Chapter 7
CADE
The Glacier Crest Pack’s house is nothing like what I remember of Solara before I left home. Instead of warmth and family, this place is all ice and rigidness. Much like the mountainside it’s been carved into—half fortress, half tomb.
Wolves are creatures of heat and motion, but even I shiver inside this fortress of frost. The walls breathe cold, the air bites sharp as glass as we’re being led to a private room. Wolves linger along the corridors, all watching and waiting, measuring me.
If they have any sense, they’ll keep their distance.
I’m here for one reason, and it’s not to make friends.
The Beta—Thane—is a tall, broad-shouldered wolf with eyes like winter sunlight, pale and sharp. He’s wearing the weight of his dead alpha Milo like a collar he can’t take off. The pack’s hierarchy is still splintered; every one of his movements screams exhaustion wrapped in control.
When we arrive in his office, the three of us—Liz, Elias, and I—stand opposite his heavy oak desk. A map of the northern territories lies between us, corners pinned down by jagged stones.
“I’ll make this simple,” I say. “I’m not leaving your lands until I’ve found my mate. I don’t care what lines Milo drew before he died. If you want any sort of peace for your pack, you’ll allow me the freedom I seek to search for her. Without interventions.”
Thane’s tone is a growl wrapped in control. “Your mate killed our alpha.”
The tension in the room spikes several notches.
Liz’s eyes bleed dark crimson. “You mean the alpha who attacked her first. All of us first.”
“She’s doomed to unleash hell on our world!” Thane snaps, slamming a palm onto the desk. The map flutters, corners lifting in the draft. “We all know of the prophecy of the Ashmark. Did you expect us to do nothing just because she’s the mate of a pack leader? One who abandoned his people long ago?”
I step forward, muscles coiled, voice low but deadly calm. “I made a choice for the betterment of my pack. I knew I wasn’t fit to lead at the time, but be well aware, I am now.”
Alpha power exudes through my words and throughout the room.
The air thickens, and Thane can’t help looking down.
He might not say it out loud, but even he can’t deny there’s only one real alpha here, and it’s not him.
I might not have been ready to accept this fate before, but I know, standing here in this office, that I’ll do whatever it takes to get Rowan back. Even reclaiming my pack.
Finally, my wolf practically purrs. That is our destiny.
I ignore him and continue, “You might be interim-alpha at the moment, and we’re in your territory, but know this: I gave you courtesy by coming here first. One that you should be grateful for and accept if you know what’s best for your people, because it won’t happen twice.
I will overtake your pack if that’s what it takes to get what I want. ”
His resounding snarl does little to deter me. Neither do his next words. “Threaten me or my pack one more time, and you won’t make it out of Glacier still breathing.”
My wolf pushes to the surface, nails turning to claws, and my chest rumbling as I lean forward to strike, but Elias interjects before I can follow through. “You’re wrong, Thane. You care for your people. That’s clear. So, listen closely before you make threats.”
There’s only a dark second before Elias continues.
“You know you can’t afford to let Solara invade these mountains.
As Cade said, we’ll overtake you. Even if you killed him, you’d never survive.
Now, before this escalates any further, you need to know that the council engineered that battle.
They wanted bloodshed, no matter the sacrifices, and that’s exactly what they got. ”
Thane’s laugh is cold, bitter. “Convenient excuse. Blame those in power when you can’t handle your own.”
“Convenient,” Liz counters, “is pretending you didn’t notice your Alpha taking orders from twisted strangers with dark magic in their veins. Convenient is ignoring the runes carved into your borders—wards that hum with the same signature magic we saw on your wolves’ corpses.”
That finally hits. I see the flicker of recognition. He probably didn’t expect us to notice the markings as we walked onto their land, but Liz did. The vampire is more useful than I wanted to believe she’d be.
Thane’s expression flickers. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, she does,” Elias says confidently, but also glances at me for approval to continue, which I give with a nod. “We saw those same markings on your wolves after the fight. Except they were scars. No magic left to pick apart. So, you can lie to yourself, but not to us.”
The silence that follows is filled with restrained fury. Not only from Thane, but from myself as well.
“Tell me honestly, Thane.” I place my hands over his desk, leaning close as my wolf stays at the surface. “Did Milo seem like himself before the battle? How long were you already questioning some of his choices?”
Thane hesitates, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “That’s none of your business.”
“Maybe not,” I say. “But it’s something for you to consider before I tear your pack apart to get what I want. Do what you will with what we’ve shared and keep your secrets. We don’t need to be friends or even allies. I just need to know if we’re enemies before I go reclaim my mate.”
His fingers twitch against the edge of the desk, his eyes distant for a moment, like he’s weighing the ghosts of loyalty against the truth in front of him. Finally, he nods once, slow and deliberate. “You’ll have freedom to move through our lands. I’ll send word to the patrol along our borders.”
Liz switches from murderous bloodsucker to seductress in the blink of an eye as she gestures toward the map.
“Even better, how about you tell which locations within your pack have either been deemed off-limits by the previous alpha or that you’ve had trouble with.
We’re not here to grasp at straws. Malrik Vane, the being responsible for this mess, is hiding out on your lands, and we’re going to find him. ”
This makes Thane’s teeth crack. “If that’s true, if there is dark magic in our pack, then we’ll help you.”
I shake my head once and snarl. “Not a chance in hell, Beta. My mate’s life is at stake, and we have no clue how many more members of your pack have been compromised.”
We stare off again, and I’m tempted to just walk out, but like the voice of reason he’s always been, Elias steps in again.
“Give us three days,” he says. “If we don’t find her by the fourth sunrise, then send your patrols. We won’t stand in your way.” I start to object, but Elias continues. “Only if you give us the intel I know you already have.”
This time, Thane gives no hesitation. He points to the map, a forest to the north. “Three days. Not a minute longer.”
“Agreed,” I reply, taking in the area he’s gesturing to. “Why there?”
“Milo deemed it off-limits a year ago.” Thane’s voice is tight. “He said there was a sickness in the trees and that a witch was going to ward them for now until it could be contained. He didn’t want us to lose any more of our forest areas since they’re already limited in the winter.”
We’re going to get our mate. My wolf’s overzealous optimism floats through me, but I shove it down.
Until I have Rowan in my hands, not just an idea of where I believe her to be, I can’t allow hope in.
“Have any of your wolves broken through the wards?” Liz asks, also analyzing the map. “Like the younger pups? Were there any effects we need to be worried about?”
He nods. “We did have a few boys get lost for a day up there. They crossed the boundary line and couldn’t tell north from south. Or so they said.”
I’m not worried about that. After knowing how the memories of the other wolves were tampered with, they could have been as well.
Nothing will stop me from getting into those woods.
“That’s all we need.” I give the drawing one more look. “I’ll make sure you receive word once we have Rowan.”
“And you’re sure she won’t be a problem for our kind?” Thane presses.
The rumble from my chest silences the room. “As long as you don’t make her one.”
Which is a truth I know deep in my core.
Rowan only hurt those people after the battle because she was forced to, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she’s never put in that position again.
Right after I get her back.