Page 14 of The Wolf's Appetite
The door groaned softly, the centuries old wood protesting as I pushed it open, slipping into the stillness of the lower hall. The air inside was warm, fires roaring in the hearths of each room. I inhaled, the air scented with wood smoke and the faint aroma of breakfast being prepared.
I moved like a ghost through the corridors, keepingsilent and to myself as I passed staff readying things for the day.
I didn’t want their looks—the pity, the uncertainty, the quiet terror when they thought I wasn’t watching.
They were afraid of me, and I fucking hated it. These were people I’d known my whole life.
I made it to my chamber, closed the door behind me, and leaned back against it, dragging my hands over my face. My skin felt too tight, my chest too full. My blood ran hot in my veins, and I was thick with frustration.
I paced the room like a caged animal. My eyes burned from lack of sleep, my muscles tense and worn out from my nightly run. I couldn’t live like this. Iwouldn’t.
After a shower, I flopped down on the bed, closed my eyes, and willed sleep to come. But it felt like I was in bed for hours, listening to thetick tockof the grandfather clock in the hall.
A soft knock at the door stilled my heart before it slammed against my ribs. My first traitorous thought wasAisling.Had she come to me? Had she felt it, too? This wild, out-of-control thing between us so strong she couldn’t stay away?
But when the door opened, it wasn’t her.
It was Tavish.
I didn’t need to look to know he stood in the doorway watching me. After the silence stretched on, I exhaled and stared at him.
He was dressed in dark training clothes, his jaw tight, his expression grim. His eyes swept over me, taking in the tension I couldn’t hide. “Father wants tae see ye.Now.”
The tightness in my chest grew sharper. “What’s wrong?”
Tavish glanced down the hall, then back at me, his voice low. “We have a problem. Scouts spotted signs near the border. Tracks. Strange scents. Signs of intruders.”
Intruders.
Something inside me snapped awake. I pushed away all my self-loathing, my obsession with Aisling, and let the part of me that had been forged in blood and battle—the Prince of the Scottish Lycans—focus on protecting my family and all we held close.
Once out of the room, the tension in my body shifted to something focused, dangerous. “Any idea who or what it is?” I finally asked as Tavish led the way.
“We donna kno’. No’ yet. But it’s no’ just travelers passing through. Whoever or whatever it was… they were careful with their scent. They came close tae the estate but stayed far enough back that the sentries didn’t detect them.”
I clenched my fists. A threat was right at our front door, and I was here losing my mind over things that I had no control over.
My silent wolf and a female I had no right to want.
“Where’s Father?”
“In the lower level. He’s gathering the Guard.”
I nodded but stayed silent.
Even as I stalked down the hall and focused on the threat at hand, my mind refused to stay where it should. It kept circling back toher.Aisling.
And a dark thought crept in, one I didn’t want to voice, not even in my head.
What if they came for her? What if… they took her from me?
The idea made my blood run hot, and I clenched my jaw hard enough my molars ground together.
She wasn’t mine. Couldn’t be. And yet, the thought of anyone trying to take her, harm her, touch her?—
I’d burn the fucking world to the ground before I let that happen.
When we got to the secured lower level of the estate—one only accessible to us and the Guard—I followed Tavish into what we called the War Room.
