Page 169
“You know absolutely nothing about what I would do to protect the people I love.”
Candice stares at me. I stare right back. She can't afford to call my bluff. Whether she believes I would do it doesn't matter. Zeke's life is hanging from a blood oath, and Candice can't gamble with it.
“You bitch.”
“I've been called worse.”
Candice whirls toward the guards. “Nobody touches the Luna.”
One of them straightens. “But...”
“Nobody!” Her voice cracks through the corridor. “You don't put a hand on her. You don't hurt her. You don't threaten the pup. Nothing happens to either of them until Darian gets here. Do you understand me?”
Both guards nod. Candice turns back to me, fury burning in her eyes. I smile. That only makes her angrier. She storms down the corridor, her footsteps striking harder and harder against the concrete until they finally disappear.
I wait. Until I'm certain she's far enough away. Then Selena grabs my arm. Selena stares at me for another second before some of the anger leaves her face.
“It worked.”
“It did.”
More importantly, Candice just ordered her own guards to keep Selena and her baby unharmed. For now. I look toward the empty corridor before lowering my voice.
“You know who it is.”
Selena's expression changes immediately. The brief relief disappears. “Yes.”
“Who planted the idea of Cypress Moon Park in your head?”
Her hand settles protectively over her stomach. “Former Gamma Vale.”
Everything clicks into place. Former Gamma Vale has enough power and access inside Silver Moon to know the things Candice just bragged about. Warrior movements. Security. Pack activity. Darian's schedule. Mine. And he was the one who took a large number of our warriors away for mandatory training.
That's how twenty rogues made it so deep into our territory. That's how they knew our defenses would be stretched thin. That's how they knew when to strike. And if Vale was the one who planted the idea of Cypress Moon Park in Selena's head, then it all makes sense.
“We have to warn them,” Selena whispers.
“We will.” I look toward the guards at the end of the corridor. Two of them. Armed. Watching. Candice may have ordered them not to touch Selena, but they're still standing between us and freedom. I can't shift. My wolf is barely fighting her way through the poison. Selena can't shift at all, and she's too heavily pregnant for me to risk dragging her into a fight we don't need.
But there's a skeleton key hidden inside this cell. I know how to open the door. I know these tunnels. I just need to figure out how to distract those guards long enough to get Selena out of here.
No matter what happens, I protect Selena or die trying.
42
Rylan's POV
Selena is alive.
I hold on to that certainty while every instinct inside me demands I stop thinking and start hunting. Our mate bond is still there, strong and intact beneath the silence blocking me from her. I can't hear her. I can't reach her. I don't know if she's awake or hurt, and I can't feel our daughter at all. All I know is that my mate is somewhere out there with our unborn pup, and I need to find them.
My Lycan has been pacing beneath my skin since I reached Cypress Moon Park. Find mate. Find pup.
"I'm trying."
Find them.
Beside me, Darian stares toward the trees with his hands clenched at his sides. His claws have broken through his palms, leaving thin trails of blood between his fingers. His bond with Arlene is intact too. She's alive, but like Selena, she's silent and unreachable.
