I had returned to the service corridors after an hour of restless pacing in my quarters. Excalibur had been clawing at my insides, demanding I check on our mate. Her scent had been fading from my memory, and I needed to see her again, to imprint the image of her in my head.

What I found instead made my wolf rage within me.

Two guards had cornered my mate in the narrow corridor. I watched from the shadows as they spoke with cruel intention, as one of them grabbed her wrist, as terror filled her scent. Every muscle in my body coiled to strike, but before I could move, something extraordinary happened.

Golden light blazed from her eyes. Claws erupted from her fingertips. My mate, my fragile-looking mate, became something magnificent and deadly. She tore through both men like they were made of paper, her movements fluid and precise. The sight of her fighting back filled me with fierce pride.

Then she fled, leaving the two guards bleeding and broken on the stone floor.

I remained hidden, watching as they struggled to their feet. One of them pressed his hands against the deep gashes across his chest, blood seeping between his fingers. The other guy leaned heavily against the wall, his throat bearing the imprint of my mate’s grip.

“She’s dead,” he wheezed, his voice thick with pain and rage. “We’re going to report what happened to the Luna. Tell her the slave attacked us without provocation.”

The other nodded, wincing as he touched his bruised throat. “It’s good if she ends up dead. Monster like that doesn’t deserve to live.”

“You will do no such thing.”

Both men spun toward my voice, their eyes widening as I stepped from the shadows. The corridor suddenly felt smaller with my presence filling it, my 7-foot frame blocking their only escape route.

“Alpha Hendrix,” the darker-haired guard stammered, attempting a respectful bow despite his injuries. “We didn’t know you were here. There’s been an Incident with one of the servants.”

“Names,” I commanded coldly. “Both of you.”

“Marcus, sir,” the one with the injured throat said quickly.

“Kane,” the other added, still pressing his hands against his bleeding chest.

“I saw the incident,” I said coldly, taking a step closer. “What I witnessed was two grown men attempting to assault a young woman half your size.”

Kane’s face flushed with anger and embarrassment. “That slave is dangerous! She has claws, unnatural strength. She could have killed us!”

“She should have,” I replied, my voice carrying the promise of violence. “But since she showed you mercy, I’ll have to decide whether you deserve the same courtesy.”

Marcus tried to edge toward the stairs, but I moved faster than his eyes could track. My hand shot out, slamming him back against the stone wall hard enough to crack the mortar.

“Going somewhere?” I asked conversationally.

Kane made the mistake of lunging at me, probably thinking he could overpower me while I was distracted. I caught his wrist mid-swing, the bones grinding under my grip. He screamed as I twisted his arm behind his back, forcing him to his knees.

“Let’s have a conversation,” I said, applying just enough pressure to keep him compliant. “I have questions about the girl you just tried to rape.”

“We weren’t going to—” Marcus began.

I backhanded him across the face with enough force to split his lip. “Don’t lie to me. I heard every word you said to her.”

Kane tried to struggle free, so I dislocated his shoulder with a sharp twist. His agonized cry echoed off the corridor walls.

“Why do you hate her?” I asked, as if we were discussing the weather. “What did a girl barely out of her teens do to earn such treatment?”

“She’s… she’s a traitor’s daughter,” Kane gasped between pained breaths. “Her parents betrayed the pack.”

I grabbed Marcus by the throat, lifting him off the ground until his feet dangled. “Elaborate.”

“Her father… Beta William… was accused of leading rogues to attack us,” Marcus choked out. “Got good wolves killed. Luna Morgan took the girl in as an act of mercy.”

“Mercy,” I repeated, my grip tightening until Marcus’s face turned purple. “Is that what you call forcing a child into slavery?”

I released him, letting him crash to the floor. Kane was still on his knees, cradling his dislocated shoulder.

“Where are her parents now?” I demanded.

“Dead,” Kane whispered. “Died in the rogue attack six years ago.”

I kicked him in the ribs, satisfied by the crack of breaking bone. “So you’ve been tormenting an orphaned child for six years because of something her dead father did?”

Marcus tried to crawl away, so I stepped on his hand, grinding his fingers into the stone. “I didn’t ask you to leave.”

“Please,” he sobbed. “We were just following orders. Luna Morgan said we could do whatever we wanted with her.”

The rage that filled me at those words was white-hot and pure. My mate had been given to these animals as a plaything by the woman who was supposed to protect her.

“Why does the Luna treat her like this?” I asked, my voice dropping to a deadly whisper.

Kane shook his head frantically. “I don’t know. She just hates the girl, always has.”

I grabbed his broken shoulder and squeezed until he screamed. “Think harder.”

“The Luna… she blamed Aurora for her friends death!” he finally gasped. “Some of her close friends were killed in an attack that killed her parents. Luna Morgan needed someone to blame.”

The pieces were falling Into place. A grieving, angry Luna had decided that an innocent child would pay for the sins of her parents. years of torture and abuse because a woman couldn’t accept that war sometimes claim our loved ones.

I looked down at the two broken men at my feet. They were pathetic, weak creatures who preyed on those they perceived as defenseless. Every instinct screamed at me to end them here and now.

“I want to kill you both,” I said calmly. “Tear you apart piece by piece for what you’ve done to her. What you tried to do tonight.”

Kane whimpered, pressing himself against the wall as if he could disappear into the stone.

“But I have better use for you,” I continued, crouching down to meet their terrified eyes. “You’re going to help me.”

“Help you?” Marcus asked, confusion mixing with his fear.

“You know this pack’s secrets, its weaknesses. how they’ve hurt her, who else has participated in her abuse.” I let my own wolf show in my eyes, golden light reflecting off the stone walls. “You’re going to tell me everything.”

“And if we refuse?” Kane asked weakly.

I smiled, and both men recoiled from the expression. “Then I’ll finish what my mate started, and trust me it will be painful.”

Marcus and Kane exchanged panicked glances. They’d seen what Aurora could do when pushed too far, and they clearly had no desire to face her again.

“We’ll help,” Marcus said quickly. “Whatever you need.”

“Good.” I stood, towering over them. “But understand this clearly. If you betray me, if you so much as breathe a word of this conversation to anyone, you are dead. I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth and make your deaths so painful that other packs will tell stories about the torture I will put you through.”

Both men nodded frantically.

“Now get yourselves cleaned up,” I ordered. “Tell anyone who asks that you fell down the stairs. Clumsy guards are embarrassing, but not worth investigating.”

As they struggled to their feet, supporting each other’s injuries, I added one final warning.

“And if either of you goes near her again, if you even look at her wrong, just know your heads will be surgically severed from your head. Understood?”

“Yes, Alpha,” they whispered in unison.

I watched them limp away, already planning my next moves. Soon, I would have all the information I needed about my mate’s situation. And then, the real reckoning would begin.