alpha confide

ul Alpha warrior, utterly defeated by a

ed forward. I

. I closed my eyes and thought of Eleanor, of her kindness to

e soft but clear, not much more th

ency. I didn't make demands

Eleanor is unwell. She needs you. And... I am frightened for her." I let the genuin

ilence. Carson had stopped pacing,

that echoed in the silent hall, a hea

ked open just

led face, peered out. They were the same piercing blue

use." The words weren't an insult; they were a statement of fact. My family

aid, dipping into a

oking woman swallowed by a heavy velvet robe. But her presence was

ed on Carson. Her face pinched in

rson began, but A

d, her eyes returning to me. "I am spe

fury. He had been dismissed by the pack's

voice softening slightly. "And tell me why

o enter her dark, inc

the threshold, in

n the hallway, shut out completely. The look on his fa

wait outside," she declared, a n

ut, leaving Carson alon

ut I had been chosen over him. In the heart of the