CHAPTER 56: COMPLICATIONS COULD KILL

My decision was final.

Better to gamble with the Arthien wolves than to remain another moment under Rion Morrigan’s lands.

The thought burned inside me like acid. He had traded me off like so easily, like I wasn’t even someone with mind or emotions. Like I was no more than a coin to be tossed across a table, a bargaining chip.

How dare he?

I couldn’t decide which one was worse: Finn or Rion. Maybe they both were the worst of their kinds.

"Let me go," I told Ares, forcing the words past the tightness in my throat.

Ares’s arm was firm against me, his grip steady as iron, as though even my breath was under his command. His eyes flickered toward his Alpha, awaiting silent approval.

I could feel Rion watching at the corner of my eyes.

Though I refused to meet his gaze, the intensity of it pressed down on me.

Calm, silent, almost patient—and yet it seared through my bones.

Every passing second that he stared was another moment of burning humiliation.

I kept my face cold.

When Ares finally released me, the chill of the night rushed in, biting at my arms and stealing the warmth from my skin.

A tremor escaped me before I caught it, but I forced my steps forward.

I would not falter. I would not give Rion Morrigan the satisfaction.

So I walked away.

Every stride took me farther from him, from his Betas, from the suffocating pull of his presence.

Across the snow, my boots crunched against frost, the sound loud in the silence that stretched between both groups.

Rion did not bother to move when Arjan raised his hand with the relic, offering it to him. There wasn’t a need to.

The shadows moved for him.

They slithered across the ground, curling like smoke, and took the Millow Shade into Arjan’s scarred hands.

"Indeed," Rion’s voice carried easily, though it was no louder than a murmur. He turned the artifact once in his palm before tucking it away. "A fair bargain."

Fair.

The word made my jaw ache as my teeth clenched.

When I dared to glance at him, I nearly stumbled. His lips were curved in that damnable smirk, the one that always made me want to strike him, to scream at him.

But it was his eyes that held me.

Something lingered there... something dark, sharp, barely readable.

It was not victory. It was not amusement. It was something heavier, deeper, as though shadows themselves had carved their way into him.

For a moment I could have believed it was disappointment. Or something stronger... like anger.

I tore my gaze away, swallowing words that would only wound me more if I said them.

Arjan was easier to look at, though no less dangerous. Up close, he was larger, taller than I’d first thought, his presence filling the space like a stormcloud. The scar that ran jagged across his face seemed more sinister now, as though it had been carved there by cruelty itself.

As if sensing my unease, he lifted one hand in a lazy gesture.

"Don’t worry," he said with a grin that never reached his eyes. His voice was rough, gravelly, the sound of a man used to shouting orders and spilling blood. "I won’t pretend to be a good man. But rest assured, I don’t lay a finger on the goods I transport."

The way he said goods made my skin crawl.

I kept my silence.

I refused to look back at Rion.

If I did, I’d risk burning myself in fury.

But I wished, just once, that I could have said goodbye to Raye. That girl, though I’d barely known her, had shown me a semblance of kindness I hadn’t expected from the Undercity.

Arjan clapped his hands together as though dismissing the matter entirely.

"Well then." His grin widened as he cast one last look at Rion. "Always a pleasure, Alpha. In the future, I’d love to do more business with you!"

Business. I scoffed at the back of my mind.

Then his gaze snapped back to me.

"Now," he said briskly, voice shifting into command, "we’ll travel in our wolf forms. Easier, faster. I can smell that you already have your wolf, girl, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

I didn’t answer. Well, I thought it shouldn’t be a problem.

But then...

"I don’t think we can," Leika said. "Something... a force inisde you is suppressing me for some reason. Just like what happened the night you left Levian pack."

What the hell?

Still I tried.

Her presence stirred faintly in my mind, warm and loyal, but my body remained stubbornly human. My skin prickled, my bones refused the change. The shift did not come.

I pushed harder, straining, aching, until sweat dampened my palms.

But it was like pressing against a sealed door. No matter how I begged, the lock would not break.

Was this the effect of the wolfbind’s three years of suppression?

Or it could be that my body was no longer used to shifting after being bound by the wolfbind for years.

Perhaps my wolf needed time.

My chest tightened, dread crawling through me like ice.

Arjan raised his brows, suspicion glinting in his eyes as he noticed my hesitation.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, voice almost playful. "Don’t tell me..." His grin turned sharp, mocking. "...you can’t shift?"

Heat rushed to my cheeks, humiliation clawing at me. I forced myself to stand tall, to keep my voice steady even as shame burned.

"Yes," I said finally. The word scraped my throat. "I can’t. Unfortunately."

Arjan’s laugh split the air, rough and unkind. "Well, that complicates things, doesn’t it?"

The sound of his amusement made my skin crawl.

Behind me, though I refused to look, I could still feel it—the weight of Rion Morrigan’s stare. Heavy. Burning. Silent as a blade drawn in the dark.

And though I told myself I had chosen this path, dread sank deep into my bones. Because traveling with Arthien rogues was never safe. And complications...

Complications could kill.