Five miles that suddenly seemed like fifty with her injured leg and the silver fever spreading through her system.
I will not die for Conall Stewart,she growled through clenched teeth.I will not die for a mate bond I never asked for.
But she had already risked death for him, hadn’t she?Taken a bullet meant for him or herself.Led armed hunters away from his unconscious form.
Protected him, despite everything she believed about his guilt.
And somewhere beneath the pain and fever, a terrible question took root: What if she was wrong about him?
What if the mate bond was trying to tell her something her grief-clouded judgment couldn’t see?
She pushed the thought away.She couldn’t afford doubt.Not now.
Nadine forced herself back to her feet, swaying slightly as the silver fever sent chills racing across her skin despite the desert heat.
One step.Then another.
She would survive this.Find the truth.Avenge her father.
And if that path led her back to Conall Stewart—as her traitorous wolf seemed to insist it would—she would face that reckoning when it came.
With clear eyes, unclouded by fever or mate bond or misplaced instinct.
Justice demanded nothing less.
Her father deserved justice.And Nadine would have it, no matter the cost to herself.
Even if that cost was her fated mate.
Especiallyif that cost was her fated mate.
Oh, she hurt.She had to distract herself, to focus her spinning head.
She needed a new plan.
The direct approach had failed.Time for subterfuge.
The Sunburst Pack thought they were so clever with their new leadership, their talk of reform and alliance building.They’d spread the story that Gregory Torrance had simply been exiled, not killed.
Trying to clean up their image after Vincent’s brutal regime.
But Nadine knew the truth.
Her father would never have abandoned her.Would never have gone silent.
Not unless he was dead.
And the evidence all pointed to the Sunburst Pack.To the Stewart twins, specifically.
She gathered her thoughts, assembling a new strategy.The Stewart twins would be on alert now, which meant her original surveillance plan was compromised.She needed a different approach.
Infiltration, maybe?The Sunburst Pack was actively seeking alliances with other packs.She could pose as an envoy, gain access to their territory under diplomatic protection.
The tactical team was another variable.Who were they?Why target both her and Conall?
And what did it mean that Conall had instinctively protected her from them?
Too many questions.Not enough answers.
