Chapter 29 Maeve
MAEVE
The shattered glass crunched beneath Maeve's boots before she'd even rounded the corner to the Silver Fang's front entrance.
Ice crystallized in her veins, not from the winter air, but from the sight that greeted her. Her tavern. Her home. Windows smashed, door hanging crooked on its hinges, the warm glow she'd maintained even through the suspension now replaced by jagged darkness.
"No." The word ripped from her throat, raw and feral.
Her lioness surged forward, claws prickling beneath her skin. The scent hit her next. Foreign lions, at least three, their territorial markers deliberately smeared across her doorframe like a declaration of war.
She was moving before thought could temper instinct, charging through the broken entrance. Inside was worse. Tables overturned, chairs splintered, bottles shattered across the floor in rivers of amber and crimson. The bar she'd polished for years bore deep claw marks gouged into the wood.
They'd destroyed everything.
"Maeve!"
Cora's voice carried from behind her, but she barely registered it. Her vision edged with gold, her lioness demanding release, demanding blood.
"They marked your territory." Callum appeared in the doorway, Dante close behind him. Her cousin's blue eyes flashed amber with barely contained rage. "Hector's rogues. Has to be."
Dante's jaw clenched, a muscle ticking as he surveyed the destruction. "This was meant as a message."
"Message received." Her voice came out too calm, too controlled, the kind of quiet that preceded violence.
She stepped over broken glass, each crunch beneath her feet stoking the fire building in her chest. They'd poisoned her shipments, manipulated the Council, suspended her license. And now this. Now they'd violated the one place in Hollow Oak that was hers.
"Maeve." Dante moved toward her, hands raised like he was approaching a cornered predator. Smart man. "We need to—"
"They attacked my home." Gold bled into her vision further, her lioness clawing for dominance. "In the middle of my town. Where anyone could have been hurt."
"I know." His voice gentled. "But shifting here, now—"
"Will show Hollow Oak exactly who they're dealing with." She met his amber gaze, let him see the predator rising in hers. "Hector wants to prove I can't hold what's mine? Fine. Let's prove him wrong."
The sound of multiple, heavy, deliberate footsteps echoed from the alley behind the tavern.
Her lioness roared.
"Maeve, wait—" Cora started, but she was already moving.
She burst through the back entrance into the alley, and there they were. Three massive lions, all male, all radiating the kind of arrogance that came from thinking numbers meant victory. The largest was a scarred beast with a notched ear. He bared his teeth in what might have been a grin.
"Little Maeve Cross." His voice rumbled, thick with mockery.
Magic rippled across her skin as she let the shift take her. Bones realigned, muscles reformed, and pure, primal power exploded through her body. Her clothes shredded as she transformed, and then she was all golden fur and lethal grace, smaller than these males but infinitely more dangerous.
The rogues charged and she met them.
The first lunged, jaws snapping for her throat. She twisted beneath him, raking her claws across his exposed belly. He howled, crashing into the snow. The second came from her left, trying to box her in, but she was smaller, quicker and knew these streets.
She knew every inch of this alley. They didn't.
She used their size against them, dancing between attacks, landing blow after blow. Blood stained the snow crimson and gold. Her lioness sang with the violence, with the rightness of defending what was theirs.
"Maeve!" Callum's roar cut through the chaos, but she didn't need his help.
The third rogue finally landed a hit, claws tearing through her shoulder. Pain blazed, sharp and immediate, but it only fueled her rage. She whirled, sinking her teeth into his foreleg until bone crunched. He released her with a shriek.
"Enough!"
The voice boomed across the alley. Elder Varric stepped into view. The Council Glade must have sensed the disturbance. Behind him, half the town had gathered, drawn by the sounds of battle.
The rogues hesitated, blood dripping from their wounds.
"You dare bring violence to Hollow Oak?" Varric's stormy eyes flashed with ancient power. "In direct violation of sanctuary law?"
Notched-ear shifted back to human form, gloriously unconcerned with his nudity or the gashes marking his torso. "We were defending ourselves. She attacked first."
"Bullshit." Twyla pushed through the crowd, her fae blood making her eyes glow with otherworldly light. "I saw the whole thing. They vandalized her tavern, then waited to ambush her."
"Is hat true?" Varric's gaze locked onto the rogue.
Before he could answer, Emmett appeared with Katniss at his side, both looking like they'd run from across town. The wolf shifter's stormy eyes swept the scene, taking in the destruction, the blood, Maeve's lioness form still bristling with aggression.
"Rogues attacked the Silver Fang," Emmett confirmed, his voice carrying that quiet authority that made even alphas listen. "Dante and I have been tracking them since yesterday."
"They're Hector's," Dante added, stepping forward. He'd stayed back, Maeve realized, letting her fight her own battle. Letting her win. "Part of his attempt to undermine Maeve's authority."
Varric's expression darkened. "Is this true?"
Notched-ear spat blood and said nothing.
"The Silver Fang belongs to Maeve Cross." Freya's voice rang clear from the crowd as Kieran stood close behind her. "Has for nearly a decade. We all know it. We've all benefited from it."
"Damn right." Maeve's regular patrons began pushing forward—shifters, witches, fae, even humans who'd found their way through the Veil. "Best tavern in three counties."
"Saved my ass more than once," someone called out.
"Mine too."
"She's one of us."
The voices built, overlapping, until the alley echoed with support. Maeve's lioness purred despite the pain radiating from her shoulder. This. This was why she'd fought so hard to keep the tavern running, to make it a place where everyone belonged.
Varric raised his hand, silencing the crowd. "The rogues will be detained until a full Council hearing." His gaze found Maeve, still in lion form, still bloody and defiant. "Maeve Cross, shift back. Your point is made."
She held his stare for another heartbeat, making sure he understood, making sure everyone understood that she wasn't yielding because she was told to. She was choosing to.
The shift back hurt worse than the initial transformation, her injured shoulder screaming as bones reformed. Dante was there instantly, draping his coat over her naked, shivering form before anyone else could move.
"You're bleeding," he murmured, his hands gentle as they supported her weight.
"I won." Her voice came out hoarse but steady.
His amber eyes blazed with something that looked like pride. "Never doubted it for a second, Cub."
Callum appeared with a blanket, wrapping it around her shoulders. "That," her cousin said with a fierce grin, "is the Maeve I remember."
Cora handed her a water bottle, her green eyes warm with approval. "Remind me never to piss you off."
Despite the pain, the destruction, the rogues being hauled away by Emmett and other Council guards, she laughed. It hurt, but gods, it felt good.
"Silver Fang's closed," she announced to the lingering crowd, her voice carrying despite her exhaustion. "But not for long. And when it reopens, first round's on me."
The cheer that erupted made her lioness rumble with satisfaction.
Hollow Oak remembered who she was.
More importantly, so did she.