Chapter 5: The First Mark

The journey to Blackwood Manor passed in tense silence.

Harper sat in the passenger seat of Axel’s black armored vehicle, wrapped inside the heavy cashmere coat he had placed around her shoulders. The coat smelled of cedarwood, cold rain, and the strange electric scent of a storm approaching through a forest.

Axel drove without guards inside the vehicle.

Two additional cars followed at a respectful distance, their headlights appearing and disappearing as the road twisted between ancient pine trees.

Harper watched the darkness beyond the window.

Every mile carried her farther from Silverbrook.

She had imagined leaving the pack many times. In those fantasies, she fled with nothing but a small bag and her mother’s silver hairpiece. She never imagined being escorted away by the Alpha Supreme after publicly rejecting Landon.

She certainly never imagined wearing Axel’s coat while the mark left by the severed bond burned beneath her ribs.

A fresh wave of pain moved through her.

Harper pressed one hand against her chest.

Axel noticed.

“How severe?”

“I can manage it.”

“That was not my question.”

She glanced at him.

His attention remained on the road, but the tension in his shoulders had increased.

“Seven,” she admitted.

“Out of ten?”

“Yes.”

“It will worsen as midnight approaches.”

Harper knew enough about wolf bonds to understand the danger. Rejecting a fated mate did not usually kill either wolf, but the first night could be brutal. Their bodies had spent years preparing to unite. Severing the connection during a full moon left the rejected energy with nowhere to go.

Her weakened wolf made the situation more dangerous.

“Are you afraid of me?” Axel asked.

The question came so suddenly that Harper turned toward him.

“Should I be?”

“Most wolves are.”

“You encourage it.”

“I find fear more honest than false loyalty.”

Axel guided the vehicle around a steep curve.

“The wolves in that ballroom believe I claimed you to humiliate Landon.”

“Did you?”

Axel looked at her briefly.

“If humiliating Landon were my goal, I would have taken his title and forced him to watch Chloe choose another wolf before the assembly.”

Harper could not tell whether he was joking.

Probably not.

“Then why did you make the announcement?”

“Because Landon, Thomas, and half the council were preparing to decide your future while you stood bleeding in front of them.”

His voice remained cold, but something fierce moved beneath it.

“You had just broken a fated bond. They should have called a healer. Instead, Thomas began calculating what alliance he could purchase with you.”

Harper looked down at the coat around her.

“And you offered marriage.”

“I offered protection under a position they could not challenge.”

“That sounds strategic.”

“It was.”

The honesty was almost reassuring.

“Was that the only reason?”

“No.”

The road opened before them.

Blackwood Manor appeared beyond iron gates set between two stone towers. The mansion rose from the forest like a structure carved out of night—Gothic arches, dark stone, narrow windows, and steep roofs silvered by moonlight.

Axel stopped the vehicle near the front steps but did not immediately get out.

He turned toward Harper.

“Onyx has been silent for ten years.”

Harper waited.

“He has rejected every potential bond placed before us. Alpha daughters, Beta heirs, wolves selected by councils and bloodline scholars. He tolerated none of them.”

“Why?”

“I stopped asking.”

Axel’s gaze dropped briefly to the torn edge of her ivory gown.

“Tonight, when you stood before Landon and claimed your own future, Onyx woke.”

Harper’s breath caught.

“Your wolf reacted to me?”

“He attempted to break through my control.”

A faint growl vibrated beneath Axel’s voice as if Onyx objected to the description.

Axel’s mouth tightened.

“He is doing so again.”

Harper’s pain pulsed, but another sensation moved beneath it—a dark, magnetic awareness that did not resemble her former bond with Landon.

The fated connection had felt like a thread tied around her heart.

This felt like standing near a sleeping volcano.

“I felt something when you touched me,” she admitted.

Axel reached across the space between them.

He did not take her hand immediately.

“May I?”

The request surprised her.

Harper nodded.

His fingers closed around hers.

Energy surged through her arm.

Harper gasped.

For a heartbeat, her vision filled with a black wolf standing beneath a silver moon. The creature was enormous, scarred, and crowned by shadows. Its eyes blazed with the same silver light as Axel’s.

Behind Harper’s own consciousness, Cora stirred.

Not the frightened movement of the small gray wolf Harper had known.

Something older opened one emerald eye.

Harper pulled in a sharp breath.

Axel released her at once.

“What did you see?”

“Onyx.”

Axel’s expression sharpened.

“And Cora woke.”

A silence stretched between them.

Axel left the vehicle and walked around to open her door. He offered his hand again, but this time Harper knew what accepting it might awaken.

She took it anyway.

The interior of Blackwood Manor was warmer than its exterior suggested. Fires burned in deep stone hearths, and golden lamps softened the dark wood lining the halls. The estate was quiet, though Harper sensed guards stationed beyond visible doors and along the upper corridors.

Axel led her upstairs.

The master suite occupied an entire wing. It contained a large bed draped in dark fabric, a sitting area, a private library, and tall windows overlooking the forest.

Harper stopped near the fireplace.

“This is your room.”

“Yes.”

“Where am I sleeping?”

“That depends on what you choose.”

Axel removed his jacket and placed it across a chair. Beneath it, his white shirt was stained with a thin line of blood near the shoulder—perhaps from restraining his wolf in the ballroom.

He did not begin undressing further.

Instead, he opened a cabinet and removed a small wooden case.

Inside were several glass vials, herbs, and sealed medical tools.

“There are three ways to stabilize a severed bond,” he said. “The first is sedation until the moon passes. It may work, but your wolf is already unusually weak, and the medicine could force her into a deeper sleep.”

Harper’s fingers curled.

“The second?”

“A temporary energy seal placed by a healer. It is safer, but the nearest healer capable of performing it is several hours away.”

“And the third is your mark.”

“Yes.”

Harper looked toward the bed.

Axel followed her gaze.

“A mark does not require us to complete a physical mating tonight.”

Heat rose into her face.

“I did not ask.”

“You were thinking it.”

Cora made an amused sound inside her mind.

Harper glared inwardly at her wolf.

Axel continued, “The mark would establish an energy pathway between our wolves. It may stabilize the bond damage before sunrise.”

“May?”

“There are no guarantees. Onyx has never marked anyone.”

“What would it mean?”

“To the territories, it would declare you my chosen mate and Luna Supreme.”

“And privately?”

Axel’s expression became more serious.

“You would feel my location, emotions, and physical condition. I would feel yours. The bond could be dissolved, but not without pain and a formal ritual.”

Harper thought of Landon.

She had spent years believing fate guaranteed safety. Tonight proved that no bond could create loyalty inside someone who lacked it.

“If I refuse?”

“I will call the healer and keep you alive until she arrives.”

“You will not return me to Silverbrook?”

“No.”

“You will not withdraw your protection?”

“No.”

“Even after what you announced?”

Axel stepped closer.

“I will endure the humiliation.”

Harper almost smiled.

“I am certain it would devastate you.”

“Completely.”

The pain struck again.

Her knees nearly buckled.

Axel caught her arms but did not pull her against him until she leaned forward by choice.

Harper pressed her forehead to his chest.

His heartbeat remained slow and powerful.

“Cora,” she whispered inwardly. “What do you want?”

For years, Cora had answered every question with fear or silence.

Now her voice came from somewhere deep beneath the seal.

“He sees us.”

Harper closed her eyes.

“Does that mean we can trust him?”

“No.”

The answer was unexpectedly wise.

“But we may choose him.”

Harper lifted her head.

“Mark me.”

Axel did not move.

“Say it because you choose the bond, not because the pain frightens you.”

“I am frightened.”

“Then wait.”

“I am also choosing.”

His silver eyes searched hers.

Harper held his gaze.

“I choose the mark. I choose protection under your name, and I choose the chance to understand why our wolves reacted. I am not promising obedience, love, or surrender.”

Onyx rumbled.

Axel’s mouth curved faintly.

“I would be disappointed if you did.”

He guided her toward the fireplace and moved the torn fabric away from her shoulder.

“Tell me to stop, and I stop.”

Harper nodded.

Axel lowered his head.

His lips brushed the skin above her pulse, sending a tremor down her spine.

“This will hurt,” he murmured.

“I have survived worse.”

His canines lengthened.

“And afterward,” he said, “nothing in your life will remain ordinary.”

Harper looked into the flames.

“Nothing in my life has ever been ordinary. People merely convinced me it was small.”

Axel’s arm wrapped around her waist.

Then his fangs pierced her shoulder.

Pain exploded through Harper.

She cried out, gripping his shirt as fire entered her blood. The energy was nothing like Landon’s gentle fated thread. Axel’s mark carried thunder, darkness, and ancient power. It rushed through every blocked channel in her body, burning through years of exhaustion.

Cora screamed.

The sound transformed into a roar.

Light shattered inside Harper’s mind.

The windows of Blackwood Manor shook.

Guards throughout the estate dropped to one knee as an unknown dominance swept through the halls.

Axel pulled back, shock flashing across his face.

The mark on Harper’s shoulder did not resemble an ordinary crescent bite. Silver lines spread from the wound, forming the image of a wolf encircling a dark moon.

Harper’s eyes opened.

Emerald light blazed within them.

Deep inside her soul, something ancient broke free.

Cora rose from the darkness.

And the entire forest howled in answer.

Chapter 6: The Awakening of the Silver Wolf

Axel’s mark burned like a living flame.

Harper remained conscious of the room—the fire, Axel’s arm around her, the cold air entering through vibrating windows—but another world opened inside her mind.

She stood barefoot in an endless white forest.

Snow covered the ground, yet she felt no cold. Moonlight poured between silver-barked trees, illuminating a path that had not existed before the mark.

At its end stood a wolf.

Harper stopped breathing.

Cora had always appeared small and gray, her ribs visible beneath dull fur. Pack physicians described her as underdeveloped. Thomas called her defective. Landon’s wolf had barely acknowledged her after their bond awakened.

The creature before Harper was nothing like that memory.

Cora towered above her.

Her fur was brilliant silver, each strand reflecting stars that did not belong to the sky above them. Ancient symbols glowed along her legs and spine. Her eyes burned emerald green, fierce enough to illuminate the forest.

When she moved, the trees bent.

“We are awake,” Cora said.

Her voice did not enter Harper’s ears. It moved through the earth beneath her feet.

Harper stared.

“You were never weak.”

“No.”

“Why did you hide from me?”

Cora lowered her massive head.

“I did not hide by choice.”

A silver chain appeared around her throat. Runes carved into the links matched symbols Harper had seen on medicine bottles in the Ashford estate.

“The tonics,” Harper whispered.

“Poison disguised as medicine. A seal renewed every moon.”

Memories returned with sudden clarity.

Evelyn standing beside her bed with a bitter drink.

Thomas ordering servants to ensure Harper finished every drop.

Pack physicians increasing the dose whenever Harper displayed unusual strength.

Her mother warning her never to reveal what she heard in the forest.

“They knew,” Harper said.

“They knew a fragment.”

Cora turned toward a frozen lake.

Beneath its surface lay images of wolves with shining silver coats. Some summoned storms. Others pressed their paws to dying land and caused forests to grow. At the center stood a woman wearing a crown shaped like the moon.

“The Silver Lineage,” Cora said. “Our mother carried its final living branch.”

Harper approached the lake.

“Why did she seal us?”

“To hide us from those who would turn our blood into a weapon.”

The vision changed.

Thomas stood beside Evelyn and a group of robed elders. Between them rested a black stone vessel covered in ancient carvings. Silver light struggled inside it.

“They wanted power,” Cora said. “Our mother refused.”

Harper’s chest tightened.

“Did they kill her?”

“The memory is blocked.”

“By whom?”

Cora looked toward the moon.

“By her.”

Before Harper could ask more, the white forest began to collapse. Snow lifted into the air. Trees dissolved into streams of silver light.

Cora pressed her forehead against Harper’s.

“Return. Our chosen mate is afraid.”

Axel afraid?

The thought seemed impossible.

Harper opened her eyes.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed with Axel kneeling before her. One hand supported the back of her neck, while the other hovered near the glowing mark without touching it.

His expression was controlled, but his wolf’s panic moved through their new bond.

Harper felt it.

Not as words.

As a violent need to protect her, held back only by Axel’s refusal to overwhelm her.

“I’m here,” she said.

The pressure in the room eased.

Axel released a breath.

“Your heart stopped.”

Harper stared at him.

“For how long?”

“Three seconds.”

“That seems brief.”

“It was not.”

Onyx growled through the bond.

Axel’s silver eyes narrowed, perhaps responding to something his wolf said.

Harper touched the mark.

Warmth traveled beneath her fingers.

“It does not hurt.”

“The wound has already healed.”

Axel stood and gave her enough space to breathe.

Harper looked around.

A mirror above the fireplace had cracked from one corner to the other. Several objects had fallen from a nearby shelf. Outside, wolves continued howling in the forest.

“What happened?”

“Your wolf released a dominance wave.”

“Cora?”

“Yes.”

“How powerful?”

Axel’s silence answered.

Harper rose slowly.

Her body felt different. She could hear guards gathering on the floor below. She could smell rain several miles away and identify the smoke from each fireplace inside the manor.

More unsettlingly, she could sense Axel.

His presence existed like a second pulse near her own.

Dark power.

Controlled violence.

A protective fury that had not faded.

Harper met his gaze.

“You know what she is.”

“I know what she may be.”

“The Silver Lineage.”

Axel became very still.

“Cora told you?”

“She showed me.”

Harper crossed toward the window.

The glass reflected her face, but her eyes were no longer entirely familiar. A thin silver ring surrounded the emerald green of her irises.

“The pack doctors said my wolf was defective.”

“They lied.”

“They poisoned me.”

Axel’s aura darkened.

Frost began forming along the lower edge of the window.

Harper turned.

“Did you do that?”

He looked toward the glass.

“Yes.”

“You command ice?”

“Storm and shadow. Onyx’s bloodline descends from the Black Moon wolves.”

Harper remembered the black wolf beneath the silver moon.

“And the Silver Lineage?”

Axel approached the fireplace.

“A thousand years ago, before the five territories existed, silver wolves ruled the central continent. Their bloodline was said to carry the Moon Goddess’s first blessing.”

He glanced toward Harper.

“Some could communicate across great distances. Others could influence natural elements. The strongest were believed capable of strengthening or destroying another wolf’s gift.”

Harper thought of the vessel beneath the frozen lake.

“Why were they destroyed?”

“Fear.”

Axel’s answer came without hesitation.

“The ruling Alphas feared a bloodline that could command them. Histories claim the Silver rulers became tyrants, but histories are usually written by the wolves who survive.”

“The Great Cleansing.”

“Yes.”

“Did your family participate?”

A shadow crossed his face.

“The Blackwood line led one of the armies.”

Harper went still.

Axel did not attempt to soften the truth.

“My ancestor claimed the Silver Queen planned to enslave the territories,” he continued. “Records from the period are incomplete and contradictory.”

“And now a descendant of that army has marked me.”

“Yes.”

Harper searched the bond.

She expected to sense deception. Instead, she felt Axel’s caution and an old burden he had never chosen but still carried.

“Do you regret it?”

“No.”

The answer came instantly.

“Even knowing what I may become?”

“Especially then.”

Harper folded her arms.

“That sounds dangerously close to wanting my power.”

Onyx rumbled with approval at her suspicion.

Axel’s eyes briefly flashed black around the silver.

“If I wanted only power, I would have ordered you restrained the moment the manor shook.”

“You might still.”

“Try to leave.”

Harper frowned.

“What?”

“The door is behind you. No guard will stop you.”

She looked toward it.

“You marked me.”

“With permission.”

“You declared me your Luna Supreme.”

“To prevent your family from claiming you.”

“And if I walk out?”

“I will follow at a distance until I am satisfied you are safe.”

Harper almost laughed.

“That is still controlling.”

“It is the best compromise available while my wolf is demanding that I lock every gate.”

For the first time, she sensed Onyx clearly.

The black wolf paced behind Axel’s restraint, furious at the idea of Harper leaving while newly awakened and vulnerable.

Cora responded with a pleased growl.

“Your wolves are encouraging each other’s worst instincts,” Harper said.

Axel’s mouth curved.

“Probably.”

Harper returned to the bed and picked up her mother’s silver hairpiece from the nightstand. The metal had begun glowing faintly.

“My mother told me to remain weak.”

“She told you to survive.”

“She died before she could explain.”

Axel moved beside her.

“We will investigate.”

“My family will hide everything.”

“Then we will remove their ability to hide it.”

Harper looked at him.

“Is that how you solve every problem?”

“No. Some problems require armies.”

Despite herself, she smiled.

Axel’s expression softened almost imperceptibly.

“Cora called me your chosen mate,” he said.

Harper’s smile disappeared.

“You heard her?”

“Through Onyx.”

The bond between them pulsed.

Harper looked down at the glowing mark.

“This does not mean I trust you.”

“I know.”

“It does not mean I love you.”

“I did not ask.”

“It does not mean you can make decisions for me.”

“That condition may require negotiation.”

She glared.

Axel lifted one hand.

“I will attempt restraint.”

“Attempt harder.”

A knock sounded from the door.

A guard spoke from the corridor.

“Alpha Supreme, the household wolves are assembled. They felt the awakening.”

Axel looked toward Harper.

“What do you want them told?”

The question mattered.

He could have announced her identity and claimed political control of her bloodline. Instead, he gave her the choice.

Harper considered the danger.

“My lineage remains secret.”

Axel nodded.

“They will be told the mark caused an unusual energy reaction.”

“And the guards who saw my eyes?”

“Bound by Supreme oath.”

Harper touched Cora’s presence inside her.

For the first time, the wolf did not feel like a frightened companion.

She felt like a crown waiting to be claimed.

Axel opened the door, then paused.

“One more thing.”

“What?”

“When we return to Silverbrook, Thomas and Evelyn will answer for the poison.”

Harper’s eyes flashed emerald.

“Not yet.”

Axel raised an eyebrow.

“I want to know what they were trying to create.”

Onyx’s satisfaction moved through the bond.

Axel looked almost proud.

“They believed they suppressed an Omega,” he said. “Instead, they taught a queen patience.”

Harper placed the silver hairpiece back on the table.

“Then let us see whether they survive what I learned.”

Chapter 7: The Morning After

Morning entered the master suite through a narrow opening in the velvet curtains.

Golden light stretched across the floor and climbed the side of the bed, warming Harper’s face.

She opened her eyes.

For several seconds, she did not recognize the ceiling above her.

Then the scent of cedarwood and storm surrounded her, and the events of the previous night returned.

The ballroom.

Landon’s betrayal.

Axel’s announcement.

The mark.

Cora awakening in the white forest.

Harper sat up.

The silk sheets slid to her waist, and Axel’s coat remained folded across a chair near the fireplace. Someone had replaced her torn gown with a soft sleeping dress while she recovered. She vaguely remembered a female healer arriving after the energy surge, though exhaustion had blurred the conversation.

The other side of the bed was empty.

Harper touched the sheets.

Still warm.

Axel had slept beside her but kept distance between them. She remembered waking once during the night and seeing him seated against the headboard, watching the windows while Onyx guarded the bond.

Cora stretched inside her mind.

“Our mate has been awake for an hour.”

Harper frowned.

“Do not call him that so happily.”

“He marked us.”

“With consent.”

“Exactly.”

Cora’s tone became smug.

Harper pushed aside the sheets and stood.

No dizziness followed.

For years, every morning had begun with exhaustion. Her limbs felt heavy, her head ached, and shifting even partially left her feverish for hours.

Now energy moved through her body like sunlight.

Her hearing expanded without effort.

She heard porcelain touching a tray in the corridor. A servant whispered nervously several rooms away. Outside, wind moved through thousands of pine needles.

Beneath those sounds was a steady heartbeat approaching the door.

“He is coming,” Cora said.

The door opened.

Axel entered carrying a silver tray.

He had showered. His black hair remained damp, and he wore a simple black sweater with the sleeves pushed to his elbows. Scars crossed his forearms—some pale with age, others jagged enough to suggest claws.

The Alpha Supreme looked less like a ruler without his ceremonial clothing.

He did not look less dangerous.

“You are awake,” he said.

“Cora announced your arrival.”

Onyx responded through the bond with a low, satisfied vibration.

Axel set the tray on a table near the windows. It held tea, fruit, eggs, bread, and several pastries.

Harper looked at the amount of food.

“Are we expecting an army?”

“Your healer ordered you to eat.”

“You obey healers?”

“When the order is sensible.”

She approached the table.

“Did you prepare this?”

“No.”

“I was beginning to suspect hidden talents.”

“I can roast meat over a battlefield fire.”

“How romantic.”

Axel pulled out a chair for her.

Harper sat and poured tea.

The cup felt unusually light in her hand. She could sense the heat without touching the porcelain directly, almost as if the energy inside it extended into the air.

“What am I feeling?” she asked.

“Everything?”

“The warmth before I touch it.”

“Elemental awareness.”

Axel sat across from her.

“The mark removed the most recent layer of the seal, but your power is still unfolding. You may experience heightened senses, accidental dominance, or environmental responses to strong emotion.”

Harper glanced toward the cracked mirror.

“Will I destroy the manor?”

“It has survived worse.”

“Such as?”

“Onyx’s first shift.”

Cora immediately became interested.

“What happened?”

Axel lifted his cup.

“Half the eastern tower collapsed.”

Harper stared.

“You say that as though it were normal.”

“I was twelve.”

“That does not improve the story.”

A faint smile touched his face.

Harper realized she had never seen him smile fully. The small change made him look younger, though no less formidable.

She ate several bites before asking the question that had followed her from sleep.

“What happens now?”

Axel’s expression returned to seriousness.

“Politically or personally?”

“Both.”

“Politically, the territories will expect a formal mating declaration and a coronation ceremony if you accept the position of Luna Supreme.”

“You announced the marriage before asking whether I wanted it.”

“I announced my intention to claim you under Supreme protection.”

“That distinction was not obvious.”

“It will be clarified.”

Harper placed her fork down.

“You would allow me to refuse the title publicly?”

Axel’s jaw tightened.

“Yes.”

The bond revealed how much he disliked the possibility.

“But the mark remains,” she said.

“Unless you request dissolution.”

Cora growled immediately.

Onyx answered.

Harper pressed two fingers to her temple.

“They are very opinionated.”

“They have waited longer than we have.”

Harper looked at Axel.

“What would you want if there were no politics, no Landon, and no awakened bloodline?”

His answer took longer.

“You.”

The simplicity of it unsettled her.

“You barely know me.”

“I know you endured years of calculated humiliation and still defended a servant from Chloe’s punishment last winter.”

Harper blinked.

“You knew about that?”

“I receive reports from every territory.”

“You investigated me.”

“I investigated Landon before approving his succession.”

“And discovered me.”

“Yes.”

Axel leaned back.

“I know you taught yourself pack law from discarded books. I know you secretly treated injured stable wolves when the pack healer refused to waste medicine on Omegas. I know you gave away half your meals during the famine three years ago.”

Harper stared at him.

“How long have you known?”

“That you existed? Years.”

“Then why did you do nothing?”

The question cut more sharply than she intended.

Axel accepted it.

“I believed Thomas’s reports that you were physically weak but adequately protected. Silverbrook had no recorded complaints, and Landon repeatedly assured the council that you preferred privacy.”

“Landon lied.”

“Yes.”

Axel’s eyes became colder.

“I should have verified.”

Harper searched the bond and felt something unexpected.

Guilt.

Not performative regret, but the harsh self-condemnation of a ruler who believed ignorance was a failure.

“You cannot monitor every wolf personally,” she said.

“No. But I can punish officials who falsify records.”

The door sounded with a discreet knock.

A guard entered after Axel gave permission.

He carried a small parcel wrapped in brown paper.

“This arrived at the eastern gate before sunrise.”

“Sender?” Axel asked.

“Unknown. A human delivery service received payment in cash. We searched the parcel and questioned the driver. He knew nothing.”

The guard placed it on the table and withdrew.

Axel examined the wrapping before handing it to Harper.

“It is addressed to you.”

The name written across the paper was not Harper Ashford.

It read:

To the Luna of the Silver Blood.

Harper felt Cora rise.

Inside the parcel was a black velvet box and a folded sheet of parchment.

The box contained a small silver key. Its bow had been shaped into a crescent moon surrounding a wolf’s head.

Harper unfolded the message.

The handwriting was elegant but unfamiliar.

A gift for the new Luna Supreme.

The key opens the vault beneath the old Silverbrook chapel. Inside waits the truth of your mother’s death, the seal placed upon your wolf, and the inheritance stolen from you.

Trust no one who benefited from your weakness.

Beware the shadows inside your new house as carefully as those in the old.

—A Friend

Harper read the message twice.

Axel held out his hand.

She gave him the parchment.

His expression hardened as he reached the final warning.

“Someone knows about the awakening.”

“Or guessed.”

“They knew the wording of the delivery before news of the mark left this estate.”

Harper gripped the key.

“My mother used to visit the old chapel.”

“When?”

“Before she died. Evelyn closed it afterward and claimed the foundation had become unsafe.”

Axel examined the key without touching it.

“Have you seen this crest?”

“On my mother’s jewelry.”

Harper thought of the silver hairpiece.

“She called it the symbol of her family.”

“The Silver Lineage crest?”

“Perhaps.”

Cora paced inside her.

“The key remembers us.”

Harper ran her thumb across the metal.

A faint green light responded beneath her skin.

“My mother did not die from illness,” she said.

Axel remained silent.

“I was eight. She became sick after arguing with Thomas and Evelyn in the eastern hall. Evelyn moved into her rooms before the mourning period ended.”

“Did anyone investigate?”

“The pack physician signed the death record. He later became Thomas’s personal adviser.”

Axel folded the letter.

“We will obtain the records.”

“That will warn them.”

“They are already warned.”

Harper stood.

“I need to return to Silverbrook.”

“We will.”

“The message says to beware shadows in your house.”

Axel’s eyes turned silver.

“I noticed.”

“Does that mean you suspect your own people?”

“I suspect everyone until they prove trustworthy.”

“Including me?”

“Especially you.”

Harper raised an eyebrow.

Axel stood as well.

“You may possess enough power to challenge the Supreme Throne. Trust without caution would insult both of us.”

Harper considered the answer.

It was strange to find honesty comforting when the truth itself was dangerous.

“When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow.”

“So soon?”

“Waiting allows Thomas time to destroy evidence.”

“He may already have done so.”

“Then we catch him attempting it.”

Axel wrapped one hand around hers, covering the silver key.

The contact awakened the bond.

“You will not enter the chapel alone.”

Harper looked up.

“Is that an order?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Onyx growled.

Cora answered with delight.

Axel’s mouth tightened.

“We will negotiate the wording.”

“We will negotiate the decision.”

For several seconds, they stared at each other.

Then Axel inclined his head.

“We will return as equals.”

Harper closed her fingers around the key.

Silverbrook had once been the entire boundary of her world. She had believed leaving it impossible and returning unthinkable.

Now she would cross its gates wearing the mark of the Alpha Supreme and carrying the blood of an ancient queen.

But power alone would not protect her.

Someone had watched her awakening.

Someone had sent the key.

And someone inside Blackwood Manor might already be waiting for the moment she became vulnerable.

Harper looked toward the pine forest.

“Whoever sent this wants me in that vault.”

“Yes,” Axel said.

“It may be a trap.”

“Probably.”

She looked at him.

“You still intend to go?”

Axel’s eyes flashed.

“I have never allowed a trap to remain unanswered.”

Harper smiled slowly.

Neither had she.