Chapter 2 Chapter Two

Levi

The girl was beautiful. I had no doubt her father had selected her precisely for that reason.

She sat across the table from me in a gown that probably cost more than most humans earned in a month. Her blond hair was pinned up in a way that made her white neck look long and graceful.

Her name was Serina Voss. She was the natural born daughter of Aldric Voss. House Voss was a clan with considerable territory in the northern districts and a bloodline that hadn’t been diluted in four generations. By any reasonable measure, Serina was an excellent match.

I picked up my glass and said nothing. The viscous red liquid looked like wine. It wasn’t.

“The alliance would be mutually beneficial.” Aldric Voss was a broad man with silver streaked hair. He had lived long enough to have supreme patience. “House Serath gains consolidated territory in the north. House Voss gains—”

“I know what House Voss gains,” I said.

Aldric paused. Across the table, Serina’s smile didn’t waver.

We were in a private dining room on the fourteenth floor of a building I owned. The city spread out below us in a grid of lights that had no idea we existed. The table was set for eight. Grael stood near the door, arms folded, watching the two Voss guards like they were potential threats — without appearing to.

“Then you understand the opportunity,” Aldric said.

“I understand what you’re asking for.” I set my glass down. “The answer is no.”

The silence that followed grew colder. Serina’s smile finally faltered, just slightly. Her father’s stillness became something else.

“House Serath has stood alone for twenty-five years,” Aldric said. “That is an admirable posture. It is also a vulnerable one.”

I looked at him. “Is that a threat?”

“It is an observation.”

“Then observe this.” I kept my voice level. “House Serath’s vulnerabilities are not your concern. They never will be. I am not standing at stud, and I have no interest in taking your daughter as a broodmare.”

Aldric Voss held my gaze for a long moment. He was old enough to know when a line had been drawn, and experienced enough to know the cost of crossing it. He picked up his own glass, took a measured sip, and set it back down.

“You are very much your father’s son,” he said. It wasn’t a compliment.

I didn’t respond.

They left ten minutes later. Serina did not give a backwards glance. Her father maintained the careful dignity of a man filing an insult away to be dealt with later.

Grael waited until the elevator doors closed before he crossed the room.

“House Voss has three times our street presence in the northern districts,” he pointed out.

“I know.”

“And Aldric Voss doesn’t make observations. He makes promises.”

“I know that too.” I stood, moving to the window. The city below was indifferent and enormous. “What did you find out about the Voss guards?”

Grael was quiet for a beat. “Both of them turned in the last six months. Neither is House Voss born.”

“Interesting. He’s building something.”

“Looks that way.”

I let it go for now. There were more pressing things. I turned from the window. “The message from Harlan. The witness—”

“Still unconfirmed.” Grael’s expression shifted slightly. “But Harlan is confident. He says the girl has been in the city for about six weeks. A hunter.”

I went still.

“Clan?” I asked.

Grael met my eyes. “Fenn.”

The name landed — not like a blow, more like a key turning in a lock I kept bolted from the inside.

“Find her,” I said. “Quietly. I want to know everything before I decide how to approach this.”

Grael nodded. He knew better than to say anything else.

He was gone five minutes later, and I was alone with the city.

I rode the elevator down and left the car. Instead I opted to walk, taking the long route back. Force of habit — I rarely went anywhere directly when I could map the edges of my territory on the way. The northern district streets were quiet this time of night. The humans were tucked away in their beds. Only supernaturals were out roaming the dark sidewalks.

I felt them before I saw them.

Four creatures. Werewolves. I could tell they were low rank by the sour stink of them, yet their movement was carefully coordinated.

Someone had paid for coordination, which meant someone was sending a message intended specifically for me.

Voss. Probably.

There were two humans within eyeline — a couple walking a dog half a block back, oblivious. I kept moving, weighing options. I could end this in under a minute. But if the humans saw me make a move it would expose House Serath to an Alliance inquiry.

I chose restraint.

That was a mistake.

The first one came from the left, fast. I deflected but not cleanly — the follow through caught me above the eye. The second hit landed from behind across the shoulder. I kept my footing and reassessed the enemy. They were better than I’d expected for hired thugs — someone had trained them recently.

The third moved to the flank and I was already turning when I felt the needle.

Stabbed into my left glute. Clinical and precise.

That was an amateur mistake on my part, letting the wolf get close enough to poke a needle in my ass. I broke the third one’s wrist before he could pull back and put the fourth on the ground, but the damage was done. Whatever they’d injected moved fast — a cold crawl up my spine, spreading before I could think about containing it.

My legs went wobbly beneath me.

I heard the couple with the dog somewhere behind me, a woman’s voice rising in alarm. The werewolves closed in, recalculating now that I was compromised. One of them said something into a comm device in his ear.

Then a new figure came around the corner at a run, and everything shifted.

The newcomer was a human, and judging by the way he moved, a hunter. He hit the nearest werewolf before they had time to react, fast and technically clean, the kind of fighter who’d been doing it since before he was old enough to choose.

The wolf dropped to the sidewalk, dead before he could cry out.

In the chaos I made my decision.

I ran, as fast as my numb legs could carry me.