Chapter 13: Serena's POV

I'd run through every money-making racket the lower district had to offer, just to scrape together those damned eight hundred gold coins.

I won three underground bare-knuckle fights, lifted the purses off two barons who'd come slumming in the red-light quarter, and even played middleman in a deal where one crew of crooks robbed another. When I finally slammed the sack of gold down on Scarface's desk, I swear the man's eyes nearly popped clean out of his skull.

"Count it. Not a single coin short." I snatched the silver badge out of his hand and scrubbed it hard against my sleeve. "And if you ever come after Miles again, I'll leave your casino without one whole table leg to its name."

Now I was leaning into the shadows of the second-floor corridor at Hale Manor, every bone in my body screaming at me, my knuckles a mess of bruises and split skin from the fights. But with the badge in my pocket, the nerves I'd held taut for a day and a night finally let go.

Just like last time, I eased Ethan's bedroom door open without a sound.

No lamp was lit inside; only moonlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling window onto the carpet. Good. He should be pulling night duty at the barracks.

I crept over to his desk, slid open the bottom drawer, and got ready to put the badge back exactly where it belonged, as if it had never left the manor at all.

"Your footsteps are heavier than they used to be, Serena. Something wrong with your left leg?"

A voice came out of the corner of the room with no warning at all.

My whole body locked up, and the drawer banged shut.

"Hell, Ethan!"

He was sitting in the dark in nothing but a linen shirt. He struck a match to the gas lamp on the desk, and the warm yellow light jumped up to light his face. His gaze slid past me and landed on the badge still in my hand.

"I looked for that thing for two whole days." His voice was a little hoarse. He stood and walked over to me. "I thought I'd left it at the patrol camp in the black pines."

"Your head's not been in the game lately, Major." I shrugged, playing it light, and slapped the badge into his broad palm. "I found it in your boot shaft when I took your riding boots in for servicing today. Next time you hide something, pick a better spot."

Ethan didn't answer. He just stared at me.

His eyes moved over the mud on my torn clothes, over the wounds on my hands, and finally came to rest on my lips, gone slightly pale.

As an Alpha, and as the brother who'd watched me grow up, he knew my scent far too well.

"You're lying." He seized my right hand and stared at the bruises, his brows knotting tight. "What did you take it for? Have you been stirring up trouble at the casinos in the lower district again?"

"A little trouble. It's handled." I tried to pull my hand back, but he held it fast.

"Serena!" A thread of command entered his voice. "If Father finds out you stole the badge and took it to the black market, he'll flay you alive! How long are you going to keep at this before you stop?"

"I told you, it's handled!" I wrenched my hand free, irritation flaring. "And anyway, compared to my little trouble, yours is the one that'll kill you."

Ethan froze.

I stepped closer and caught his arm instead. "Listen to me, Ethan. I won't let anyone ruin your life. I've got the lower district mapped out. If you and Claire want to run, I can get you a carriage out of the city with no marks on it. And as for the Garrett family, you don't need to worry about them at all. I'll find a way to cook up a few accidents for them, keep them so busy they won't have the energy to throw any engagement banquet—"

"That's enough, Serena."

Ethan suddenly gripped my shoulders, hard enough to hurt.

"Ethan?" I stared at him, stunned.

"This isn't yours to handle." He drew a deep breath, as though fighting to hold something painful down. "This is my war, Serena. Whether I choose to elope or stay and face all of it, this is my life. I won't let you meddle."

"But Garrett is insane! His family keeps a whole pack of men with nothing to lose. How are you supposed to take them on alone?" I was frantic now.

"Better than dragging you into it!" Ethan's voice rose. "Do you have any idea how terrifying it is when Wren and Garrett join forces? You think your little street cons can stand up to two of the top noble houses? The moment they figure out it's you working behind their backs, they'll tear you to pieces!"

I went still.

Only then did I understand why he was being so harsh. He wasn't scorning me for sticking my nose in. He was afraid. Afraid that his little sister, who was always picking fights in the streets, would get herself killed for his sake.

In the world of werewolves, protecting family was an instinct carved into the bone. I was willing to defy the rules of the nobility for him, and he would rather go to hell himself than let me touch a single shred of danger.

Looking at the pain in his eyes, the wolf inside me let out a helpless sigh.

"I understand." I lowered my eyes. "I promise. I won't meddle. I'll do as you say."

Ethan let out a long breath of relief. He reached out and ruffled my hair hard, the way he had when I was small, and pulled me into a hug.

"Promise me, Serena. Stay put in the manor and be the eldest daughter of House Hale. Your brother will handle this himself."

"I swear." I buried my face in his shoulder and answered, muffled.

Silently, I added one more line in my heart: I swear I won't meddle as Serena Hale.

But I never said Little Rogue wouldn't go tear Garrett's operations to the ground.