The fire crackled inside the Alpha’s den.

Thick smoke curled through the room like a living thing, heavy with the scent of burning herbs and something darker. Cora’s wrists were bound in front of her, the leather biting into her skin as she was dragged deeper inside by two silent wolves. The den was built into the base of an ancient tree, hollowed out and fortified with timber and bone. The walls seemed to breathe with the night, lit only by flickering torches.

The Alpha sat on a throne ...